Lake County Municipal Code Ch. 26 Clear Lake Integrated Aquatic Plant Management Program Ordinance

Footnotes:

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Editor's note— Ord. No. 2777, § 1, amend Ch. 26 in its entirety to read as herein set out in §§ 26-1—26-15, relative to Clear Lake integrated aquatic plant management program, derived from Ord. No. 2625, §§ 26-1—26-19, adopted March 18, 2003. Prior to the addition by Ord. No. 2625, Ch. 26, §§ 26-1—26-11, was repealed by Ord. No. 2218, § 2, adopted Jan. 4, 1994. The chapter related to grading and was derived from Ord. Nos. 1578, 1662, and 1790.

The purpose of the chapter is to improve and protect the public's interest in the waters and the bed of the waters in and around Clear Lake, and to insure that aquatic weeds will not interfere with or prevent commerce, navigation, fishery, and recreation by establishing minimum standards for integrated aquatic plant management activities in the nearshore and foreshore of the lake.

(Ord. No. 2777, § 1, 6-6-2006)

(a) Application: Documents which supply the data necessary for review of a project subject to the provisions of this chapter.

(b) Aquatic Herbicides: Chemicals formulated for use in water to kill or control aquatic plants.

(c) Aquatic Nuisance: Any organism which lives or propagates, or both, within the aquatic environment and interferes with, or impairs the use or enjoyment of, the aquatic resources of Clear Lake.

(d) Aquatic Plant: Any plant including a floating, emergent, submersed or ditchbank species growing in, or closely associated with, an aquatic environment, and includes any part or seed of such plant.

(e) Aquatic Plant Management: Any activity designed to control or modify the growth of aquatic plants to protect human health, protect the ecosystem, promote safety, enhance recreation and navigation while, to the greatest degree practicable, preventing injury to non-target plants, animal life, and property.

(f) Aquatic Plant Management Permit: A document issued by the Lake County Department of Public Works to control nuisance or noxious aquatic vegetation under the provisions of this chapter.

(g) Best Management Practices (BMPs): Schedules of activities, general good housekeeping practices, educational practices, monitoring requirements, methodology and application procedures, and adaptive management practices for the Integrated Aquatic Plant Management Program.

(h) Department: The Lake County Department of Public Works.

(i) Eradication Program: A method for the control of non-native aquatic plants in which control techniques are utilized in a coordinated manner in an attempt to eliminate all the target plants on a permanent basis in a given geographical area.

(j) Fragments: Pieces of aquatic plants that have been broken, as during mechanical/physical control by hand, with assistance of a tool or machine or by harvesting boat.

(k) Foreshore: The zone lying between the low water mark (0.00 feet Rumsey) and the high water mark (7.79 feet Rumsey). This zone is also the area of the Public Trust Easement that is defined in "Lyon v. State of California, 29 Cal. 3d210."

(l) High Water Mark: For the purposes of this chapter, the high water mark for Clear Lake shall be as defined in Judgment No. 17806, County of Lake, State of California ex. rel., State Lands Commission v. M. Maroni Smith, trustee of U. A. Local 38, Convalescent Trust Fund; "The high water line of Clear Lake is the high water elevation of 7.79 feet, Rumsey Gauge Datum."

(m) Lake: Unless otherwise indicated, Clear Lake.

(n) Lakebed Maps: Administrative maps of the shore of Clear Lake. Originally prepared by State Lands Commission and updated by Lakebed Management.

(o) Licensed Certified Aquatic Pesticide Applicator (QLA). Pursuant to Sections 407, 11701, 12976, 14005, 14102 of the California Food and Agriculture Code and Section 6530 et seq. of Title 3 of the California Code of Regulations, a person who holds a current license issued by the State of California with the aquatic pest endorsement.

(p) Licensed Pest Control Advisor (PCA): Pursuant to Sections 12001 through 12035 of the California Food and Agriculture Code and Sections 6550 et seq. of Title 3 of the California Code of Regulations, a person who holds a license issued by the State of California who offers a recommendation on aquatic pest management.

(q) Low Water Mark: For purposes of this chapter, the low water mark for Clear Lake shall be as defined in Judgment No. 17806, County of Lake, State of California ex. rel., State Lands Commission v. M. Maroni Smith, trustee of U. A. Local 38, Convalescent Trust Fund; "The low water line of Clear Lake constituting the boundary between sovereign ownership and upland fee ownership is the elevation Zero (0.00) feet, Rumsey Gauge Datums surveyed by the State Lands Commission and described in a set of maps titled "Maps of Low Water Line of Clear Lake, Lake County, California."

