Stormwater detention requirements

A civil engineer and developer who said the city attorney's office admitted after three months that the city lacked legal authority to require detention on small projects. He urged the commission to reject the ordinance, calling it impractical and costly on small Daly City lots.

Said he was forced to build an $8,000-plus retention system for a 750-square-foot ADU that delayed his four-year project, while similar ADUs nearby were signed off without the requirement. He called the enforcement selective and unfair.

A local architect who described a hillside ADU project where a geotechnical engineer refused to allow a retention pit, costing the client about $15,000 before the requirement was dropped. He supported codifying clear rules but called the burden on small lots senseless.

A contractor who said retention pits don't fit typical 25-by-100-foot lots and that permeable surfaces do the same job cheaper. He questioned the 2,500-square-foot cutoff and recommended applicability at the application stage, not permit issuance.