Newport Beach deliberating new water-quality rules

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- Either small-business owners will have to sandbag and

wet-vacuum their sidewalks every time they hose them down or else the

city is going to have to suck it up and pay the cost of living with some

tough new water-quality rules.

According to rules proposed by the city’s water-quality board, it soon

could be illegal for small-business owners to hose down sidewalks in

front of their shops unless they find a way to catch the water and keep

it out of the storm drains. The issue is dividing a City Council usually

united in its firm stance of water quality as a deadline approaches for

the city to weigh in on stringent new rules.

The rules are part of a permit the county must renew with the local

water board every five years that governs storm drains and urban runoff.

The stepped-up standards, which still will leave Orange County trailing

Los Angeles and San Diego counties in water-quality rules, threaten to

create conflict with inland cities, developers and merchants.

Small-business owners can now hose down sidewalks in front of their

shops as long as they don’t use detergent. If the California Regional

Water Quality Control Board gets its way, even this practice will be

banned.

But as officials consider what the city’s position should be on each

of the proposed rules in the 80-page document, some worry that the

sidewalk-washing prohibition is too stringent and that it could even

cause merchants to give up washing their sidewalks altogether.

“We create our own monster here because the area will get dirtier, not

cleaner,” City Councilman Tod Ridgeway said.

Councilwoman Norma Glover took it a step further. Some areas of the

city, such as parts of the peninsula and Balboa Island, need more

cleaning, not less, she said.

“For older parts of the city this will be horrendous,” Glover said.

Her solution: The city should suck it up.

“If we have to do this, then the City Council is going to have to pay

for it,” she said.

Without helping merchants cover the cost of sidewalk cleaning, staff

had estimated that it will cost the city about $200,000 a year to comply

with the new rules. Ridgeway cautioned that, no matter what, it’s going

to cost a lot more.

As the clock ticked toward 10 p.m. Tuesday, council members decided

not to decide just yet what to do about the permit and postponed a plan

to send a letter to the water-quality board stating the city’s position

on the permit. Members voted 6 to 1, with Councilman John Heffernan

dissenting, to take a gamble and request the board extend the deadline,

which passed Wednesday, for council members to send the letter.

“I’m not prepared to vote on this tonight,” Councilman Dennis O’Neil

said.

Members agreed to send a letter to the board requesting more time and

to bring the issue back before the council after they had studied details

of the permit.

Small businesses are not alone in being potentially affected by the

change. New construction could be another problem area. The proposed

rules include strict guidelines for developers to control runoff from

project sites.

Street sweeping, too, could cause troubles. City staff are proposing

that the board force all Orange County cities to sweep their streets

every week to keep debris from ending up in Newport Harbor and the Back

Bay -- an idea that could anger or even injure some inland cities. And,

within Newport Beach borders, gated communities could pose a problem as

the city looks for ways to ensure these closed-off communities are

keeping their roads swept.

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

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .

QUESTION

WATERWAYS

What water-quality standards should Newport Beach adopt? Call our

Readers Hotline at (949) 642-6086 or send e-mail to

dailypilot@latimes.com. Please spell your name and include your hometown

and phone number, for verification purposes only.