The San Diego City Council Committee on Natural
Resources and Culture will hear a recommendation
Wednesday from a subcommittee convened by Council
Member Marti Emerald that would require water submeters
on multifamily housing in order to encourage water
conservation.
Several SDHF members and staff have participated in
the subcommitee with the result that the proposed draft
ordinance requires affordable developers to install the
piping needed to submeter but it does not require
submetering in affordable housing. The purpose of the
installation at the time of construction is to make it
possible at a later time to submeter should the owner
(or city) decide that this is advisable or should the
property convert to market rate. Projects applying for
discretionary permits after January 1 would be covered
by the ordinance.
While the ordinance was originally expected to
pertain to new construction only, it now includes
existing units. SDHF disagrees with the proposed
provision for requiring submeters in existing properties
at the time of rehab. The draft ordinance triggers the
replacement in a rehab if the developer is replacing 50%
of the interior potable water lines in a building.
It is unclear whether all of the units in all of the
buildings must then be piped for submeters.
Affordable housing, according to the draft proposal,
will have to plumb for the meters but not install them.
The final proposal to the committee is
here. The
meeting begins at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Council
Committee meeting room. Those with experience in
re-plumbing older properties are asked to contact Doris
Payne-Camp at 619-239-6693 prior to the meeting and to
plan on attending to help Council members better
understand the ramifications of requiring the retrofit
in existing property
rehabs.
