TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Tony Olmos, Public Works Director
Raul Saenz, Utilities Manager
SUBJECT:Title
Adoption of Urgency Ordinance No. 15-0025-U and Introduction of Non-Urgency Ordinance No. 15-0025, which will Revise Title 7 - Public Works, Chapter 7.44 - Water Conservation of the Manhattan Beach Municipal Code (Public Works Director Olmos).
ADOPT URGENCY ORDINANCE NO. 15-0025-U AND INTRODUCE ORDINANCE NO. 15-0025
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Urgency Ordinance No. 15-0025-U and Introduce Non-Urgency Ordinance No. 15-0025 which will revise Title 7 - Public Works, Chapter 7.44 - Water Conservation of the Manhattan Beach Municipal Code.
.By
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Public outreach in the form of water billing inserts to all of the City’s active water service accounts is estimated at $1,000, which is available in the FY 15/16 Operating Budget.
BACKGROUND:
On April 1, 2015, Governor Brown issued Executive Order B-29-15 that directed the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) to impose restrictions on water suppliers to achieve a statewide 25 percent reduction in potable urban water usage through February 2016.
In response, on May 5, 2015, the Water Board adopted an Emergency Regulation for Statewide Urban Water Conservation (Emergency Regulations) to implement Executive Order B-29-15. Subsequently, the California Office of Administrative Law approved the Emergency Regulations on May 15, 2015. The Emergency Regulations will remain in effect until February 28, 2016.
On June 2, 2015 the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 15-0008 which revised Title 7 - Public Works, Chapter 7.44 - Water Conservation of the Manhattan Beach Municipal Code, bringing the City in compliance with Executive Order B-29-15.
On September 1, 2015, City Council conducted a public hearing and directed staff to amend the existing water conservation ordinance to modify Stage 3 Drought Restrictions to allow outdoor watering on two days per week and reduce the amount of allowed water time per watering zone by half for each of those days.
DISCUSSION:
Upon declaration of a Stage 3 drought by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the City implemented Stage 3 Drought Restrictions as prescribed in the City’s water conservation ordinance. Stage 3 Drought Restrictions, among other restrictions, limited landscape irrigation to one time per week at 15 minutes per watering zone.
The most frequent request from the community since implementation of the Stage 3 Drought Restrictions has been to allow irrigation two times per week at 7 1/2 minutes per watering zone. By allowing water users to conduct landscape watering two days per week for a period of eight minutes per watering zone, as opposed to one day per week for a period of fifteen minutes per watering zone, the City Council believes that this Ordinance will 1.) Reduce over-irrigation, oversaturation of landscaping, and unnecessary waste of water caused by runoff; and 2.) Better preserve the health of the landscape during the drought without exceeding the total allowable watering times required under the Stage 3 Drought Restrictions.
Section 7.44.030 - Drought Restrictions - C (2) of the City’s Water Conservation Ordinance will be amended:
From
Landscape watering with potable water shall be limited to one time per week for not more than 15 minutes per watering zone as follows:
a. Even numbered addresses from 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday to 9:00 a.m. the following Thursday; and
b. Odd numbered addresses from 6:00 p.m. on Friday to 9:00 a.m. the following Saturday.
To
Landscape watering with potable water shall be limited to two times per week for not more than 8 minutes per watering zone from:
a. 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday and 9:00 a.m. the following Thursday; and
b. 6:00 p.m. on Friday to 9:00 a.m. the following Saturday.
It should be noted that the watering time per watering zone was changed from 15 minutes to 8 minutes per watering zone in the proposed amendment. The reason for not using 7 ½ minutes is that most readily available irrigation controllers do not allow the use of partial minutes.
PUBLIC OUTREACH/INTEREST:
Public outreach to inform the community of the ordinance amendment will include posting on the City’s website, water billing insert notification and a press release.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Urgency Ordinance No. 15-0025-U and Introduce Non-Urgency Ordinance No. 15-0025 which will revise Title 7 - Public Works, Chapter 7.44 - Water Conservation of the Manhattan Beach Municipal Code.
Attachment:
1. Ordinance No. 15-0025-U
2. Ordinance No. 15-0025