RPVCCA_CC_SR_2015_05_05_05_City_Water_Conservation_ProposalsCITY OF
MEMORANDUM
RANCHO PALOS VERDES
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR & CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
FROM: JOEL ROJAS, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
MICHAEL THRONE, PE, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC
WORKS
DATE: MAY 5, 2015
SUBJECT: CITY WATER CONSERVATION PROPOSALS
(SUPPORTS 2014 CITY COUNCIL GOAL NO. 21
INFRASTRUCTURE, AND NO. 3, CITIZEN
INVOLVEMENT AND PUBLIC OUTREACH)
REVIEWED: DOUG WILLMORE, CITY MANAGER G` -'l>
Project Managers: Paul Christman, Building Official
Sean Larvenz, Public Works Maintenance Superintendent
RECOMMENDATION
1. Approve a reduction until April 15, 2016 of encroachment and building permit and
inspection fees for work intended to reduce treated water consumption in the public
right-of-way and/or on private property.
a. Increase the subsidy from 50 percent to 75 percent for permit fees of certain
water conservation improvements that require City building permits.
b. Waive the encroachment permit fee and reduce the public works inspection
hourly rate charged to 50 percent of the adopted inspection rate of $125 per
hour.
2. Receive an update on current and proposed water conservation measures to be
undertaken by the City, direct staff to pursue outside funding opportunities and
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include $65,000 of capital funding in the FY 2015/16 budget for water conservation
measures.
3. ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. , A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF RANCHO PALOS VERDES TO TEMPORARILY REDUCE
CERTAIN FEES UNTIL APRIL 15, 2016, TO PROMOTE WATER
CONSERVATION IN RESPONSE TO THE ONGOING DROUGHT.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
An opportunity exists for the City of Rancho Palos Verdes to lead water conservation
efforts on the Palos Verdes Peninsula to achieve a reduction in community water
consumption through education, encouragement and action.
INTRODUCTION
The state of California is in its fourth season on record drought and in response to this
condition, Governor Brown issued an executive order requiring water suppliers in
California to overall reduce by 25 percent the delivery of water to local agencies. The
exact language of rules and regulations are being promulgated by the state water board
and may not be available for several weeks. However, it is very likely the Palos Verdes
Peninsula will be under a higher water conservation mandate due to the low amount of
water conservation compared to other communities.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California imports water to substantial
portions of southern California by means of the State Water Project's California Aqueduct
and the Colorado River and they will commence reducing deliveries on July 1.
Metropolitan sells water to the West Basin Municipal Water District, the local agency that
wholesales it to California Water Service Company, who is the retail distributor of treated
water to Rancho Palos Verdes and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The City does not store
or distribute treated water and does not set water rates.
A water drought ordinance is not proposed at this time.
BACKGROUND
How the City Has Conserved to Date
The City, as a retail customer of Cal Water, began last summer to reduce its water
consumption in response to the Governor's 2014 request for a voluntary 20 percent
reduction by adjusting irrigation schedules and as appropriate ceasing watering of certain
plant material that would become dormant until next winter's rain. Additional watering
reductions will have to be implemented to further reduce water use in city parks while
balancing plant health. Median landscaping irrigation has been discontinued as the plant
material in those areas are very established.
In addition to reducing irrigation, Public Works is also moving ahead with a replacement
program that will be substituting drought tolerant and xeriscape material when plants are
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replaced as part of the maintenance schedule. Public Works has also inventoried all
plumbing fixtures and irrigation control systems to ascertain if water conservation
improvements can be made to those devices and a recommended plan is described later
in this report.
Community Water Conservation Education
The City can make a difference in the water conservation efforts of the community by
acting as an educational clearinghouse of proven methods to reduce domestic water
consumption that are available from conservation groups and water agencies. The City
through its website and social media, and at community events and activities the City
attends and hosts, can be very effective in information gathering and distribution. A
special webpage for this purpose httr:l/www.rpvca.ciov/779/Water-Energy-Conservation
is already available to the public and will be updated as new information and ideas are
published.
