City of los angeles general plan

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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT

Adopted September 2001

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Policy 1: continue striving to meet the city's water, power and other

needs while at the same time striving to be a good steward of natural

resources and minimizing impacts on the environment.

Program: City facility and property management programs.

Responsibility: departments of *Airports, *Public Works and

*Water and Power.

Policy 2: continue striving to meet legal mandates to avoid, mitigate

or abate potential significant environmental impacts associated with

city facilities that are located outside the city's borders.

Program: operating agency facility and property management

programs.

Responsibility: departments of *Airports, *Public Works,

*Recreation and Parks, and *Water and Power.

For related information see:

N

 "Infrastructure Systems Element" (including water and power

facilities and systems), Los Angeles City General Plan (under

preparation) and

N

 "Public Facilities and Services Element" (parks and other city

facilities), Los Angeles City General Plan (under preparation).

SECTION 14: HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

The general plan Safety Element addresses hazardous materials. However,

after the element was drafted, several important changes took place

that warrant mentioning. These involve the state Unified Program and

landfill, brownfields and NPDES programs.

Unified Program. In an effort to streamline hazardous materials

management the state adopted the Unified Hazardous Waste and Materials

Management Regulatory Program (aka Unified Program). The program

(California Health and Safety Code, Division 20 and Code of

Regulations, Titles 19, 22, 24 and 27) consolidates and makes six

existing state hazardous waste and materials management programs

consistent with each other and mandates their coordination. The Los

Angeles City Fire Department applied for and was designated the

Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) for the city (1997), making it

the single point contact for Unified Program activities. As the city's

CUPA, the Fire Department accepts applications from regulated

facilities, issues permits, performs inspections, coordinates with

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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT

Adopted September 2001

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other regulatory agencies, enforces regulations within its jurisdiction

and provides information regarding hazardous materials regulations and

management. The Fire Department, as described in the Safety Element,

already was performing many of the tasks assigned by state legislation.

In 1995 the non-regulatory Hazardous and Toxic Materials Office was

transferred from the Department of Public Works to the Environmental

Affairs Department (EAD). The office works primarily with businesses

and city agencies, disseminating information, providing technical

assistance and coordinating city efforts to promote proper hazardous

materials management and prevention of hazardous materials pollution.

Landfill regulation. Pursuant to state law (Public Resources Code

Division 30 and Code of Regulations Titles 14 and 27) cities and

counties are authorized to enforce solid waste management regulations

at all landfill, transfer station and composting facilities. In 1993,

the city established (Ordinance No. 168,508) a local enforcement agency

(LEA) within EAD. The LEA monitors approximately 100 solid waste

facilities, including open and closed disposal sites and potential

former disposal sites that have been identified by the California State

Integrated Waste Management Board (IWMB). The disposal sites are

located throughout the city. Most were established prior to government

landfill siting regulations. Some may have been established in the 19th

century. Landfill sites deemed to have existing or potential health or

safety problems are inspected by the LEA. Redevelopment of a site

requires LEA approval prior to issuance of a building permit. The LEA

evaluates proposed plans and the site. It can require soils reports and

may impose conditions to abate any potential health or safety problems.

Sites deemed not to have been a landfill or to have no health or safety

problems are recommended by the LEA to the IWMB for removal from the

site inspection list.

Brownfields. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines

brownfields as abandoned, inactive or underutilized industrial and

commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated

by real or perceived environmental contamination. The EPA provides

funds for site assessment and revitalization of sites that are

contaminated with hazardous materials.

The city's brownfields program is a collaborative approach to

redevelopment of individual or groups of old industrial parcels. Soil

contamination often is a major deterrent to redevelopment because

owners lack the funds to cleanup the contaminants which are impeding

property sale or improvement. Most of the sites are located within

communities which grew up around industries, some of which were

established before World War I. The goal of the city program is to

assist property owners in resolving contamination related problems

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