(r) Mechanical/Physical Control: Any method for aquatic vegetation control during which plants are cut, torn or pulled out of substrate. Includes control by hand, with assistance of a tool or machine or by harvesting boat.

(s) Nearshore: The zone extending lakeward from the low water mark.

(t) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES): A permit issued by either the Regional Board or the State Water Quality Control Board to control and monitor aquatic herbicide use.

(u) Noxious Weed: Non-native plant species that, because of aggressive growth habits, can threaten native plant communities, wetlands or agricultural lands. The California Department of Food and Agriculture has the authority to designate certain plants as "noxious" in the state.

(v) Nuisance Aquatic Plant: Any part, including, but not limited to, seeds or reproductive parts, of an aquatic plant, which has the potential to hinder the growth of beneficial plants, to interfere with irrigation or navigation, or to adversely affect the public welfare or the natural resources of Lake County.

(w) Person: Individuals, firms, associations, joint ventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations.

(x) Public Trust Lands: Pursuant to Chapter 639 of the Laws of 1973, of the State of California, the submerged lands in Clear Lake below the low water mark that are entrusted to the County of Lake, and to its successors.

(y) Supplemental Pesticide Use Report: A report on herbicides used and area treated by permit.

(z) Zero Rumsey Gauge: The level of Clear Lake as defined in the stipulated Judgment and Decree rendered October 7, 1920, in the Mendocino County Superior Court case, Gopcevic v. Yolo Water and Power Company, et al., as being 20.1 feet below the elevation of the center of a concrete star in the northeast corner of the Courthouse Park on Third and Main Street in Lakeport.

(Ord. No. 2777, § 1, 6-6-2006)

4.1 All activities shall be in compliance with state regulations as found in California Code of Regulations Title 3, Division 6, Sections 6000 through 6920 and California Food and Agriculture Code, Division 6 and 7, Sections 12751 through 13188.

(a) Only approved aquatic herbicides may be used and must be applied by a licensed applicator in accordance with a licensed PCA recommendation and the County NPDES permit. Currently the following aquatic herbicides have been approved:

(1) Glyphosate;

(2) Diquat;

(3) Copper compounds;

(4) Fluridone;

(5) Potassium salts of endothall;

(6) Triclopyr;

(7) 2, 4-D Amine.

(b) All aquatic herbicide applications shall be applied using BMPs.

(c) Proposed aquatic herbicide applications within a California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) active management location may be allowed with additional conditions.

(a) Which aquatic herbicide will provide the greatest protection to human health, safety and recreational uses.

(b) Which aquatic herbicide will provide the greatest protection to nontarget plant and animal life.

(c) Which aquatic herbicide will be the most effective at controlling the target plant species.

(a) Do not cause the spread of nuisance or noxious aquatic species;

(b) Provide the greatest protection to non-target plant and animal life;

(c) Be the most effective at controlling the target species;

(d) Reduces the introduction of sediment into the water column.

(Ord. No. 2777, § 1, 6-6-2006)

Sec. 26-5. - Aquatic Plant Management Permit Procedure.

5.1 No person shall undertake or carry out any of the management methods set forth in Section 26-4 within the nearshore or foreshore without first obtaining a Clear Lake Aquatic Plant Management Program Permit from the Department.

5.2 Following notice to the permittee, the Department is authorized to amend a permit issued pursuant to this chapter during the term of the permit to restrict or limit the scope of the permitted activity. This shall be done if necessary to ensure the protection of human health, ecosystem, safety, recreation, plant and animal life and property.

5.3 A permit issued pursuant to this chapter may not be transferred to a new owner or assignee of the permitted property, unless the new owner applies to the Department for a permit transfer, signs an agreement for such transfer, and pays the required transfer fee.

5.4 If any changes, additions, or modifications to the permit are requested by the applicant, an application for a new permit may be required. Amendments shall not be considered as a permit extension.

5.5 Aquatic herbicide treatments require individual permits for each parcel.

5.6 Permits are valid only for the calendar year in which they are approved.

5.7 Fees. The Board of Supervisors shall establish, by ordinance, fees for an Aquatic Plant Management Permit, which shall be paid to the Department.

5.8 Applicants for any permit required pursuant to the terms of this chapter shall submit the application information and reports required to the Department or other public agency with jurisdiction. No permit shall be issued unless the application is complete and there is compliance with all the requirements of this chapter.

