First vote on plastic bag ordinance to happen on May 13

 After years of lobbying by environmental organizations and anti-plastic proponents, the City Council will take its first vote on an ordinance that would outlaw the sale of single-use plastic bags in Culver City Monday May 13.

 The vote will be taken against a backdrop of nearly 80 cities throughout the state that have taken action toward banning plastic bags, which Santa Monica –based Heal the Bay, a prominent environmental water and beach protection organization, says can clog landfill, litter public spaces and harm animal life when the bags infiltrate waterways.

On Dec. 10, the council heard a presentation from the city attorney’s office regarding its proposed ordinance but took no action.

City officials have held meetings in recent weeks to engage the public on what the ordinance would entail, when it would be heard by the council as well as answer any questions that community organizations or individuals had about the proposal.

“The key to any successful public policy is to have outreach as well as conversations with and input from the public,” said Councilman Jim Clarke.

In addition to banning plastic bags, the proposed city law would allow stores to charge consumers who would like a paper bag a 10 cent fee.

Public Works Management Analyst Helen Kerstein, who led the city’s outreach, said her department has been working in collaboration with the city attorney’s office to craft citywide legislation for plastic bags. They are using, to a large degree, the county’s environmental impact ordinance as a template for the environmental portion of the proposed ordinance, which has long been  suggested by environmentalists  pushing city officials on enact a ban.

“I think our ordinance is closely model after the county’s,” Kerstein said.

Andy Shrader, an environmentalist who worked alongside Transition Culver City to encourage the council to craft legislation banning single-use plastic bags, is thrilled that the city is finally moving forward with the presentation of an ordinance.

“I’m pleased that the City Council is moving forward with the plastic bag ban on the wings of strong community support,” said Shrader, a former member of the Mar Vista Community Council.   “These days we all see what a strong impact human-made pollution of all types is having: from the climate crisis to over a thousand sick sea lion pups inexplicably washing up on Southern California beaches in past weeks, our daily habits are having an increasingly severe impact upon our environment.

“Reducing single-use plastic waste is one cost-effective step we can take to clean our waterways and protect marine life while freeing our neighborhoods of blight.”

Clarke, who during his city council campaign last year was one of the first candidates to express support for a plastic bag ban, agrees that using an amendment to the county’s EIR can make the proposed ordinance function more smoothly. “That’s significant because now that gives us a base from where we can start and it also could help us save some money in the long run by not having to develop our own EIR,” he said.

“Because the county’s EIR was already completed, we were able to do an amendment, which could have been more time consuming without it,” Kerstein added.

Kerstein said city officials are heartened by a state Supreme Court ruling in 2011 that kept in place a ban on plastic bags approved by the Manhattan Beach City Council.

The ordinance was challenged in court by the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, a Bay Area organization that has fought plastic bag ordinances through legal means.

And the city of Fairfax won a lawsuit brought by the plastics industry and passed its ordinance in November 2008.

Shrader thinks waiting for the Manhattan Beach verdict before enacting a ban on plastic has proved to be a smart move, although others have been critical of the city for not moving quicker, as the state Supreme Court ruling is two years old.

“I applaud the council for its diligence and patience in waiting out the failed lawsuits brought on by the plastic industry bullies,” he said.   “The plastic bag bans have shown that friends and neighbors can band together and with focused, hard work, can take back their communities and defeat the million-dollar corporate public relations machine of lies.”

Kerstein said her department could benefit if a ban is passed because discarded plastic bags can be a hazard to the Ballona Creek watershed as they enter through storm drains in and outside Culver City. “Cities and counties spend a lot of money to clean up litter and keep plastic bags out of the watershed,” she noted.

The May 13 vote will be the first reading of the ordinance and if it is approved, the proposal will return for a second and final reading and vote.

City Attorney Carol Schwab did not respond to calls and emails at press time.