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LA City Council Unanimously Passes New Storm Water Rules

The Los Angeles City Council passed new storm water management rules for the building community Tuesday, gaining backing, or at least no objections, from some development groups that have fretted over possible cost increases. The ordinance, which sailed through council on a unanimous vote, represents a shift toward managing storm water onsite through landscaping that mimics the natural environment. Currently, runoff full of pollutants typically flows off Los Angeles’ urban landscape into the ocean. City officials hope to decrease pollution and recharge the aquifers by emphasizing building techniques that direct runoff into the ground. During a two-year legislative slog, the building community won significant concessions, including the scrapping of a mitigation fee, a grandfather clause, a delay in enforcement and increased options to comply. “This is a great example of productive collaboration between the city and the private sector,” Anh Nguyen of the Central City Association told the council. Nguyen said the rules “will not unduly disrupt the real estate industry and the city’s efforts to recover from the economic downturn.” The new requirements would require many new developments and some redevelopments to capture, infiltrate or reuse all runoff from a ¾-inch rain storm. Builders could install a variety of green landscaping such as infiltration basins or permeable pavement to manage that runoff. Some larger developments must currently meet those requirements, but the new ordinance would expand compliance to smaller projects. Under the new rules, the smallest residential developments would simply have to install devices such as rain barrels, a less costly requirement. “It makes very little sense for this city to be dependent upon expensive imported water at the very same time that we rush our storm water as quickly as we can out to the ocean,” City Councilman Paul Krekorian told the council. “It makes every bit of good sense to try to retain as much storm water as we can right here in the city so we can use it.” Many Valley area developers are unfamiliar with the change and how it could impact their businesses, while some have said existing green building requirements have pushed up rents on new projects. Holly Schroeder, chief executive of the Los Angeles and Ventura chapter of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, said she appreciated the city working with the development community, but that the Building Industry Association wants to continue collaborating after the ordinance becomes effective. “In our mind, as we move forward with real estate projects, the hard work begins now,” she told the council. “We still have issues to work through in terms of codes and requirements.” Schroeder said earlier this month that the new rules, which passed unchanged, could saddle developers with increased costs and possibly stunt development in perilous economic times. Overall, the development community expects to see costs associated with the new rules rise between 5 percent and 10 percent, according to a joint-Chief Legislative Analyst and City Administrative Officer report released in December. The city says the impact on developers will be minimal and has promised to work with builders to help their projects comply. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa must now sign off on the ordinance.

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