Part 11 — Food Facility Closure or Ownership Change

Part 1 - Purpose and Intent; Definitions

The purpose of this chapter is to control and limit impacts from fats, oils, and grease (FOG) generated by food facilities to the City of Palo Alto (city) storm drain system, sanitary sewer system, right-of-way, and receiving waters, including the San Francisco Bay (bay) and local creeks, marshes, wetlands and other natural habitats, as well as to protect human health and the environment. This chapter is enacted and shall be implemented in a manner consistent with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "General Pretreatment Regulations for Existing and New Sources of Pollution" published at Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 403, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Water Code Section 13000 et seq.), and the Federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq.) (CWA), as amended from time to time. This chapter is designed to be no less stringent than regional, state or federal regulations, rules, orders, and policies but in some respects is more stringent. The city intends to update and modify this chapter as needed to continue to meet state and regional requirements and provide a program for protection of the San Francisco Bay and other receiving waters. If any provision of this chapter conflicts with state or regional requirements, as amended or updated, the more stringent and environmentally protective provision shall apply. This chapter supplements the provisions of Chapters 16.09 and 16.11 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code, which apply to uses and activities in the city more broadly, as well as food facilities. This chapter is intended to complement, rather than supersede, the provisions of city building codes and regulations applicable to the installation and operation of grease capturing equipment.

(Ord. 5672 § 2 (part), 2025)

The following terms shall be as defined herein. For purposes of this chapter, terms defined in Chapter 16.11 shall have the same meaning in this Chapter, 16.13, except to the extent expressly modified in this section.

“Best management practices” or “BMPs” means a combination of general good housekeeping practices, pollution prevention and educational practices, operations and maintenance procedures, and other practices to prevent or reduce to the maximum extent practicable non-stormwater discharges directly or indirectly to the storm drain system, sanitary sewer system, right-of-way, or receiving waters.

“Building” means any structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or occupancy.

“City” or “The City” means City of Palo Alto, California.

“Community food producer” means a producer of agricultural products on land that is not zoned for agricultural use but is otherwise in compliance with applicable local land use and zoning restrictions, including but not limited to restrictions governing personal gardens, community gardens, school gardens, and culinary gardens.

“Director” means the Director of Public Works of the City of Palo Alto and their duly authorized designees.

“Discharge” means the introduction of a pollutant to the storm drain system, sanitary sewer system, or a receiving water from any activity or operation associated with a food facility or mobile food facility.

“Discharger” means any person who causes or permits a discharge.

“Enforcement Response Plan” or “ERP” means a reference document for inspection staff and management to ensure a consistent and transparent enforcement process for meeting city, regional, and state requirements.

“Fats, oils, and grease” or “FOG” means any substance, such as a vegetable or animal product, that is used in, or is a byproduct of, the cooking or food preparation process, and that turns or may turn viscous or solidifies with a change in temperature or other conditions. FOG does not include any products associated with petroleum.

“Food facility” means a permanent establishment or mobile business operating for the purpose of preparing, packaging, serving, or providing food (including only prepackaged) and/or drinks for consumption by that establishment’s members, customers, employees, or the general public. “Food facility” does not include the following:

(i) Locations where food is stored temporarily but not prepared or served;

(ii) Private home kitchens, also known as cottage food operations, as defined by the California Department of Public Health;

(iii) Community food producers;

(iv) Farmers’ markets and produce stands, except where food is prepared and served at the market;

(v) Kitchen facilities principally for individual use by employees ancillary to another primary use (i.e., office break rooms); and

(vi) Public events at temporary locations without connections to the sanitary sewer system and storm drain system.

“Food facility development project” means new construction or replacement of a structure built to serve solely as a food facility or a structure that includes a food facility and requires a planning entitlement or building permit from the city.

“Food waste disposer” means a device installed under a sink drain used to shred and/or grind food waste into smaller particles in order for it to drain to the sanitary sewer system.

“Grease control device” means a device designed to collect and prevent passage of food waste and FOG into the sanitary sewer system. Grease control devices addressed in this chapter include gravity grease interceptors, grease removal device(s), and hydromechanical grease interceptors.

“Lateral” means the drainage piping and appurtenances that constitute a building’s connection to the sanitary sewer system.

“Maximum extent practicable” or “MEP” means utilizing all reasonably feasible means, including implementation of BMPs, control techniques, and system, design and engineering methods.

“Mobile food facility” means any vehicle used in conjunction with a commissary or other permanent food facility upon which food is sold or distributed at retail. This does not include a “transporter” used to transport packaged food from a food facility, or other approved source to the consumer.

“Municipal regional permit” or “MRP” means the most recently adopted San Francisco Bay Area municipal regional stormwater permit, a multi- countywide municipal stormwater NPDES permit issued by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Bay Region-Region 2 (Regional Water Board), to regulate discharges from municipalities and local agencies in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Santa Clara Counties, and the cities of Fairfield, Suisun City, and Vallejo to the San Francisco Bay.

“Non-stormwater discharge” means any discharge that is not entirely composed of stormwater. Non-stormwater discharges include but are not limited to polluted groundwater, any pollutant, discharges allowed under an NPDES permit, or an illicit discharge.

“NPDES” means National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which is a national program for issuing, modifying, revoking and reissuing, terminating, monitoring and enforcing permits, and imposing and enforcing pretreatment requirements, under Sections 307, 402, 318, and 405 of the Federal Clean Water Act.

“Person” means any individual, partnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint venture, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity, or any other legal entity; or their representatives, agents, or designees.

“Pervious” refers to a material or surface (such as landscaping or natural landscape) that allows water to infiltrate below the surface. Pervious materials may include, but are not limited to, permeable interlocking concrete pavers, permeable pavers, Pervious concrete and porous asphalt.

