El Cerrito Green Infrastructure Plan: Improving Stormwater Quality in El Cerrito and Its Watersheds
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El Cerrito Green Infrastructure Plan: Improving Stormwater Quality in El Cerrito and its Watersheds September 17, 2019 CITY OF EL CERRITO GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN Contents 1 Introduction and Overview ..................................................................... 7 1.1 What is Green Infrastructure? ............................................................. 7 1.2 Regulatory Mandate ............................................................................ 7 1.3 Purpose ................................................................................................ 8 1.4 Plan Context ......................................................................................... 9 1.5 Green Infrastructure in El Cerrito Today ............................................ 27 1.6 Policies, Ordinances, and Legal Mechanisms ..................................... 30 2 Green Infrastructure Targets ................................................................ 35 2.1 Private Development Projections ...................................................... 36 2.2 Targets for Public Projects ................................................................. 37 2.3 Projected Load Reductions ................................................................ 37 3 Public Project Identification, Prioritization, and Mapping ..................... 40 3.1 Public Project Identification and Prioritization .................................. 40 3.2 Maps and Project Lists ....................................................................... 48 4 Early Implementation Projects ............................................................. 57 4.1 Review of Capital Improvement Projects ........................................... 57 4.2 Projects Identified and Workplan for Completion ............................. 57 4.3 Implementation Challenges ............................................................... 57 5 Tracking and Mapping Public and Private Projects Over Time .............. 59 5.1 Tools and Process ............................................................................... 59 5.2 Results ................................................................................................ 61 5.3 Guidelines for Specifications and Typical Design Details ................... 62 5.4 Sizing Requirements ........................................................................... 63 6 Funding Options ................................................................................... 64 6.1 Funding Strategies Developed Regionally .......................................... 64 6.2 Local Funding Resources .................................................................... 65 7 Adaptive Management ......................................................................... 67 7.1 Process for Adaptive Management .................................................... 67 7.2 Pursuing Future Funding Sources....................................................... 67 7.3 Future Considerations ........................................................................ 68 FINAL DRAFT 2 September 2019 CITY OF EL CERRITO GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN Tables Table 1. Workplan to Update Planning Documents to Incorporate Green Infrastructure .......................................................................................... 23 Table 2: Completed Green Infrastructure Projects in El Cerrito ..................... 28 Table 3: Estimates of Cumulative Impervious Surface Forecast to be Retrofit with Green Infrastructure via Private Development .............................. 37 Table 4: Estimates of Cumulative Impervious Surface Forecast to Be Retrofit with Green Infrastructure via Public Development ................................ 37 Table 5: Green Infrastructure Project Types and Categorization Criteria ...... 43 Table 6: SWRP Project Opportunity Infiltration Feasibility Categorization Criteria .................................................................................................... 43 Table 7: Green Infrastructure Project List ..................................................... 50 Table 8: Capital Improvement Projects .......................................................... 58 Table 9: Example Output from the C.3 Project Tracking and Load Reduction Accounting Tool – City of El Cerrito Area Treated by Area-Based Control Measure Category (FY2013-14 – FY2017-18) ......................................... 61 Figures Figure 1: El Cerrito’s Storm Sewer System and Drainage Network ................ 12 Figure 2: FEMA Flood Zone Map .................................................................... 13 Figure 3: El Cerrito Known Flooding Locations ............................................... 14 Figure 4: El Cerrito Planned Green Infrastructure Projects by Target Date.... 54 Figure 5: El Cerrito Planned Green Infrastructure Projects by Type ............... 55 Figure 6: Output Map from C.3 Project Tracking and Load Reduction Accounting Tool ...................................................................................... 60 Appendices 1. El Cerrito Green Infrastructure Plan Project Concept Designs 2. Resident Actions to Support Sustainable Stormwater Management 3. Further Background on Mercury and PCBs in San Francisco Bay 4. Reasonable Assurance Analysis Countywide Attainment Strategy 5. El Cerrito Municipal Code Chapter 8.40 - Stormwater Management and Discharge Control 6. El Cerrito Municipal Code - Creek Protection Overlay District 7. “Guidance for Identifying Green Infrastructure Potential in Municipal Capital Improvement Projects” (May 6, 2016). BASMAA. 8. Evaluation of Funding Options for Projects that Include Both Green Infrastructure and Transportation Improvements FINAL DRAFT 3 September 2019 CITY OF EL CERRITO GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN Acronyms ABAG Association of Bay Area Governments BASMAA Bay Area Stormwater Management Agencies Association CCCWP Contra Costa Clean Water Program GI Green Infrastructure GIS Geographic Information System IRWMP Integrated Regional Water Management Plan LID Low Impact Development MRP Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit MS4 Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System MTC Metropolitan Transportation Commission NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System PCBs Polychlorinated Biphenyls RAA Reasonable Assurance Analysis SWRP Stormwater Resource Plan TMDL Total Maximum Daily Load TOD Transit Oriented Development FINAL DRAFT 4 September 2019 CITY OF EL CERRITO GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The City of El Cerrito is one of 76 local government entities subject to the requirements of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board for the San Francisco Bay Region’s (RWQCB’s) Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit (MRP). The MRP (Provision C.3.j.i.) requires the City of El Cerrito to prepare a Green Infrastructure Plan, to be submitted with its Annual Report to the RWQCB by September 30, 2019. This Plan will guide El Cerrito’s shift from conventional “collect and convey” storm drain infrastructure to more resilient, sustainable stormwater management that reduces runoff volumes, disperses runoff to vegetated areas, harvests and uses runoff where feasible, promotes infiltration and evapotranspiration, and uses natural processes to detain and treat runoff. This will include implementing, where and when feasible, Green Infrastructure features such as pervious pavement, bioretention facilities (“rain gardens”), green roofs, and rainwater harvesting systems. This Plan details how these methods can be constructed on public and private parcels and within the public right-of-way. The City of El Cerrito has been implementing Green Infrastructure in City facilities and the public right-of-way for over 10 years. The City has already built several rain gardens including those at the Recycling + Environmental Resource Center, City Hall, Public Safety Building, on the Ohlone Greenway at Fairmount Avenue, and on San Pablo Avenue at Eureka Avenue and Madison Avenue. In addition, the City has completed projects to daylight and “naturalize” multiple sections along Cerrito Creek, Baxter Creek, and Fluvius Innominatus (“Rust Creek”). This Plan sets targets for the City to implement Green Infrastructure projects by 2020, 2030, and 2040. It is estimated that through private development, nearly 1.4 million square feet of area in El Cerrito will be treated by Green Infrastructure by 2040. Further, if all the projects identified in this Plan are funded and built, it is estimated that an additional nearly 2.4 million square feet of area will be treated by Public Development of Green Infrastructure. This Plan lists 43 specific Green Infrastructure projects that could be implemented. For 17 of these, the City has advanced the process of implementation by preparing conceptual designs. The City will primarily rely on funding from outside sources and new funding streams for implementation of the Green Infrastructure projects identified in this Plan. As a result, implementation of the projects will be highly contingent on FINAL DRAFT 5 September 2019 CITY OF EL CERRITO GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN the funding available to the City and the cost of constructing Green Infrastructure projects. The Plan is comprised of seven key sections. The first section provides an introduction and background to the planning context and history of Green Infrastructure in El Cerrito. The second section sets estimates and targets for the amount of Green Infrastructure to be constructed by 2020, 2030, and 2040. The third section identifies and maps projects that could