EDA Winter Newsletter

WINTER NEWSLETTER Page 14

Project Management Office Cont.

In addition to compliance with air quality standards, ECPD maintains hazardous materials emergency business plans (HMBPs) for several dozen county facilities, which are available to local fire and emergency responders. HMBPs are aimed for on-site staff and other potential emergency first responders who may discover a potential hazardous materials incident. HMBPs alert any responder of the locations, proper handling, and potential risks of on-site hazardous materials. Employees directly working around and/or handling hazardous chemicals are trained on the contents, protective measures and response procedures spelled out in the HMBPs

construction of County buildings. Permeable materials that allow the rain water to soak into the ground, roofs that direct rain water into cisterns or basins for reuse, landscapes designed to retain water to allow percolation into the groundwater, and measures to prevent runoff of sediment laden stormwater during construction, all help to improve water quality. In support of the implementation of these water quality measures, the ECPD works to ensure project planning compliance with Regional Water Board Regulations. This compliance is reflected in the water quality management plans for completed sites and stormwater pollution prevention plans for the duration of facility construction. ECPD also monitors county sites for compliance with the plans during and after construction; currently, monitoring is being performed at five facilities under construction and fifteen facilities with permanent stormwater measures in place. The ECPD is also directly involved in the prevention of spills at our county sites. Chemicals that could affect our surface water quality via discharges into sewers,

A new Senior Environmental Planner, Michael Sullivan, joined the ECPD team in October 2015 and is assigned to the area of compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act

(CEQA). Michael has already completed 39 Notices of Exemption and managed one Initial Study. He also ensures that the mitigation measures identified in previous environmental documents have been implemented or are being implemented during construction. Michael was part of an EDA team that conducted its first formal tribal consultation process that is now required subsequent to the recent passage of Assembly Bill 52. During the tribal consultation for the Southwest Justice Center Courts Relocation Project, the team visited the Pechanga Cultural Resource Facility and attended a meeting which included tribal members, legal counsel, planners, and cultural specialists from the Pechanga tribe. As part of this meeting, the team was provided with maps of tribal resources in the vicinity of the project area and given a brief history of tribal activity within the area. Through this consultation process, EDA was able to identify and collaborate on mitigation measures for the project which would take into account procedures for accidental discoveries of cultural resources during the construction process. The third area of compliance is with the Water Quality/ National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The water quality of our streams, rivers and groundwater can be improved by the proper design and

storm drains or runoff, or our groundwater quality via percolation, must be avoided. The ECPD supports compliance with Spill Prevention Regulations through plan preparation and coordination, organization of training, and assistance in identifying and obtaining appropriate materials to effectively contain spills. Many of our county facilities have Spill Prevention Containment and Countermeasures Plans.