Environment, Health, 8 and Safety Ensuring a high level of environmental quality in the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan Planning Area is integral to maintaining and enhancing community health, safety, and quality of life. The purpose of this chapter is to establish goals and policies which, in combination with General Plan policies and other local, State, and federal regulations, mitigate the potential negative effects of natural and man-made environmental hazards that threaten public health and safety, as well as the ecological systems in San Pablo and surrounding region. Specifically, this chapter addresses water quality and flooding, habitats and wildlife, noise environment, hazardous materials, and toxic air contaminants. These issues are summarized graphically in Figure 8-1: Environmental Constraints. Policies are designed to augment and reinforce those of the General Plan. 8.1 WATER QUALITY AND FLOODING The protection of regional water resources and quality in the Planning Area is an important local responsibility because of the numerous beneficial uses of the hydrologic system. These beneficial uses regionally and locally include municipal, domestic, agricultural, and industrial water supplies; ground water recharge; navigation; recreation; fishing; habitat for warm and cold freshwater biota, wildlife, and rare and endangered species; and fish migration, spawning, View of San Pablo Reservoir and harvesting. This section provides an overview of water resources, water quality issues, and flooding risk in the Planning Area. Hydrology of the San Pablo Avenue Corridor The San Francisco Bay Area is divided into seven broad watershed basins based upon topography and drainage patterns. The City of San Pablo lies within the San Pablo Basin planning region.1 Within this planning region, the Planning Area lies primarily within the San Pablo Creek and Wildcat Creek watersheds but also San Pablo Bay looking east includes a small portion of the Rheem Creek watershed. These watersheds connect the Planning Area to the San Pablo and San Francisco bays, and thus are part of an ecosystem of unparalleled importance in California. Water bodies in and near the Planning Area for which beneficial uses have been established include San Pablo Creek, Wildcat Creek, San Pablo Reservoir, Briones Reservoir, and San Pablo Bay. 1 San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), 2007. San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan 8-2 Water Quality Issues With urban development, a wide variety of nutrients and toxic substances are introduced into surface waters. Pollutants contained in urban runoff include street litter, sediment, oil and grease, oxygen-demanding substances, patho- genic microorganisms, metals, and pesticides. Nutrient waste in the form of sewage, agricultural fertilizers, and manure lead to reduced dissolved oxygen in surface waters and limit the capacity of water to support aquatic organisms. Toxic substances, such as industrial wastes, automobile fluids and metals, insecticides and herbicides, can poison wildlife and become concen- trated in the food chain and local water supply. In the Planning Area, San Pablo and Wildcat creeks are designated by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board as impaired water bodies under the Clean Water Act Section 303(d). Impaired waters are those that do not meet water quality standards, even after pollution control technology for point sources of pollution have been implemented. The CWA requires the development of action plans, known as Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL), to improve water quality in water bodies designated as impaired. The pollutant identified as causing impairment in the San Pablo and Wildcat creeks is diazinon, related to urban runoff and storm sewers. RWQCB staff is developing TMDL projects to address impaired waters throughout the region. One TMDL may address multiple listings such as diazinon/pesticide toxicity which would address more than 30 impaired creeks or creek segments in urban areas. San Pablo Reservoir has also been listed as an impaired water body for mercury from atmospheric deposition.2 Flood-Risk Areas Flood-prone areas in San Pablo are generally located in topographically low areas and in areas close to creeks. Flood zone mapping done by the Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) indicates that the city is most prone to flooding where San Pablo and Wildcat creeks cross the city boundary on the west; however within the Planning Area, there are a few very small flood-prone areas in the vicinity of where San Pablo Creek meets San Pablo Avenue, and further along Wildcat Creek to the southeast. These areas are mapped in Figure 8-1. 2 San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), 2007. 