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Encouragement of Water Conservation through Reduced Permit and Inspection
Fees
The City can also create an incentive to conserve by reducing the financial impact to
those residents who are inclined to participate in "cash -for -grass" and plumbing fixture
and irrigation controller rebate programs offered by Metropolitan Water District and West
Basin through the reduction of the cost of permit and inspection fees. There may be
instances when the expense of the permit and inspection fee exceeds the cost the
property owner incurs in the actual work accomplished. To address this situation
specifically for work that results in proven water conservation, Community Development
and Public Works has reviewed fees and inspection effort and proposes the following
reductions to the adopted fee schedule.
Buildinq Permits and Inspection
The Community Development Department already has subsidized permit fees for certain
water conservation improvements that need City building permits. Specifically, permits
for installing drip irrigation, a "smart sprinkler" control system, tankless water heaters,
waterless urinals, and dual flush toilets are currently subsidized by 50%. As a result, a
resident is currently charged $85 ($46 permit fee plus $39 issuance fee) to obtain a permit
for installing any of these water conservation improvements as opposed to the regular
$131 fee ($92 permit fee plus $39 issuance fee). Staff is proposing that low flow
dishwashers and low flow toilets be added to the list of subsidized permits and that the
subsidy for all such water conservation improvements be increased from 50% to 75%.
This would mean that a resident would only pay $62 ($23 permit fee and $39 issuance
fee) for a permit related to this expanded list of water conservation improvements.
The City's Development Code was previously amended to allow lawns on private property
to be replaced with rock gardens, artificial lawns or drought tolerant landscaping. Such
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water conservation steps can be taken by residents without any need for City approval or
permit fees.
Encroachment Permits and Insaection
The installation of hardscape (including pavers), xeriscape, gravel treatments and other
no or very low water use landscaping is currently being encouraged within the public
rights-of-way (see Appendix A). To foster interest by property owners and as an incentive,
Public Works proposes to reduce the overall cost of obtaining an encroachment permit
for this type of work by waiving the permit fee and reducing the inspection hourly rate
charged to 50 percent of the inspection rate.
The encroachment permit process requires property owners to obtain an encroachment
permit for work they perform in the right-of-way. The standard fee for the encroachment
permit is $168 and inspection fees are $125 per hour with one to two hours being required
for the typical inspection. The cost of most encroachment permits for landscaping work in
the right-of-way ranges from $293 (permit fee plus one hour of inspection) to $418 (permit
fee plus two hours of inspection). Reducing the overall fee to a range of $62.50 (no permit
fee plus one hour of inspection) to $125 (no permit fee plus two hours of inspection if
needed) is the proposed incentive to encourage water conservation for property owners
who irrigate the parkway strip. (See Appendix B)
The fee reductions proposed above are very likely to make an immediate difference in
local water consumption, and are recommended to sunset after next winter (April 15,
2016).
Replacement of Water Conservation Devices and Controls at Citv-Owned Facilities
In addition to encouraging the public to use less water, Public Works proposes to replace
existing single -flush water closets with 1.1 gallon per flush fixtures and converting manual
faucets to proximity metered, automatic -style. These conversions will reduce water use
by approximately 25 percent. Citywide there are 70 water closets and urinals and 51
manual lavatory faucets. For this coming fiscal year it is proposed to first begin with the
replacement of the oldest and least efficient fixtures at an estimated cost of $20,000.
The other component of the water conservation action plan is to convert or update the
existing park irrigation controllers with units that use current weather conditions to control
irrigation duration and frequency. Fifteen controllers require replacement and 5 can be
upgraded at an estimated cost of $45,000. The City will be able to access data about
water use and activate each irrigation zone using a wireless internet connection, which
will further increase conservation by being able to in real-time react to upcoming weather
forecasts and remotely turn-off broken sprinkler heads when they are reported by the
public.
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ALTERNATIVES
The City Council may elect to modify the proposed reduction amounts and time period or
keep the permitting and inspection fees unchanged, and increase or decrease the
proposed expenditure for water conservation improvements.
CONCLUSION
It is therefore recommended that the City Council, in response to the record drought
conditions and mandatory water delivery cutbacks, approve a reduction until April 15,
2016 of encroachment and building permit and inspection fees for work intended to
reduce potable water consumption within the city limits, and include in the upcoming
municipal budget funding to install water conservation devices and controls.
FISCAL IMPACT
The temporary suspension of a portion of the permit and inspection fees adopted by the
City Council will result in a reduction of approximately $4,200 in Fiscal Year 2015/16
revenue collected based on an estimated 10 encroachment permits (a revenue reduction
of approximately $3,000) and 50 building permits issued and inspected (a revenue
reduction of approximately $1,200) during the proposed one-year fee reduction period.
The City may be eligible to offset a portion of the estimated cost to install water
conservation measures from grants and other similar programs offered by the state and
our water suppliers. Public Works will seek these programs before purchasing
replacement fixtures and irrigation devices. It is estimated that the recommended initial
$65,000 capital expenditure will be paid -off in less than five years with the assumption
that higher tier water rates will be imposed by one or more of our water suppliers serving
the City.
Attachments:
• Appendix A—Sample hardscape and xeriscape treatments in parkway strips (page
6)
• Appendix B—Proposed encroachment and inspection fee reduction (page 15)
• Appendix C–City of Rancho Palos Verdes Water Conservation Summary (page
16)
• Appendix D—Cal Water (page 17)
• Appendix E—Resolution (page 18)
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EXHIBIT B
MODIFIED FEE SCHEDULE FOR ENCROACHMENT PERMIT FEE AND INSPECTION FEE
FOR WORK PERFORMED TO SPECIFICALLY REDUCE WATER CONSUMPTION
ENCROACHMENT PERMITS - RESIDENTIAL OR COMMERCIAL IMPROVEMENTS
FEE EFFECTIVE
CURRENT FEE 5/6/2015 to 4/15/2016
PARKWAY IMPROVEMENTS PERMIT INSPECTION PERMIT INSPECTION
Hardsca e $ 168.00 $ 250.00 $ - $ 125.00
Xerisca e $ 168.00 $ 125.00 $ - $ 62.50
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APPENDIX
CITY OF RANCHO PALOS VERDES WATER CONSERVATION PLAN
The state of California is in its fourth season on record drought and in response to this
condition, Governor Brown issued an executive order requiring water suppliers in
California to overall reduce by 25 percent the delivery of water to local agencies. The
exact language of rules and regulations are being promulgated by the state water board
and may not be available for several weeks. However, it is very likely the Palos Verdes
Peninsula will be under a higher water conservation mandate due to the low amount of
water conservation achieved when compared to other communities.
The City does not store or distribute treated water and does not set water rates as it is a
retail customer of the California Water Service Company.
The RPV water conservation plan includes:
Reducing park irrigation beyond the 20% begun last year by discontinuing irrigation to
plant material that will be able to dormant until next winter or reducing watering to
plants that can adapt to lower water levels. Recreation and Parks is working with
Public Works to ensure that critical sports and park activity areas are kept in good
shape.
2. Expanding our community outreach of water conservation education programs and
resource knowledge via our website, listserv, Facebook, Nextdoor, City Managers
Weekly Report, etc. A special webpage http://www.rpvca.gov/779/Water-Energy-
Conservation is already available to the public and will be updated as new information
and ideas are published.
3. Pursuing financial incentives from the water agencies to replace toilets, urinals, and
irrigation controllers in city parks.
4. Replacing throughout the summer plant material along the roadside and medians with
xeriscape material (as appropriate) during the regular course of landscape
maintenance.
5. Developing options for property owners to replace turf in the street parkway strip with
xeriscape or hardscape and reducing or waiving certain permit and inspection fees.
6. Enforcing the water efficient landscaping ordinance (RPV municipal code section
15.34) that includes provisions to deter water wasting.
For more information please contact Ms. Lauren Ramezani at 310 544-5252 or
LaurenR@rpvca.gov.
City of Rancho Palos Verdes
Public Works Department
30940 Hawthorne Boulevard
Rancho Palos Verdes, California 90275
310 544-5252
www.rpvca.gov
PublicWorks@rpvca.gov
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APPENDIX D
Cal Water Required to Arfivate Next Stage of
Drought Response Plan and Implenient Water
Budgets
Posted on April 28, 2015
In order to achieve state -mandated water use reductions necessitated by historic drought conditions, Cal Water
today filed its Schedule 14.1 with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Cal Water's Schedule 14.1
provides for household and business water budgets and associated enforcement measures to reduce water use in
its districts.
