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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Statement 1987/10/13 Item 18COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT • Item 18 Meeting Date 10/13/87 ITEM TITLE: Interim Urgency Ordinance vZ 23 3 To amend Title 19 (Zoning) of the Municipal Code to accommodate the requirements for providing recycling facilities mandated by AB 2020 (The Bottle Bill) SUBMITTED BY: Director of Planning a~~~~~~ G" REVIEWED BY: City Manager (4/5ths Vote: Yes No X ) The Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act passed by the State Legislature in 1986 establishes a system to promote recycling of beverage containers sold statewide. As part of ttie newly mandated system, beverage recycling facilities must be established within 1/2 mile of every major supermarket with a gross income of two million dollars or more (designated as "convenience zones") throughout the City. The Act states that there must be a certified recycling facility in every convenience zone by a target date of October 1, 1987, with the possibility that fines will be levied on beverage dealers if the facilities are not in place by January 1, 1988. The Zoning Ordinance makes no provision for placement of recycling facilities • either as an accessory or primary use within commercial and industrial zones as they are described in the Recycling Act. An urgency ordinance to establish a permit procedure within the ordinance is necessary to accommodate the very limited time remaining that grocers and beverage dealers have to comply with the Recycling Act. RECOMMENDATION: That Council adopt a motion to enact an interim urgency ordinance to amend Title 19 of the Municipal Code as shown in Exhibit A, attached and made a part hereto, for a period of 90 days, with a provision that the ordinance amendment be brought back for consideration as a permanent ordinance at the end of the 9U-day period. BOARDS/COMMISSIONS RECOMMENDATION: Not applicable. DISCUSSION: The Beverage Container Recycling Act requires that at least one recycling facility be placed within a 1/2 mile radius of all supermarkets with gross incomes of two million dollars or more within the City limits. These areas are referred to by the State as convenience zones; Chula Vista presently has twelve such zones, with more to be added in the future, particularly in the eastern territories, as new supermarkets are constructed. • Page 2, Item 18 • Meeting Date~7$7 A recycling facility may take the form of reverse vending machines, collection bins, a mobile recycling unit or a permanent facility. These facilities must accept all types of beverage containers, and pay at minimum the redemption values prescribed by the State. In addition, they must be in operation at least 30 hours a week; five of those hours must be outside the standard business hours of 9:00 a.m, to 5:OU p.m., Monday through Friday. Most major supermarket chains have contracted with recycling firms or are in the process of doing so in order to provide required facilities at each of their member stores statewide. Some of the markets with agreements include Albertsons, Lucky Stores (Food Basket), Safeway, Alpha Beta, and Ralphs. The State Recycling Act prohibits municipalities from denying permits to mobile recycling units or reverse vending machines which are certified (or have applied for certification), are located on property zoned for commercial or industrial use within a convenience zone, and have the permission of the property owner. Under these circumstances, local jurisdictions may only deny permits for facilities of this type if it is specifically found and reasons stated that the individual facility would be detrimental to public health, safety, and well being. Local jurisdictions may limit the number of facilities within a convenience zone, but must permit at least one. Recycling facilities are still considered a project under the California Environmental Quality Act, and are subject to environmental review on a • case-by-case basis. It is possible for a local jurisdiction to apply for an exemption from the requirement for convenience zones if a city or county has a voluntary or mandatory curbside recycling operation in place. In curbside programs, homeowners separate recyclable articles from their trash and leave them out for pickup on a specified day. Curbside programs may be conducted in conjunction with regular trash service. Chula Vista is not eligible for an exemption since there are no programs of this nature in operation or anticipated in the near future. The County of San Diego is, however, exploring the feasibility of such a program, and may in the future wish to include cities which use County landfills in a curbside recycling project. In order to accommodate the requirements of the Recycling Act, both Title 19 of the Municipal Code and the zoning ordinance governing pontgomery must be modified. The Municipal Code makes no provision for recycling centers, either as an accessory or a primary use. The Montgomery zoning ordinance contains a "recycling collection center" use type, which is permitted in C-37, C-38, C-40, M-54 and M-58 zones, but is restricted to collection receptacles not to exceed 128 cubic feet per