Environmental Consultant Services

2011-02-05T17:13:00.000-08:00

Do you have a land use issue, one that requires some form of environmental review, certification and approval process? This posting is intended to provide a synopsis of the various roles I can play, all of the way from its conceptual planning stages to post-installation logistics and strategies.

Some examples from my career:

(1) Hydrology and water quality analyst/consultant to a lawsuit which successfully blocked a proposed 90 bed, felon gangbanger facility near the entrance to the Cleveland National Forest (Arroyo Trabuco) in 2001. Assisting the Rural Canyons Conservation Fund, Saddleback Canyons Conservancy and Sierra Club, this project would have installed a 40 foot wide asphalt road down in the flood plain of the Trabuco Creek, including a concrete bridge with culverts to transit the Creek, plus a switchback asphalt road into ESA habitat for access to the mesa where the jail facility was proposed. Ironically named THE RANCHO PORTRERO LEADERSHIP ACADEMY, Cal Fish & Game, US Fish & Wildlife, even local government planners opposed this massive intrusion into Environmentally Sensitive High Value Habitat---Not to mention the dangers of putting impervious hardscape (the dirt access road presently used as access to Holy Jim Canyon) in harm's way (flood plain zone near O'Neil Park noted for torrential rainy events). Jurisdictional venue was changed to San Diego Superior Court by Sierra Club attorneys who prevailed in June 2001, the County appealed and lost about 2 years subsequently. Later worked with same NGOs to negotiate and downsize massive residential developments near Cook's Corners. This including forcing the County of Orange to abandon plans to develop the corner lot opposite Cook's Corners as a strip mall and multi-pump gas station. The parcel now sits as several acres of dedicated open space for all to enjoy as they turn onto Live Oak Canyon Road.

(2) The Montage Resort & Spa (5 Star Resort) in Laguna Beach (Opened February 2003). Converted from a former dilapidated trailer park (Treasure Island) I was hired personally by Kim Richards, CEO of Athens Group Development out of Phoenix Arizona in September of 2000 after it cleared its final hurdle at Cal Coastal Commission. I served as a part-time hydrology and water quality consultant to assure that the project's general contractor didn't violate environmental laws during the approximate 2 year construction period. Condé Nast Gold Award List Every Year Since 2006

(3) Proposed 19 home sub-division (Driftwood Estates by HighPointe Communities, Inc. out of Tustin CA) behind Laguna Terrace Trailer Park in South Laguna. Appointed by the Mayor of Laguna Beach Steve Dicterow and City Councilman Wayne Baglin (also chairman of the Cal/EPA Region 9 Water Quality Control Board) to serve as a non-paid consultant for the LB City Council in 2002-2003 on an 8 member Tract Map committee for the project. Achieved numerous exactions and mitigations from the developer in private committee sessions, including major storm drain/water quality infrastructural BMP upgrades for the neighborhood. After 7 months, when the project cleared local jurisdiction at LBCC it had been reduced to 13 residences, I was subsequently approached and hired by the developer to facilitate Cal Coastal Commission approval. HP abandoned the sub-division plans, eventually purchased by Aliso Creek Properties LLC.

(4) Primary environmental consultant (2009-10) to Voices of Monarch Beach, a consortium of four (4) HOA's plus concerned individuals in the Salt Creek Corridor (Dana Point). Primary focus was on halting a massive 6 acre bluff development above Salt Creek being fast-tracked by the City of Dana Point (CDP). At the 11th hour facing approval by the DP Planning Commission, VoMB forced the CDP to pull the plug, rescind the proposed fatally-flawed Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) and instead create a more stringent and detailed Environmental Impact Report (EIR) per CEQA. The proposed development has stalled and the initial Draft EIR, after over 1 year, is yet to be produced by the City planners and their independent vendors/consultants.

(5) As of 2011, now in my 11th year as the sole designated organizer in Laguna Beach for the California Coastal Commission's volunteer beach cleanup programs: Both the quarterly Adopt-A-Beach and yearly event, International Coastal Cleanup Day www.cleanwaternow.com

(6) Only South Orange County water quality advocate to receive personal accolades from the LA Times (OC Bureau) and OC Grand Jury (2001) for my efforts to reduce the adverse impacts of urban runoff on coastal stream ecosystems and marine habitats.