The filing, which applies to both residential and non-residential customers, is responsive to Governor Brown's
executive order requiring a statewide 25% reduction in urban, potable water use. It also complies with subsequent
regulations that are expected to be adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board (Board) and the CPUC to
achieve that reduction by the end of February 2016.
Cal Water districts throughout California must achieve between an 8- to 36 -percent reduction in water use, as set by
the Board, from their usage during July through September 2013. District -wide savings achieved in 2014 are
subtracted from the reduction requirement to determine the savings that still need to be achieved. For example, a
district that needs to conserve 32 percent over 2013 but saved 12 percent in 2014 will need to save another 20
percent by next February.
Individual customers in each district will be given a water budget that reflects state -mandated reductions. The
customer's monthly bill will show his or her water budget for the following month. Customers' water use history
through 2013 will also be available online at www.calwater.com beginning in June.
As part of Schedule 14.1, a drought surcharge would apply when customers use above their allotted budget that
month. Considerations will be given for low-income customers, those who did not use their entire budgets in
previous months, and those with special circumstances.
Schedule 14.1 is expected to become effective June 1, 2015.
In May, Cal Water will host public meetings in each of its districts to help customers understand this filing, thein
water budgets, mandatory water use restrictions, associated enforcement mechanisms and the wide variety of
conservation rebates, programs, and other tools Cal Water offers to help customers reduce their water use. Meeting
information will be mailed to each customer in early May.
"We are taking a customer -first approach, working directly with our customers to help them comply with state -
mandated reduction targets," said Martin A. Kropelnicki, President and CEO. "Cal Water has an industry-leading
conservation program, and we want to make sure all of our customers are aware of the tools and programs we offer
to help reduce their water demand."
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RESOLUTION NO. 2015-
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RANCHO PALOS
VERDES TO TEMPORARILY REDUCE CERTAIN FEES UNTIL APRIL 15,
2016, TO PROMOTE WATER CONSERVATION IN RESPONSE TO THE
ONGOING DROUGHT
WHEREAS, the state of California is in its fourth season on record drought, and
in response to this condition, Governor Brown issued an executive order requiring water
suppliers in California to reduce by at least 25% the delivery of water to local agencies;
and
WHEREAS, the final state rules regarding the reduction of water use have not
been finalized; and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes wishes to create
additional incentives for residents and property owners to conserve water by reducing
the financial impact from installing water conserving improvements by approving
additional reductions of related City permits and inspection fees;
NOW THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RANCHO PALOS
VERDES DOES HEREBY FIND, DETERMINE AND RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1: The Community Development Department's permit fees for the
following water conservation improvements are further reduced by increasing the
current 50% City subsidy to a 75% City subsidy: permits for installing drip irrigation, a
"smart sprinkler" control system; tankless water heaters; waterless urinals, and dual
flush toilets. In addition, permits for low flow dishwashers and low flow toilets also shall
be added to the list of subsidized permits and shall receive a City subsidy of 75%. This
means that a resident or property owner will only pay $62 ($23 permit fee and $39
issuance fee) for a permit related to this list of water conservation improvements.
Section 2: The cost of an encroachment permit, which is obtained from the
Public Works Department, to install hardscape, xeriscape, gravel and other no or very
low water use landscaping within the public street parkway is hereby reduced by
completely waiving the permit fee of $168 (100% City subsidy) and decreasing the cost
of the hourly City inspection fee by one-half (50% City subsidy).
Section 3: This resolution shall take effect immediately and shall expire on
April 15, 2016, unless further extended by the City Council.
PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED THIS 5T" DAY OF MAY 2015.
MAYOR
We
ATTEST:
CITY CLERK
State of California )
County of Los Angeles )ss
City of Rancho Palos Verdes )
I, CARLA MORREALE, City Clerk of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, hereby certify
that the above Resolution No. 2015- was duly and regularly passed and adopted by
the said City Council at a regular meeting held on May 5, 2015.
CITY CLERK
CITY OF RANCHO PALOS VERDES
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