> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Who’llpayforacleanerbay? - URL: https://www.smdp.com/whollpayforacleanerbay/ - Published: 2005-12-17T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T08:19:04.000Z - Author: Carolyn Sackariason - Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import *High standards set for surface waters* CITY HALL — Local residents will soon be polled on whether they’d support a $95 million bond to prevent further pollution from going into the Santa Monica Bay. Santa Monica property owners will also be asked if they’d support a doubling of their $36 stormwater parcel fee. Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, a Santa Monica-based opinion research firm, was hired by City Hall this week to conduct an opinion survey of residents via phone early next year. The polling will be done in conjunction with the unveiling of the city’s first-ever watershed protection plan, a 15-to 20-year road map on how to prevent further pollution from running into the Pacific Ocean. The plan is expected to be presented to the City Council in February, with public polling performed in January. “There are large opportunities and significantly expensive plans,” said Craig Perkins, director of City Hall’s environmental and public works department. The plan, which is being drafted by Brown and Caldwell, an environmental engineering consulting firm, as well as city staff, has been in the works for years. It’s a result of the Regional Water Quality Board’s recently-passed regulations which require cities to reduce pollution in Southern California’s surface waters, including Santa Monica Bay. The standards require that each community develop a plan which will create measures that eliminate or mitigate stormwater pollutants. The local plan will address how those measures could be financed. And while Santa Monica is a leader in sustainable practices and stormwater pollution prevention, the new standards, which begin in 2006, will require tens of millions of dollars in capital improvements. “We are behind the curve in what we need to do to meet the new standards,” Perkins said. While the regulations vary for each watershed, all of the standards — which mostly address how much trash and other pollutants can reach the region’s streams, rivers and ocean — must be met by 2015, officials said. In 2006, Santa Monica and other cities are required to reduce the amount of litter going into the bay by 20 percent. By 2015, 100 percent of litter is supposed to be diverted. That’s going to require at least $95 million for capital improvements, officials estimate. The operations and maintenance of those facilities would be paid for by the increased parcel fee, Perkins said. But whether or not the public will support the funding remains to be seen. That’s why the Santa Monica City Council this week approved a $277,500 contract with Brown and Caldwell to complete a draft of the plan, as well as signing up Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates and Conservation Strategy Group to conduct the opinion survey. The cities of Santa Monica and Calabasas will share the cost of the opinion poll. (See related story). “I think that’s what the polling is about, to see how people feel about paying for cleaning up pollutants in Santa Monica Bay,” said Santa Monica City Councilman Richard Bloom, who also is a member of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission. “It’s important to do some testing to determine if there is sufficient support for it.” And although the plan is not yet done, most of the capital work would be completed in 10 years. That will include many projects, including installing screens on thousands of catch basins throughout the city. Santa Monica already has hundreds of screens in place at catch basins, located curbside on many sidewalks, but there are thousands more without screens. More systems like the “continuous deflection separator,” one of which is located in a beach parking lot just south of the pier, would be built under the plan. The separator is a larger form of catch basin that can collect such items as auto mufflers, Perkins said. And within a couple of years, all runoff during dry weather months would be diverted to sewer systems — not storm drain outfalls that lead directly to the ocean. Santa Monica has outfalls at the end of Pico Boulevard, Montana Avenue and another one will be built at Wilshire Boulevard. There also is one just south of Will Rogers State Beach, which is in the city of Los Angeles. The operation and maintenance of the systems already in place are paid for by a $36 parcel fee, which generates about $1.5 million annually, Perkins said. The installation of new systems are mostly paid for by county, state and federal grants. As an example, a diversion system installed at the end of Ashland Avenue is being paid for by Los Angeles County. The Wilshire Boulevard diversion also will be funded through grants. “We are proposing a $75 per parcel fee over the next 10 years to take care of ongoing needs,” Perkins said, adding the fee hasn’t been raised since it was established 10 years ago. He also said Santa Monica is one of few cities that has created that type of revenue source, and as communities grapple with how to meet new state and federal water quality standards, they’ll likely pass similar utility fees. “These communities are desperate,” Perkins said. “There will be a lot of discussion on how to pay for it countywide... This is definitely a big regional issue.” The possible bond facing Santa Monicans will likely be on the November 2006 ballot and would be in place for 20 years. It would be similar to Proposition O, a $500 million bond that was passed by Los Angeles voters in 2004 and intended for capital projects that will reduce stormwater pollution within the city of LA. “It was intended to be a good start and they are already talking about another funding source,” Perkins said. “Proposition O demonstrates that people are willing to spend money on clean water and clean beaches. “We are pretty optimistic that this will be a broadly supported initiative (in Santa Monica.)” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/121705-03_01.jpg) Surfers walk past the Pico/Kenter storm drain pond, located just south of the pier. (Photo: Fabian Lewkowicz/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 17, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/121705.pdf?ref=smdp.com)