“Planning entitlement” means approval provided by the city to develop a building (or buildings) or a piece of land for a specific use according to the city’s development standards, rules, and regulations.

"Pollutants” or “pollutant” means those substances that may cause or contribute to the degradation of water quality of receiving waters and are harmful to aquatic life, human health and the environment. Pollutants associated with food facilities include cleaning agents, food waste, trash, and fats, oils, and grease.

"Pollution" means the presence, introduction or discharge into a receiving water of a pollutant that has harmful or poisonous effects on aquatic life, ecological habitat, natural processes of creeks and waterbodies, public health and the environment.

“Receiving water” means waters of the state, as defined by the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. Receiving waters include but are not limited to creeks, marshes, wetlands, shorelines, estuaries, and bays.

"Refuse" means and includes compostable materials, recyclable materials, and solid waste. Solid waste means solid and semisolid wastes, generated in or upon, related to the occupancy of, remaining in or emanating from residential premises or commercial premises including but not limited to garbage, trash, rubbish, ashes, and industrial wastes.

“Refuse management area” means an area located outdoors used to store refuse bins and/or dumpsters, inside or outside of an enclosure.

“Responsible party” means any person who owns, operates, or manages a property, business, facility, or site, or who is otherwise responsible for the activities thereon or the person whose action or omission causes or results in a violation of this chapter.

“Rooftop grease containment systems” means the filters applied to rooftop terminations at food facilities. They are applied to rooftop fans on exhaust systems to capture the aerosol form of FOG from food being cooked in the kitchen.

“San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board” or “Regional Water Board” means the regional agency whose mission is to preserve, enhance, and restore the quality of the San Francisco Bay’s water resources for the protection of the environment, public health, and all beneficial uses. This agency oversees compliance of the MRP.

“Sanitary sewer overflow” means any overflow, spill, release, discharge, or diversion of untreated or partially treated wastewater from a sanitary sewer system.

“Sanitary sewer system” means the collection system, all sewers, treatment plants and other facilities owned or operated by the city for carrying, collecting, storing, treating, reclaiming, and disposing of sanitary sewage and industrial wastes (as defined in Section 16.09.015).

“Storm drain system” means the storm drain facilities owned, managed, or operated by the city by which stormwater is collected and/or conveyed to receiving waters, including but not limited to streets and roads, gutters, curbs, inlets, piped storm drains, parking lots, pumping facilities, retention and detention basins, natural and human-made or altered drainage channels, reservoirs, and other drainage structures which are within the city’s jurisdiction. The storm drain system also includes pipes, underground and surface conveyances, and other components on private property and other property within the city’s limits not owned by the city that connect and/or route stormwater and stormwater runoff to the city’s storm drain system.

“Stormwater” means any surface flow, runoff, and drainage consisting entirely of water that originates from precipitation events.

“Stormwater runoff” means flow that is created when precipitation falls on impervious surfaces or compacted pervious surfaces that do not allow water to infiltrate into the ground.

“Structural retrofit best management practices” or “structural retrofit BMPs” means a retrofit to a structure, fixed feature, or property to prevent or minimize the potential of a discharge to the storm drain system, sanitary sewer system, or receiving waters.

“United States Environmental Protection Agency” or “U.S. EPA” or “EPA” means the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States of America, a federal agency, whose mission is to protect human health and the environment and oversees compliance with environmental regulations.

“Waste oil” means FOG generated by cooking or food facility equipment that is not plumbed to the sanitary sewer system but is collected, stored, and hauled off-site. Waste oil is also known as cooking oil, yellow oil, or tallow.

“Waste oil container” means any container used to store waste oil.

(Ord. 5672 § 2 (part), 2025)

Part 2 - General Provisions

The Director shall be responsible for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this chapter and for promulgating such orders, rules, conditions of approval, and requirements as are necessary to accomplish the purposes of this chapter. The primary regulatory document implementing this chapter is Palo Alto Regulations for Food Facilities Related to Water Pollution Prevention and Management of Fats, Oils, and Grease.

(Ord. 5672 § 2 (part), 2025)

This chapter shall apply to all food facilities and mobile food facilities as defined in this chapter. Nothing in this chapter shall be interpreted to infringe on any vested property right.

(Ord. 5672 § 2 (part), 2025)

In the event of any conflict between this chapter and any federal or state law, regulation, order, or permit, the requirement that establishes the higher standard for public health or safety shall govern. Nothing in this chapter shall preclude enforcement of any other applicable law, regulation, order, or permit.

(Ord. 5672 § 2 (part), 2025)

If compliance with any section of these regulations is infeasible, the Director, upon application in writing by the owner, a lessee, or an authorized representative of the food facility, is authorized to approve alternate means or methods of compliance with this chapter. The food facility shall demonstrate, as required by the Director, that the proposed alternative is at least equivalent in quality, strength, effectiveness, fire resistance, durability, and safety. The particulars of any such approval made by the Director shall be in writing and a signed copy shall be furnished to the applicant.

(Ord. 5672 § 2 (part), 2025)

Food facilities shall comply with the records retention requirements in the Palo Alto Regulations for Food Facilities.

(Ord. 5672 § 2 (part), 2025)

Dischargers shall be responsible for and liable to the city for any obstruction, damage, or impairment to the storm drain system, sanitary sewer system, and other rights-of-way associated with a discharge that causes an obstruction, damage, or any other impairment to the storm drain system and sanitary sewer system. The city may assess a charge against the discharger to reimburse the city for costs incurred to clean or repair said obstruction, damage or impairment

(Ord. 5672 § 2 (part), 2025)