(7) As requested by Laguna Beach City Council, served on Hazardous Waste Sub-Committee from 2002--2010 for the SUPERFUND cleanup and development conversion of former MCAS El Toro in Irvine CA. Mysteriously, ONLY environmental NGO representative to attend, monitor and hold government accountable during still-in-progress remediation at these meetings.

(8) Hired in September 2011 as chief land use/environmental interventionist by homeowners along the Tenaja Truck Trail, just off Ortega Highway 74, east of the The Candy Store in the Cleveland National Forest area. I assisted alarmed locals in fighting off a proposed massive aquaponics commercial farm. The applicant finally waved the white flag of surrender, gave up and withdrew his application in February 2012 after a 6 month battle with the proponent and the inept oversight lead agency, Riverside County Planning Department.
This project was an obvious attempt at a "gateway project," a foot in the door attempt to facilitate future commercial developments in a rural wilderness area. The fish element of the aquaponics was to be Tilapia, a non-native and very aggressive/invasive species that if accidentally discharged into adjacent Merrill Canyon Creek would wreck havoc and be extremely difficult to remove.
MCC is a Cal/EPA listed "blue line stream," a major tributary to the upper reach of San Juan Creek. SJC is critical habitat for the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed Southern Steelhead Trout and the Tilapia could have wiped out the evolving Cal Fish & Game/Trout Unlimited restoration efforts.
This section of MCC, though ephemeral, is also known habitat and home to the ESA-listed Arroyo Toad according to a US Fish & Wildlife/CF&G/County of Riverside survey performed in 2005. The Tilapia could have jeopardized their presence too. This project would have created over 10,000 sq. ft. of impervious surface, its potentially impact to natural drainage and pollutant losing a water quality nightmare composed.
Consisting of 6 greenhouses: 3 for Tilapia, 3 for edible vegetables, all product intended for eventual retail markets. It would have resulted in 12 ft. high x 20 ft. wide x 60 ft. long brightly lit blimps at night (pre-fab greenhouses), plopped down in a presently dark meadow.
With re-circulating pumps going 24/7/365, it would have been a visual and sound abusive blight, a disturbance completely unacceptable and not consistent with neighborhood compatibility or historical pattern of low-density, non-commercial development.
Possibly a good project but in the wrong location.The owner refused to consider any proactive, preventative BMPs, or negotiate a smaller, more reasonable, less adverse impact project though offered cooperation by residents.

So basically, I can help you develop a proactive selection of both structural and non-structural Best Management Practices (BMPs) that assure continuous compliance with the appropriate jurisdictions. This includes assistance with all approvals, from local lead agency ratification up to state and federal agencies empowered with compliance oversight.

If you already have applicable consultant analyses, input and comments, I can inexpensively provide you with peer review and a 2nd opinion, help to expedite as your project's "Devil's Advocate," providing you with confidential comparisons to help progress your project uninterrupted through the system. Unlike many consultants, who only write reports that tell the client and their team what they want to hear, I'll provide more pragmatic yet affordable alternative solutions tailored to your budget.

Fees are negotiable and a more refined resumé and references will be provided upon request.
First 1/2 hour consultation is free.

If you wish, I can help you get your project LEED Certified. LEED stands for "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design." LEED is about lessening environmental impacts and assuring resource sustainability as planned and implemented by forward-thinking professionals in both the residential and commercial building fields.

LEED certification levels are based upon a matrix, a rating system score, and includes rehabilitations as well as new construction, from subdivision developments, multiple unit offices and apartments down to individual homes. It's a holistic approach from the design phase, if applicable demolition/soil grading on through to completion of construction/remodel. Moreover, it inherently includes post-construction mitigations.

LEED certified projects minimizes the short, mid and long-term adverse impacts upon the environmental setting, not only for the occupants but for the surrounding community. In California recent green building strategies have been codified via new legislation beginning in 2011: "CALGREEN" http://www.bsc.ca.gov/CALGreen/greencode.htm

Is your proposed project it in, or adjacent to, an Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area involving listed threatened/endangered species of plants or animals? Is it located in or near High Value Habitat, perhaps in or near a wildlife migrational corridor? Is it mapped as near or in a protected drainage area (natural watercourse, stream, lake or the ocean)? I can assist you in achieving 100% compliance for it and facilitate the subsequent approval processes by local, state and federal regulatory agencies.

On the other hand, if there's an objectionable or in your mind questionably deficient project that you feel is non-compliant and you oppose it as planned, that you wish to justifiably modify via rightful public input/testimony, I can help you by triggering arbitration, get increased governmental oversight, scrutiny and public peer review. After negotiations, the result should include exactions, concessions and mitigative measures as conditions of formal approval to lower your anxiety level.

If you wish, I can help you organize and then compose your written comments to these regulatory agencies in a manner that reflects a level of sophistication which achieves the appropriate mitigative measures and project elements you desire.

If you're in a group of citizens legitimately concerned about the adverse impacts to your corner of the globe, I can give you an Enviro 101 Workshop to help you understand the nuances of compliance. I'll also try to help you understand your rights and those of the development you wish to receive more scrutiny. The more educated you are the greater impact your testimony and comments can make with the regulatory agencies. It also helps you to progress civil yet focused and refined dialogue with the site developer. Not every project need be a litigious confrontation and metaphorical bloodbath "Zero Sum Game" (Winner Take All).

Does the project require a Water Quality Management Plan (WQMP)? A cursory analysis usually found in a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) or a full-blown Environmental Impact Report (EIR) per California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)?

If it's federally funded (in part or whole) and/or involve significant development/redevelopment where there are federally listed endangered species, does it need ratifying as part or the whole of a Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) per the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process?

I can assist you in some way with all of them, including US Army Corps of Engineers 404 approval and Cal/EPA 401 Water Quality certification. I'm also thoroughly networked with the staffs at California Coastal Commission, USEPA, Cal Fish & Game, US Fish & Wildlife, NOAA (National Marine Fisheries Service), et al. I can help you cut through the red tape!

The main focus of my work recently has been the watery twin of LEED known as Low Impact Development (LID) strategies. There is a nexus, a synergistic connection between LEED and LID, if you aren't familiar with them. LID is now the emerging pollution source-reduction and on-site control concept to progress compliance with not only the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) but the applicable, more stringent standards of Cal/EPA. http://www.epa.gov/owow/NPS/lid/

It is openly identified and embedded in our USEPA-mandated National Pollution Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES) Permits issued by Cal/EPA Regional Water Quality Control Boards. There are 9 Regional Boards, each NPDES varies slightly from the others due to many factors I won't go into.

The thresholds for Priority Development Project regulatory oversight have been lowered so that a new private residence with only 2500 sq. ft. of impervious surface (or a rehab/addition that increases impervious by a mere 10%) can trigger more stringent compliance standards if within 200 feet of an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) like a watercourse. Here's the hyperlink to the one that applies to South Orange County where I live to give you a taste: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sandiego/water_issues/programs/stormwater/docs/oc_permit/updates_012710/FINAL_R9_2009_0002.pdf

LID is also the over-riding choice of savvy architects and land use planners, basically the entire building and landscape design industry due to increased regulatory compliance for local public agencies. Projects as small as 1 acre have an increasingly stringent checklist of requirements. Urban AND suburban planners alike rely upon LID because of its preventative implications, its proactive approach, its anti-degradation policies culled from the CWA and California's Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act, not to mention general land use/zoning and NPDES violations.

Many new or reuse/rehab projects can modify the topography, the existing surface drainage patterns and terrain significantly with increased off-site flows, thus increasing conveyance of pollutants and causing or increasing erosion. Generically called "Hydromodification," these jurisdictional concerns along with LID are the twin constructs EPA champions and so should you.

Reducing and hopefully eliminating toxic sediment transport from your project, integrating it into the urban runoff preventative maintenance puzzle for its region or locale, is critical for the project's success. Cumulative alterations of terrain can lead to calamitous, monolithic catastrophes, avoidable if you plan proactively.

These potentially contaminated discharges of runoff and their cumulative effects, whether during or after construction, beg for the most up-to-date preventative BMP control strategies to preclude impairments that violate land use regulations. As the increased density of development or infill occurs, pollution disperses more readily and the potentially degrading aspects of contaminants more widely broadcast.

Optimizing the water conservation element is important these days, especially those increasing water costs charged by your provider due to landscape over-watering and/or failure to optimize your greenscape. I can tune-up your project's plantings and adjacent hardscape to insure as much as 75% onsite retention/detention of greywater, to minimize water usage and thus lower your bills and comply with new building codes like CALGREEN. It also makes your project more environmentally correct, so that you're individually doing your morally fair share for Mother Earth and your community.

Don't be intimidated by the technical jargon and seemingly complex, confusing, and unfamiliar dynamics of enviro-compliance goals out in the public domain these days: Mitigations and project alterations need not be expensive or complicated, especially if carefully and intelligently integrated during planning phases.

Many are low-tech to and inexpensive, easy to install and maintain, can be retrofitted quickly. They need not require a complete re-design, plus they are economically feasible and technologically possible for everyone down to the single family dwelling owner.
Post a comment, write me an email: rogerbutow@gmail.com
Or call me at my home office: (949) 715.1912 (Voicemail AFTER 6 rings).

Construction Skillsets

2011-02-05T16:42:00.000-08:00

This posting is intended to give potential clients a brief synopsis of my 40-year extensive history and wide range of capabilities.

I have in-depth experience with all phases and aspects of construction, whether commercial or residential, whether as an installer or as a supervisor. I've built from the ground up or converted existing land use, maintained and repaired, here's a few examples:

(1) A multi-acre commercial plant nursery and maintenance facility on the bluffs near Huntington Beach in Costa Mesa on Canyon Ave. (INSTANT JUNGLE 1976)

(2) Don & Roma Rose Residence on San Clemente Street in Laguna Beach (1983). A two-story, approximate 3800 sq. ft. Spanish style private residence.

(3) A Laguna Beach Architectural Guild award-winning custom estate in Laguna (MUELLER RESIDENCE 1993). A tri-level, 4,000 sq. ft. curvilinear Southwest style private residence with numerous water and art collection features on Ruby Place.

(4) A 9,000 sq. ft. commercial health club exclusively for women in Newport Beach (THE GIRL'S GYM 1986) near Riverside & Pacific Coast Highway.

(5) First incarnation (extensive remodel/conversion 1991) of 1,300 sq. ft. CRAZY SHIRTS® in downtown Laguna Beach on PCH next to The White House Restaurant.

(6) Oak Street Properties (Corner of Oak & PCH). I originally retrofitted this mixed use building complex (2 commercial spaces, 4 1-bedroom apartments and two studios) back in 1992 under the new State seismic guidelines. Since then I have worked off & on for the same owner going on 20 years: Demolished and remodeled every unit (some twice), including significant upgrades and major repairs to plumbing, electrical, tile, decks, handrails, cabinets, landscape, planters, painting (interior & exterior), etc.

I'm a working builder and construction agent, I can and do supervise all day but prefer to be actively engaged---I actually enjoy putting on my bags and working physically with my crew. I speak Spanish, so language isn't a barrier with labor either.

If you're in the planning phase of a project, being cross-trained I can assist you in the environmental compliance aspects of the process. By integrating an array of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for your project while both under construction and post-construction you'll avoid work stoppages and expensive fines from code enforcement regulatory agencies. I can assist you with BMPs tailored to your budget AND your project, regardless of size. (See other ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT SERVICES posting for more details)

I have over 20 years experience in property management/maintenance for multi-use building complexes (commercial/residential), including office/apartment interior/exterior maintenance, remodeling and even seismic retrofitting. This includes exterior lighting and landscape design, installation and maintenance too.

My primary focus since 1995 has been on kitchen and bathroom remodeling. I can do it all, or have local reliable resources who can help me: Electrical, plumbing, tile/granite/marble, cabinets, shelves, doors, windows, floors, etc.

I'll carefully perform the demolition myself and then put it back together the way you prefer: Without the usual down time, the interminable stop-and-go delays that many builders inflict upon clients.

I don't pull off the job and leave you stranded either: Once I'm onsite I don't stop until the job's done if humanly possible. This is why I have such a great referral business. I do what I promise and get the client back to their daily routine, their privacy and functional comfort zone quickly.

Post a comment and/or write me an email: rogerbutow@gmail.com

Or call me at my home office: (949) 715.1912 (Voicemail AFTER 6 rings).

Roger E. Bütow

Environmental Consultant Services

Construction Skillsets