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In the Cities

SETBACK SCORES BIG-TIME

Environmentalists shot for the setback moon and got it in May 1994, when the San Jose City Council approved 100-foot setback guidelines for all land uses adjacent to creeks. Of the 40-odd speakers heard at a crowded final council meeting, only two opposed the full setback (and they "slunk up" to the microphone according to one observer). The clamor for the most stringent possible riparian protection guidelines surprised the city's planning staff, who called the 100-foot setback "pie in the sky" in April. "The environmental community really hung in there," says the city's Pat Colombe.

San Jose's new guidelines, to be published in final form as the Riparian Corridor Policy Study by the end of this year, cover not only setbacks, but also toxics runoff, restoration and planting procedures, lighting, building orientation and recreational use (golf courses were one of the land uses that were counting on but didn't get a lesser setback). Colombe says the Council didn't stop with mere riparian protection. It also voted for a strong restoration policy and action plan and set up a referral process that notifies environmentalists of projects applying for permits near creeks. Colombe says delight over the recent sighting of salmon in the city's Guadalupe River fueled the riparian protection fervor. Contact: Pat Colombe (408)277-4576 4/94

NEW DRILL ON DENTAL AMALGAM

Dentists and San Francisco officials are cooking up some housekeeping BMPs to keep scraps of amalgam from slipping down the drain. Earlier this year, a city public works study showed that dental amalgams make up 8-13% of the mercury-containing waste that arrives at local sewage treatment facilities. After a year of meetings between dentists and city officials, the jury is still out on whether good housekeeping is all that is needed to solve the problem. Mercury treatment and removal systems may also need to be installed, according to the City's Daniel Standfree. Seattle will require such systems as of July 1995. San Francisco's Standfree says this spring the city will put both housekeeping and treatment approaches to the test. It will then test the drain discharges of participating dentists to determine if either or both bring them within San Francisco's 0.5 ppm local discharge limit. Contact: Daniel Standfree (415)695-7363 2/94

POLLUTION PREVENTION KUDOS

Alameda County's campaign to prevent anything but rainwater from disappearing down storm drains won second place nationwide in an EPA awards program recognizing excellence in stormwater pollution control. First place went to a small town of 14,000 in New Jersey - a speck on the national stormwater map compared to Alameda's 14 cities, 1.3 million residents, 38,809 storm drains and 85 billion annual gallons of stormwater. In particular, EPA commended Alameda's development of BMPs for municipal maintenance, efforts to retain vegetation in flood control channels, sponsorship of teacher workshops (Kids in Creeks) and demonstrated success in educating the public and changing behavior. To the West, the City of San Francisco also got a 1994 EPA medal - this time a first place for its innovative, pollution-preventing pretreatment-focused regulation of local businesses discharging into city sewers. Contact: Sharon Gosselin, Alameda (510)670-6547 & Steve Medbery, S.F. (415)695-7310 4/94 & 6/94

TWO-TIME REBATE

A Richmond apartment complex will pocket its second runoff rebate in a row this January under a city program offering a $20-a-unit rebate on its $32-a-unit storm-water utility fee to landlords who work hard to curb polluted runoff. To win the rebate, the 194-unit Creekside apartment complex banned car washing, mandated oil leak repair and spill clean up, conducted storm drain inspections, enclosed dumpsters and prohibited gardeners from storing pesticides on site. Creekside recently passed its second site inspection with flying colors, qualifying for another rebate. But this year marks the first time city public works authorities will try to confirm improvements seen on their site tours with some water quality tests. Contact: Henry Tingle (510)620-6538 12/93

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