(a) The applicant shall submit a map of the proposed treatment area, including a diagram of the proposed area for aquatic plant management which shall be drawn on a Lakebed Map (scale 1″ = 50') specifying the following information:

(1) Shoreline boundaries of the property;

(2) All prominent features such as docks, etc. located near the shoreline;

(3) Dimension of the control area.

(b) The permit application shall be submitted according to the following requirements:

(1) Each permit application shall be submitted on the Clear Lake Aquatic Plant Management Permit Application, which is available from the Department.

(2) All permit documents shall be submitted in an eight and one-half (8 ½) by eleven (11) inch format and be of good quality and clearly legible.

(3) A permit application may be submitted by an agent of the property owner provided that the name, address, telephone number of the legal property owner, and agent is provided on the application.

(Ord. No. 2777, § 1, 6-6-2006)

(a) Treatment shall be limited to no more than thirty (30) percent of the area designated by a continuation of property lines lakeward of shore for three hundred (300) feet except where:

(1) The property is owned by a public entity and is operated primarily to provide public access to the lake;

(2) Commercial property that is primarily operated for the purpose of providing recreational and navigational access to the lake.

(b) All herbicide label conditions, requirements and restrictions must be complied with as well as licensed PCA recommendations.

(c) The Department may require the permittee to proceed with aquatic plant management activity only if a Department representative is present.

(a) To minimize the risk of spreading Hydrilla and other noxious species, harvesting will be prohibited within 0.25 mile of sites where Hydrilla is being actively managed.

(b) Coordination with the CDFA Hydrilla Eradication Program or any other CDFA program will be ongoing, to assure compliance with program concerns.

(c) Any control program that results in fragmentation or break-up of plant material must include a method for collecting harvested plant materials and plant fragments and disposing of them in a location landward of the high water mark.

(d) Plant materials and fragments must be prevented from reentry into any waterbody until such time as the fragments are unviable.

(Ord. No. 2777, § 1, 6-6-2006)

(a) The proposed use of a chemical product is inconsistent with its label.

(b) The application proposes treatment of too large an area.

(c) The application proposes treatment inconsistent with the CDFA Hydrilla or any other CDFA Eradication Program.

(d) If an applicant has committed two (2) or more violations of other permits previously issued, conditions of a permit, or these rules within one (1) calendar year and has not cured said violation after written notice by the Department to cure said violations.

(e) The cumulative total of proposed treatments exceeds the established maximums allowed in the program.

(Ord. No. 2777, § 1, 6-6-2006)

(a) Submission of false or inaccurate information in the permit application.

(b) A violation of permit conditions (Sections 26-4 through 26-9), or any other applicable federal, state or local regulation.

(c) Failure to file a complete, accurate and legible Supplemental Pesticide Use Report within thirty (30) days of the end of the month in which herbicide treatment occurred.

12.1 It shall be the duty of the Department to enforce the provisions of this chapter. Following notice as required by Section 26-11, the Department may revoke or suspend an Aquatic Plant Management Permit when any of the circumstances set forth in Section 26-11.1 exists. A person whose permit is suspended or revoked may appeal the action to the Board of Supervisors pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. All operations shall cease during the time which the permit is suspended or revoked.

(a) Director of Public Works;

(b) Assistant Director of Public Works;

(c) Deputy Director of Water Resources;

(d) Clear Lake Lands Coordinator;

(e) Water Resources Program Coordinator;

(f) Assistant Water Resources Engineer;

(g) Agricultural Commissioner;

(h) Deputy Agricultural Biologist;

(i) Agricultural Biologist.

Any non-enforcement action or determination by the Department may be appealed to the Board of Supervisors by any party of interest as follows:

(a) An appeal may be filed in writing within fourteen (14) calendar days of the action or determination.

(b) The appeal must be filed with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors.

(c) Payment of the appropriate fee must accompany the appeal. The Clerk of the Board of Supervisors shall set a hearing for said appeal and mail to the appellant written notice of the time, date and place of said hearing at least fourteen (14) calendar days prior to said hearing. The Board of Supervisors may affirm, reverse or modify the determination of the Department. The action of the Board of Supervisors shall be final.

(Ord. No. 2777, § 1, 6-6-2006)

(a) The appeal must be filed in writing within five (5) working days of receipt of the notice of violation or stop work order.

(b) The appeal must be filed with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors.