Council Agenda - City of Burbank

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Agenda Item - 11

 

 

City Attorney�s Office

City of Burbank

Dennis A. Barlow, City Attorney

Memorandum

 

 
DATE: August 10, 2004
TO:

The Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

FROM:

Juli C. Scott, Chief Assistant City Attorney
SUBJECT:

Step One � Councilmember Campbell�s Request to Consider Adoption of Engine Idling Restrictions

 

The City is in receipt of an opinion from the Attorney General regarding the City�s ability to regulate engine idling in conjunction with the implementation and enforcement of transportation control measures (TCM) as set forth in Health and Safety Code � 40717.   Councilmember Campbell has requested that the Council consider the adoption of an engine idling ordinance.  This is step one in the process established by Council for adding items to the agenda. 

 

Should the entire Council decide to move to Step Two on this issue, the Council should consider the following:

  1. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) just last week adopted rules restricting vehicle idling to 5 minutes for all diesel-fueled commercial motor vehicles with a gross vehicular weight rating of greater than 10,000 pounds.  These rules were added to existing measures which already limit school bus idling and idling of any vehicles within 100 feet of schools (attached).  They do not address the issue of sleeper cabs, which they will address in the future.

            Should the Council wish to adopt more stringent standards than CARB, the Council would need to conduct some sort of study similar to that conducted by CARB in order to determine what conditions exist in Burbank which are unique to Burbank as opposed to the general region which would necessitate more stringent idling standards.  CARB studied potential health risks, associated economic impacts (including both costs and savings), and environmental impacts, among other things.  The costs of such study including the necessary manpower are unknown at this point.  Obviously CEQA would have to be followed and that could mean anything from a full Environmental Impact Report to a Negative Declaration.  The costs of CEQA analysis are unknown.

  1. As set forth in the Attorney General�s opinion, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) currently has the responsibility for implementing and enforcing air quality requirements relating to vehicle emissions, which includes the adoption of transportation control measures.  As indicated by the Attorney General, Health and Safety Code � 40717 allows the City to request that the SCAQMD delegate to the City the responsibility for implementation and enforcement of these transportation control measures.  The City would need to demonstrate that it has adequate resources to both adopt and enforce the measures, and submit a proposed implementation and enforcement plan.  If the plan is approved by the SCAQMD, the City would then take over the responsibility of implementing and enforcing measures governing strategies to reduce vehicle trips, vehicle use, vehicle miles traveled, vehicle idling and traffic congestion throughout the entire City of Burbank.  In this context, the City could enact provisions relating to engine idling.  The City could also, in this context enact provisions which were more stringent than those enacted by the AQMD. 1

We have been in contact with AQMD regarding this matter.  The Transportation Programs Manager has offered to meet with City staff to discuss the delegation process.   I advised her that we would contact her once we receive our direction from the Council.  AQMD�s general counsel has separately indicated that she is of the opinion that we don�t have to follow the delegation sections if we enact more stringent regulations.  That issue is still not as clear as we would like it.  Although the Council may wish to go ahead and bypass the whole TCM process and simply enact more stringent regulations, we may leave ourselves open to legal challenge by the trucking industry.

 

Recommendation:

 

Council should direct staff as they deem appropriate.  Should the Council decide to move to Step 2 in this process, if would be helpful to have the appropriate staff first determine what the costs of such a program would be, including costs for additional staff, consultants, experts, possibly air quality monitoring equipment, hearings, CEQA compliance, etc.

 

c:         Mary Alvord, City Manager

            Mike Flad, Assistant City Manager

            Sue Georgino, Community Development Director

 

                1�Section 40717 is an exception to the general rule stated in sections 39002 and 40000 ... It gives districts, cities and counties limited regulatory authority with respect to the adoption and enforcement of �transportation control measures ... including a �strategy to reduce ... vehicle idling ... for the purpose of reducing motor vehicle emissions.�  Ops. AG 04-206.

 

 

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