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SWRCB ISSUES REVISED PHASE II STORM WATER DRAFT GENERAL PERMIT Eadier this week, the State Water Resources Control Board (Board) issued a revised version of its Phase II Storm Water Draft General Permit. Thanks to numerous comments from local government representatives, the Board did make revisions to the initial Draft General Permit, which are favorable to local governments. On December 8, 1999, U.S. EPA promulgated storm water regulations, known as Phase II, requiring permits for storm water discharges from small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) and from construction sites disturbing between one and five acres of land. According to criteda outlined in the Federal Regulations, once the General Permit is adopted by the Board, 107 California municipal governments will be subject to compliance with the Phase II regulations. As part of this recent revision, the Board removed the minimum post-construction structural best management practices (BMP) requirements for high-growth communities. Many communities ex- pressed concern about the applicability of these post-construction requirements given the various geographic and physical environments throughout the state. Also, the Board removed the Receiving Water Limitations provision requiring that discharges not cause or contribute to an exceedanca of water quality standards in a Statewide plan or applicable Basin Plan. Local governments rightly assert that the standard should be the effectiveness of BMPs in reducing the introduction of pollutants into storm water. By removing the Receiving Water Limitations provision, the implication that local governments would be responsible for chemical monitoring in order to prevent an excaedance of a water quality standard is thereby eliminated. The revised Draft Storm Water Permit is available for review on the Board website at: http:// www.swrcb.ca.qov/. Comments on the revised version are due by November 27, 2002, and the Board will hold a public hearing on December 2, 2002 to consider adoption of the Draft General Permit. Just this week, Board staff mailed hard copies of the permit to the public works directors at each of the 107 impacted jurisdictions. In early 2003, the League and other local government associations plan to conduct several regional workshops to help impacted jurisdictions develop their storm water manage- ment programs in order to meet the federal deadline of Mamh 10, 2003. LEAGUE CO-SPONSORS PROGRAM TO EXPLORE RETAIL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS The League of California Cities is co-sponsoring the California Alliance Program, taking place Tues- day, December 10, 2002, 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., in Long Beach at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel. This one-day program will explore how public/private partnerships can work to synthesize the needs of the community with the interests of private investment. The program will feature panel discussions, a luncheon keynote presentation and a development opportunities forum. The League joins the International Council of Shopping Centers, the International Economic Devel- opment Council, the California Association for Local Economic Development, California Business Properties Association, California Redevelopment Association, California State Association of Counties, and Genesis L.A. as a sponsor of this worthwhile program. Advance registrations are being taken until December 3. You can register online at www.icsc.orq or call Lauren Landow at (646) 728-3635. PAGE 2/PRIORITY FOCUS Visit the League's Official Web Site--www.cacities.org