LA County Board

19. Addressing Environmental Justice and Equity Concerns in Disadvantaged\nCommunities Under Siege by Illegal Dumping\nRecommendation as submitted by Supervisors Barger and Hahn: Instruct the\nDirectors of Public Works and Regional Planning, in consultation with County\nCounsel, to develop and report back to the Board in writing in 60 days on the\nfollowing:\nProposed amendments to applicable provisions of the Los Angeles\nCounty Code, potentially including, but not limited to, Title 26 - Building\nCode, Appendix J, Grading Code, and Title 22 - Planning and Zoning, to\nrequire large construction projects in unincorporated Los Angeles\nCounty that generate over 1,000 cubic yards of waste to track removal of\nall waste from the origination site and provide verification of disposal at a\nlawful and permitted disposal site;\nLegislation to enable the Department of Public Works to block access\nand egress to/from a property after notice is posted at the property and\nthe owner continues to allow illegal dumping of waste and illegal\noperation/handling of waste on the owner’s property without first\nobtaining required permits from the Department of Public Works; and\nLegislation to enable the County to impound vehicles that are used for\nillegal dumping and increase penalties on illegal dumpers;\nRequest the District Attorney to work with the Executive Director of the Los\nAngeles County Development Authority and other relevant County Departments,\nto provide community labor/community service options for environmental\ncleanup of waste as a condition of probation ordered by the courts; and\ncoordinate with the Directors of Beaches and Harbors and Parks and\nRecreation, for non-violent offenders to benefit the community by participating\nin environmental clean-ups, which will serve to both rehabilitate offenders and\ncreate a cleaner environment;\nDirect the Chief Executive Officer, in collaboration with County Counsel, the\nDistrict Attorney, and the Directors of Regional Planning, Public Works, and\nPublic Health, to report back to the Board in writing in 60 days on best\npractices from other jurisdictions within the County, including the City of Los\nAngeles, to adjust penalties and fines for illegal dumping of commercial waste,\nto address environmental justice impacts;\nRequest the District Attorney and the Sheriff, in collaboration with the Directors\nof Public Works and Regional Planning, to prioritize enforcement of\nenvironmental justice crimes and violations, including illegal dumping, and report\nback to the Board in writing in 60 days on the feasibility to develop a trained\nand permanent illegal dumping enforcement team to proactively prevent,\nenforce, and prosecute illegal dumpers and the operators of illegal dumping\nsites, including an assessment of estimated costs;\nRequest the Sheriff, in collaboration with County Counsel, the District Attorney,\nand the Directors of Regional Planning and Public Works, report back to the\nBoard in writing in 60 days on the feasibility and recommendations to deploy\ntechnological enforcement solutions including, but not limited to, the use of\nautomated vehicle-license-plate readers, remotely-operated cameras, drones,\nand other digital enforcement tools, to address hot spots and known areas of\nconcentration of illegal dumping activity, including an assessment of costs to\nproperly staff the deployment of technological solutions;\nDirect the Chief Executive Officer to report back to the Board in writing during\nthe 2023-24 Budget Deliberations, identifying a dedicated funding source for\nthe purpose of combating illegal dumping and addressing environmental justice\nconcerns, including a review of funding and staffing recommendations related\nto this motion, as well as annual reports prepared by the County’s Illegal\nDumping Taskforce in response to previous motions from 2018 and 2019 that\nrequested the District Attorney, Sheriff, County Fire/HazMat, Directors of\nRegional Planning, Public Health, Public Works, and the Agriculture\nCommissioner/Director of Weights and Measures, to determine resources\nrequired to better address illegal dumping; and\nInstruct the Director of Public Works to report back to the Board in writing in 60\ndays with a plan to utilize existing data on illegal dumping to target technological\nand in-person enforcement efforts, develop metrics of success, and increase\ntransparency around such data by making it publicly available through an online\nwebsite and dashboard, including an assessment of estimated costs to make\nthe data publicly available. (23-0953)\nAttachments: Motion by Supervisors Barger and Hahn\nPublic Comment/Correspondence