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CC - CONSENT ITEM: Approval of a Cost Sharing Agreement Covering a Share of the Administrative Costs of the Santa Monica Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency.
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Meeting Date: August 12, 2024
Contact Person/Dept: Sean Singletary/Public Works Department
Phone Number: (310) 253-6457
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [ ] General Fund: Yes [ ] No [X]
Attachments: Yes [ ] No [X]
Public Notification: E-Mail (08/07/2024): Meetings and Agendas - City Council
Department Approval: Yanni Demitri, Public Works Director/City Engineer (07/29/2024)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that City Council approve a cost sharing agreement covering Culver City’s share of the Santa Monica Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency’s administrative costs.
BACKGROUND
In September 2014, Governor Brown signed three bills (AB 1793, SB 1319, and SB 1168) designed to advance groundwater management in California. The legislation, together known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), provides for improved management of groundwater in unadjudicated basins by local authorities. SGMA is one component of an integrated state policy that includes conservation, recycling, safe drinking water, storage, and watershed restoration. Sustainable management addresses management and use of groundwater in a way that can be maintained without chronic lowering of groundwater levels, and significant and unreasonable reduction in groundwater storage, seawater intrusion, degradation of groundwater quality, land subsidence, and surface water depletion. Good groundwater management will provide a buffer against drought and climate change, and contribute to reliable water supplies regardless of weather patterns.
Santa Monica Groundwater Subbasin
In 2014, the state’s Department of Water Resources established an initial priority for each basin through the California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring Program, established in response to the 2009 Comprehensive Water Package. The Santa Monica Groundwater Subbasin was designated a medium priority basin and was, thus, required to develop a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP). This subbasin covers approximately 50 square miles, located under Los Angeles County’s unincorporated land and under the cities of Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and most of the City of Culver City. Basins are required to have Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSA) covering the entire basin, either under a single GSA or multiple GSAs. If part of a basin is not covered by a GSA, the County will be the presumed GSA for the unmanaged area.
On May 30, 2017, the City Council approved the adoption of a resolution authorizing Culver City to join the Santa Monica Basin GSA (SMBGSA). Since that time, Culver City has participated as a member of the SMBGSA, the agency that governs the entire Santa Monica Subbasin.
The SMBGSA’s GSP was completed in July 2021 and can be viewed at <https://www.santamonica.gov/gsp>. This GSP is broken into four parts:
1. Plan Area and Basin Setting describes the water agencies and the jurisdictional boundaries of the basin and the geological, land use, and other characteristics of the area;
2. Sustainability Criteria breaks down the six sustainability indicators that may experience undesirable results as a result of groundwater production, none of which are projected to be exceeded over the horizon of the plan;
3. Projects and Management Actions document potential actions that the SMBGSA could undertake to respond to changing conditions in the Basin; and
4. Plan Implementation describes adaptive management techniques that can be undertaken after the adoption of the GSP to fill data gaps and the production of annual reports and five-year evaluation.
The SMBGSA’s GSP was approved by the Department of Water Resources’ Sustainable Groundwater Management Office on October 26, 2023.
DISCUSSION
The City of Santa Monica awarded an $887,580 professional services contract to Dudek on December 13, 2022 for the administration of the SMBGSA. On July 17, 2024, the SMBGSA Board, including Culver City’s representative, voted to recommend to their respective governing bodies that this $887,580 administrative cost be shared among the local government entities who are members of the SMBGSA. The current proposal and recommendation is that the City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles each pay 20% of these administrative costs, that the Cities of Beverly Hills and Culver City pay a portion based on each city’s land area within the Subbasin (i.e., 2% and 10% respectively) and that the remainder of the costs be borne by the City of Santa Monica.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
The total cost of Culver City’s proposed 10% share over five years will be $87,629. The Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 includes sufficient funding available in CIP Account #43480000.730100.PZ497 (Stormwater Discharge Program/NPDES) to fund the first three years of the agreement, which the City of Santa Monica has covered for all member agencies to this point. This account can be found in the Capital Improvements section of the budget book in Fund 434 (Urban Runoff Mitigation). Funding for the fourth and fifth years of the existing five-year agreement will be included in future fiscal year budgets.
ATTACHMENTS
None.
MOTION
That the City Council:
1. Approve a Cost Sharing Agreement covering a share of the administrative costs of the Santa Monica Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency;
2. Authorize the City Attorney to review/prepare the necessary documents; and
3. Authorize the City Manager to execute such documents on behalf of the City.