Newport likely to back unpopular rules

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- A new set of rules to keep pollutants out of the bay

are flat-out draconian and border on “social engineering,” some City

Council members say, but they’re likely to support them anyway.

A permit to control urban runoff countywide leaves unclear whether

residents will still be allowed to wash their cars with soap and how

small businesses can possibly comply with strict new rules on washing

down sidewalks.

The permit is issued to the county by the Santa Ana Regional Water

Quality Board to allow cities to operate storm drains. The permit, which

is renewed and revised every five years, contains the rules Orange County

cities must observe to limit pollution in runoff.

On a crunch deadline, City Council members on Tuesday scrutinized some

of the implications of the permit. The 80-page document tightens existing

regulations designed to keep pollutants out of local waters, but the

permit is still more lax on Orange County than it is in San Diego and Los

Angeles counties.

Emphasizing that point, Defend the Bay representative Bob Caustin told

council members that the proposed permit doesn’t go far enough. He noted

that the document will guide water-quality rules for San Bernardino and

Riverside counties, where pollutants in the street eventually end up in

the Back Bay and Newport Harbor, among other places.

“This permit will be used as a cookie cutter, so we’ve got to tighten

this up,” he said.

The heated discussion all centers on what the city will say in a

letter it plans to send to the water-quality board.

The board, which will vote on the permit Dec. 19, has full discretion

to accommodate or discard the city’s positions. The city missed a

preliminary deadline to submit the letter but has been assured that

Newport Beach’s comments will be heard, especially because those comments

are likely to be well-received by the water-quality board.

The board has received more than 100 letters opposing the new permit

regulations. Newport Beach’s will be one of few that support the

stringent rules, albeit with some reservations.

“I guess I could support this and then pray it doesn’t pass,” said

Councilwoman Norma Glover, whose sentiments of being torn between clean

water and the tough measures required to obtain it were echoed by

Councilman Tod Ridgeway.

“I’m going to vote for it, I just want to make sure it addresses the

economic issues of our small businesses,” Ridgeway said.

The new permit would prohibit business owners from hosing down their

sidewalks unless they kept the water from getting into storm drains. A

resident would be allowed to wash a car with soap, but if enough people

in any one neighborhood did this, the permit could require them all to

stop.

This prompted Ridgeway to ask whether this scrutiny of individual

behaviors amounts to social engineering.

The new rules are especially tough on developers and construction

companies, requiring they go to great lengths to prevent runoff from

construction sites.

And, after all their work and research, the City Council’s actions at

its next meeting could be for nothing. It’s possible that the

water-quality board, which has four of its nine seats vacant, may fall

short at its Dec. 19 meeting of the quorum needed to approve the permit.

-- June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .