Shift on Storm-Water Policy May Soak Businesses

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Thousands of local manufacturers, warehouses, recycling facilities and other businesses in Los Angeles County and throughout the state could face huge increases in storm-water runoff fees under a plan being considered by state water quality regulators.

The changes that the state Water Quality Control Board is considering are to the industrial general permit fee structure. Industrial and other facilities that discharge storm water from their properties must obtain an industrial general permit under a national program to control water pollution from specific sources. A wide array of industries and facilities are required to obtain this permit – everything from cement plants to warehouse-distribution centers.

Besides paying a fee, each facility must present plans to control storm-water runoff from its property and equipment as well as constantly monitor storm-water flow.

For years, the state water board, which administers the program in California for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has charged a flat annual permit fee for all 8,000-plus regulated facilities throughout the state; currently $1,791. But the board is considering changing the fee structure to better reflect the discharge volume and water quality threat posed by each facility.

“Right now, a small craft brewer with maybe eight or 10 employees pays the same amount as a brewery giant,” such as MillerCoors at its Irwindale brewery, said Cory Jones, storm-water manager for SCS Engineers in Long Beach. Jones recently attended a water board workshop on the fee restructuring. “The goal is to redistribute the fees so it’s more fair.”

So, small facilities such as that craft brewer would likely pay less than the current $1,791 a year, while large facilities or sites that pose a higher risk to local water quality would pay more – sometimes much more.

“Collectively among our dozens of clients that are in this arena, there is a lot of apprehension about what this will mean,” Jones said. “They fear their fees will double or more and are figuring out where else to pinch pennies.”

By itself, this restructuring would be revenue neutral, generating the same $14 million a year for the state water board that it does now. But it comes just as the industrial general permit program itself is expanding to take in more industries that had been exempt and more facilities that had flown under the radar. Jones estimates that by the time this fee restructuring goes into effect – possibly in 2018 – thousands more facilities will be part of the program.

Business Boost

Two initiatives are underway in Los Angeles that could make things easier for business.

Earlier this month, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced an expansion of same-day, walk-in plan check services for small-building projects at the Department of Building and Safety. This “expanded counter plan check” program promises to cut staff review times for projects from an average of 25 days to just one.

The program is aimed at small projects, such as multifloor tenant improvements in apartment buildings.

Since the department launched a pilot program in May, more than 1,700 individual projects – roughly one quarter of all building plans submitted – have gone through the expedited process.

Last month, Garcetti and the building department launched a mobile app allowing applicants to access department services on their smartphone. In three weeks, the app had been downloaded more than 1,100 times and received more than 30,000 page views.

Meanwhile, Councilman Paul Krekorian, who chairs the City Council’s ad-hoc committee on job creation, introduced a pair of motions last week designed to boost small business in Los Angeles.

The first motion urges the creation of a “City of Los Angeles Business Unit” that would function as a one-stop shop for businesses to access incentive and service programs. The unit would also help with the deployment of rapid-response teams that would help businesses avoid layoffs or relocation.

The second motion calls for the creation of a Small Business Commission that would oversee small-business bid preference and other programs.

Licensed Place

While the city of Los Angeles has been moving in recent weeks to make things easier for business, Los Angeles county is poised to make things at least a little more costly.

Specifically, supervisors are mulling a dramatic expansion of the county’s business license program as part of an effort to crack down on wage theft.

Part of the motion introduced by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Mark Ridley-Thomas to set up a wage-theft enforcement bureau would require virtually all of the estimated 15,000 businesses in unincorporated Los Angeles County to obtain business licenses. Currently only about 5,000 businesses – those with a health or safety component, such as restaurants – are required to obtain them. Professional services, such as law or accounting firms, are largely exempt from the license requirements.

The cost of licenses range from $50 to $7,500 a year, depending on the type of business.

Solis told KPCC-FM (89.3) in an interview last week that the expanded license requirement would have two benefits: making it easier for the county to track businesses and wage-theft complaints, and allowing the county to communicate better with those businesses about the slated increases in the minimum wage (to $15 an hour by 2020) and wage-theft enforcement issues.

Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 227.

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Howard Fine
Howard Fine is a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles Business Journal. He covers stories pertaining to healthcare, biomedicine, energy, engineering, construction, and infrastructure. He has won several awards, including Best Body of Work for a single reporter from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers and Distinguished Journalist of the Year from the Society of Professional Journalists.

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