Laguna may require sewer pipe inspections

Laguna Beach is looking into taking a stronger stance on sewer line inspections in its continued effort to reduce spills from blocked pipes.

After input from the Laguna Board of Realtors during Tuesday’s council meeting, council members discussed implementing mandatory video inspections of sewer lines every five years.

“Forty-two percent of sewer spills are related to roots,” said David Shissler, Laguna’s director of water quality. The city has an existing ordinance, but Shissler said it’s more voluntary and less enforcement-driven.

Those voluntary efforts coupled with a concerted effort by the city to keep its own pipes clean have resulted in fewer sewage spills over the past 10 years, Shissler said. But according to a city staff report, roots are still growing into underground pipes and causing backups despite some infrastructure improvements.

Private property owners are responsible for maintaining their pipes, including the connection point to the main public line, according to the city, which maintains 95 miles of sewer lines.

Laguna allows homeowners to clean a pipe that is clogged in lieu of more in-depth repair or complete pipe replacement, but City Manager John Pietig said that process can just push the problem down the road.

“When [a cleaning company] pushes a big root ball into the main line, that flows down and eventually balls up,” Pietig said. “For 10 years [plumbers] haven’t been reporting when they [clean a pipe],” for fear of liability.

In order to keep track of the problem pipes and potential problems, city staff had suggested home buyers be required to pay for a video inspection as a condition of purchasing a house. But Realtors balked at the plan.

Laguna Board of Realtors’ member and former Mayor Wayne Baglin suggested that, instead, a record of any sewer video inspection be included in city-maintained property reports and be made known to the buyer and seller during a house’s sale.

“Put the burden on the buyer and seller. That is where it belongs,” Baglin said. “They can negotiate who pays for it.”

Baglin also suggested the mandatory five-year video inspection be applied to residential and commercial properties.

Video inspections cost $150. A sewer pipe repair can range from $1,600 to $15,000, Shissler said.

Councilman Steve Dicterow said he is worried that certain homeowners may not be able to afford a costly pipe repair.

“I don’t mind homeowners paying $150 [for video inspections],” Dicterow said. “We could see people losing homes. We need to have some sort of cost sharing with city. The city would get a big benefit out of cost for repair versus the potential litigation expenses.”

Dicterow also said it is not enough to let homeowners know they have a problem. He wants them to fix the damaged or clogged pipe immediately.

The staff report suggested offering financial incentives for property owners to repair their pipes. The report used the example of the Costa Mesa Sanitation District, which pays 50% of repair costs up to $1,600 per pipe.

Pietig applauded the Realtors’ suggestions, calling them more aggressive than what the city proposed

“At least there’s money on the table during escrow,” Pietig said. “If they’re smart and we tell them, ‘You’ve got roots in your lateral and you could have a big backup in your home, sewage over multiple levels of your house,’ I would hope a lot of those people will say, ‘Let’s fix it now.’”

City staff is also considering paying plumbers $50 for reporting when they see roots entering city sewer mains. The program would be capped at $3,000 per year.

*

Complaints over airplane noise

In response to ongoing complaints from residents about airplane noise, the City Council will send a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration asking that planes travel 1,000 feet higher over Laguna Beach than they currently fly.

Members voted 4 to 0 to ask that the planes climb to at least 10,000 feet when headed east from John Wayne Airport over the city. Dicterow recused himself because of a conflict of interest.

Council members said they have received several complaints from residents about airplane noise, according to the city’s letter, signed by Mayor Elizabeth Pearson.

“More flights heading east of Las Vegas are crossing the coastline in a much narrower flight path and concentrate over Laguna Beach neighborhoods instead of dispersing over other communities to the north and south of the city,” the letter says.

“The result has been more concentrated noise over some of the neighborhoods in the city. Related to these complaints are concerns that this is also increasing air pollution emissions originating from aircraft that fly over these areas.”

The average commercial flight travels at 9,000 feet above Laguna, Assistant City Manager Christa Johnson said.

The council sent a letter to the FAA in February asking that federal officials include an analysis about potential noise and environmental impacts of possible flight pattern changes over Laguna in the agency’s more comprehensive study, according to a city staff report.

In 2015, the FAA is expected to release a draft environmental impact report on how best to use airspace in the Southern California region, which includes John Wayne, Los Angeles International and Long Beach airports, the staff report said.