Homeowner's Association (HOA) Guide
Stormwater Structural Best Management Practices (BMPs) are installed on certain properties across the County in order to help prevent pollutants such as trash, fertilizers, pesticides, and sediment from making their way into storm drains and ultimately to our local creeks, rivers, and ocean.
Your residential development is one of hundreds across the County
with at least one BMP.
BMPs Keep Our Waterways Clean
Your BMPs are designed to remove pollutants from stormwater runoff generated by your development. As the owner or manager of one of these developments, County regulations require you to perform routine inspections and maintenance to ensure your BMPs are operating effectively.
HOA Board Members, Property Management, and Individual
Property Owners All Play a Role
Information about a development’s structural BMPs is frequently lost when an HOA transitions to a new board and/or property management company. Since many BMPs are in landscaped areas, they can easily be overlooked as maintenance items.
It can also be difficult to distinguish maintenance obligations of
the HOA from those of individual owners. Developments often include
both common areas maintained by the HOA and private areas maintained
by individual property owners.
Structural BMPs Managed by HOAs
HOAs are generally responsible for maintaining structural BMPs in common areas, including parking lots and shared private roads.
They are also likely responsible for maintaining larger BMPs that treat runoff from both common areas and multiple properties within a HOA.
Types of BMPs maintained by HOAs range from large detention basins
to common storm drain insert filters.
Structural BMPs Managed by Individual Property Owners
Individual property owners may be responsible for maintaining
structural BMPs located on their property. Typically, these BMPs only
treat runoff generated on an individual property, and can range in
size from small storm drain insert filters to vegetated BMPs.
Structural BMP Documentation
The Stormwater Maintenance Agreement outlines the structural BMP maintenance responsibilities of the HOA. Most BMPs that are part of an approved site development plan will have this document on file with the County.
The Stormwater Maintenance Agreement delineates specific requirements for each BMP, including inspection and maintenance tasks, and identifies the responsible party for these activities. A development’s original designed condition and technical specifications will be documented in Record (or As-Built) Plans, along with the development’s Storm Water Quality Management Plan (SWQMP).
Plans are a critical reference for long-term maintenance activities such as structural repairs, which are necessary to retain the intended functionality of the BMP.
Specific information about structural BMPs in your development can be found in the following documents:
- Your development’s Stormwater Maintenance Agreement recorded with the County Recorder’s Office;
- Approved site development plans for your development; or
- Other
maintenance plans provided by your housing developer.
Maintain and Verify Your BMPs
HOA managers and individual BMP owners are responsible for verifying on an annual basis that their structural BMPs are properly maintained.
To learn more about specific types of structural BMPs and how to maintain them, and to view instructions for using an online portal to submit your annual maintenance verification, visit Structural BMPs website.
*If you do not properly maintain your structural BMP, or do
not submit your annual maintenance verification, a County inspector
may be required to conduct an onsite inspection or initiate an
enforcement investigation.
BMP Fact Sheets in PDF format
Structural
BMP Outreach Flyers (Educational Resources Page)
Contact
(858) 495-5323
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