8-3 FigureFigure 8-1: 8-1: Environmental Constraints Environmental Constraints R h e e m C r e e k Alquist-Priolo Zone (25 foot buffer) Leaking Underground Storage Tanks Toxic Air Contaminant Site 100-year Flood Zone 500-year Flood Zone BROADWAY AVE Valley Riparian Habitat Annual Grassland San Pablo Song Sparrow SAN PABLO AVE Creek (dashed where underground) Contra Costa San Pablo City Limits College RUMRILL BLVD San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan Area SOURCE: FEMA, 2009; EPA, 2010; California Natural Diversity Database, 2010; E L CalFire FRAP, 2010; City of San Pablo, 2010; Dyett & Bhatia, 2010. P O RT AL DR 5 acres 0 250 500 1000 1 FEET acre ROAD 20 EL PO BROOKSIDE DR RTAL DR San P a b l o C r ee k St. Joseph 80 Cemetery SAN PABLO DAM RD 23RD ST SAN PABLO AVE MARKET AVE S CHURCH LN a n P a r o w b l o S o n g S p a r W i l d c a t C re e k SAN PABLO AVE San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan 8-4 Low Impact Development Low Impact Development (LID) technologies and designs mimic natural watershed processes by replicating pre-urban development hydrologic con- ditions on-site. LID usually directs storm water runoff to natural vegetated systems—such as landscaped planters, swales and gardens—that reduce, filter or slow the runoff before it makes its way into the storm drainage system. The proposed redevelopment in the Planning Area will employ low impact development techniques in order to capture and treat stormwater runoff at its source. On-site treatment reduces the amount of pollutants picked up in comparison to stormwater that drains to a central collection site. LID can be incorporated into public realm streetscape and natural or common open spaces in the community. They can be designed as drainage courses within land- scaped greenways and buffers, drainage swales in roadway or parking medians or planter strips, planter boxes and vegetated curb extensions, or even as dem- onstration rain or infiltration gardens to enhance civic and recreational quality of the Planning Area. GUIDING POLICIES 8-G-1 Use development in the San Pablo Avenue corridor to improve local hydrology and water quality. IMPLEMENTING POLICIES 8-I-1 Require development in the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan Planning Area to include low impact development features to reduce stormwa- ter pollutant loads and increase on-site infiltration, consistent with General Plan policy PSCU-I-34. Features should be drawn from the Bay Area Stormwater Management Agency’s “Start at the Source Design Guidance Manual for Stormwater Quality Protection.” Ensure the update of zoning stormwater management standards pursuant to General Plan policy PSCU-I-34 includes provisions for stronger storm- water management on sites within 300 feet of creeks in the Planning Area, with an emphasis on maintaining or restoring the natural char- acter of the water feature. 8-I-2 In accordance with the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan Land Use Diagram, and General Plan policy OSC-I-10, ensure that redevel- opment plans are designed to restore natural ecological systems wherever possible, including such techniques as “daylighting” Wildcat Creek immediately east of San Pablo Avenue in accordance with the Specific Plan Land Use Diagram, and integrating natural features and processes in the public experience throughout the Planning Area. These design efforts up front will improve both the ecological and aes- thetic values of local hydrological resources. Environment, Health, and Safety 8-5 8.2 HABITATS AND WILDLIFE The habitat setting in the Planning Area is extremely limited due to the urban, built-up nature of the corridor. Nonetheless, important natural “corridors” in the form of San Pablo and Wildcat creeks cross through the Planning Area in transition from the hilly inland area of Contra Costa County westward to the Bay. These natural corridors provide important ecological services as described in this and the previous section. In addition to ensuring local water quality as described above, the Specific Plan can protect and enhance these corridors as habitat for wildlife. Vegetation and Habitat Although most of the Planning Area contains what is known as “urban/ disturbed” habitat areas, valley/foothill riparian habitat has been identified along San Pablo and Wildcat creeks within the Planning Area. This habitat consists of woody vegetation within the active and historical floodplains of gently-sloping reaches of streams and rivers. The valley/foothill riparian habitat has four vegetative layers: canopy, sub-canopy, shrub, and groundcover. Deciduous trees dominate the canopy and sub-canopy, including black cot- tonwood, California sycamore, valley oak, white alder, box elder, and Oregon Vegetation along San Pablo Creek ash. The shrub layer includes willows, toyon, California blackberry, poison oak, and dogwood. The ground cover species include sedges, rushes, grasses, and a variety of herbs. A wide range of wildlife species can be found in this habitat type because of its diverse ecological composition, however, the limited extent of the habitat in the Planning Area also limits its usefulness to wildlife. The multiple vegetative layers provide niches for different birds, reptiles, and mammals; and the hydrologic variety provides potential habitat for different fish, amphibians, and reptiles.