parcel in C-35 and C-36 zones. A minor use permit must be obtained to install receptacles holding a total of more than 192 cubic feet per legal parcel in all other commercial and limited industrial use regulations. The limitation on the amount of cubic feet stored is especially restrictive for C-36 use regulations, since they are the most likely locations for major supermarkets to operate. The zoning ordinance for Montgomery gives o direction with regard to site design or aesthetic treatment as applied to ~he recycling collection center use type. ~; ;, w ,. Page 3, Item 18 • Meeting Date-'f~71~1$7 Staff is recommending that recycling facilities be separated into three general categories, and be permitted within commercial and industrial zones within a convenience zone, subject to varying degrees of review. Reverse vending machines of the type shown illustrated in Exhibit B could be permitted as an accessory use to a grocery or other general retail use subject to administrative site plan review by the Planning Department. Most reverse vending machines will also require a building permit to accommodate the increased power requirements needed for the machines, since they usually exceed the normal requirements of beverage vending machines. The number of reverse vending machines subject to administrative site plan review should not exceed three, or 150 square feet of occupied area, since installation of more machines tends to present a more dominant visual display and should be evaluated as a zoning administrator approved CUP. Collection bins, bulk reverse vending machines, and other small collection facilities could be allowed as an accessory use subject to a zoning administrator approved CUP for facilities occupying an area not to exceed 300 square feet. These types of small collection facilities require more in-depth review in terms of site design and aesthetics, in that they often are located in required parking spaces, are more visually predominant, and may require operation by permanent employess. All other collection facilities exceeding 300 square feet of occupied area, • either mobile or permanent, should be subject to a conditional use permit approved by the Planning Commission. These facilities may have a permanent building, be located on a separate facility not appurtenant to a host use, have open storage, and emit higher noise levels associated with processing recycled articles into bales or bricks for transportation. It can be assumed that higher volumes of recycled materials are accommodated by this size facility, or that other recyclable articles such as paper or aluminum articles are accepted. In order to insure that properties which contain recycling collection centers do not become littered with trash and debris and that recycled materials are removed on a regular basis, staff is recommending that site plan approval or a conditional use permit can be revoked by the permitting authority upon presentation of evidence that a center is not being maintained in a safe and sanitary manner. Modification of the ordinance on a temporary basis will provide adequate review opportunities by the City while permanent modification of the ordinance incorporating input from the Montgomery Planning Committee and Planning Commission takes place. Permanent modification will also include consideration of site design criteria for each type of collection facility, with parking and design review requirements as appropriate. FISCAL IMPACT: The fee structure presently set by City Council resolution ill cover administrative processing costs. WPC 4379P • EXHIBIT _B What -are Reverse ,. Mending Macchine~? ~ _ . ~ ~ - 1;.~.. ~ - ~,,,, .n Reverse vending machines are mechanical devices that r;`"~` `` `~Y,~ h ,+ ~P~i ~ •-~ °~ ~ accept one or more types of empty beverage containers and , . . .f.~,,,,.~-h'~ - '- .rr -~~+ - - issue a cash refund or redeemable coupon. Some machines -will also dispense coupons and promotional materials The - , ''`~' , . machines. identify containers by reading the bar code, scan- . ; t - ~ ~- ~ ~', ~ ~ . i~ ning the shape, or by other methods. - :ht , ,,,,~, ,,,,, ~; ~:¢~; ~ ~, r ~ - There are two main types of reverse vending machines; { ° ~ ~;: -` Y -e ~y `~ ' single-feed and bulk-feed. Single-feed machines resemble `' ~ r F `, `T ~ '• r soda vending machines in size and appearance. They accept -~_ ~ ~ ~~ ~` ` r'"' ~ „ ..~;~~•,• one container at a time, count the containers, and pay the ~~ ~~ ~ ~. _ • up4t••'.~. .J - eGt Y t. . .: „_ Bulk reverse vending machine for aluminum cans. An addi- tional machine will be used for glass and plastic. consumer by number of containers deposited. One machine may take aluminum, glass, and plastic containers or there may be a separate machine for each material. Bulk reverse vending machines are substantially larger. They accept several containers at once, usually pay by weight, and will hold a substantially larger amount than asingle-feed reverse vending machine. Because of their larger size, parking lot placement, and noise, bulk vending machines are treated in the model ordinance as small collectors. '; Single-feed reverse vending machine which accepu aluminum cans, glass bottles, and plastic bottles in the same machine.