Lancaster, CA Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

010 by declaring why the rule exists: the city had received numerous complaints from residents about public and private drainage facilities, both natural and man-made, that were overgrown with vegetation and blocked by weeds and debris, creating a risk of property damage and personal injury. 020 turns that finding into a flat prohibition: no person, firm, or corporation may place, deposit, or leave trash, debris, or any other material in any natural or man-made stormwater drainage facility, whether publicly or privately owned, and an owner or person in possession of property containing a private drainage facility or channel must not permit or allow such material to accumulate there either.

110, layers on a separate drainage-fee program tied to the city's master plan of drainage, dated October 1992 and adopted by city council resolution on November 16, 1992. New residential development that adds dwelling units, and new commercial or industrial development that adds impervious area, must pay drainage fees set by council resolution and collected by the department of building and engineering services before a building permit issues; existing developed properties that add no units or impervious area are exempt. Subdividers who build oversized planned drainage facilities benefiting property outside their own subdivision can be reimbursed from the planned drainage facilities fund under Sections 66485, 66486, and 66488 of the Subdivision Map Act, and every subdivision or building-permit applicant must dedicate the rights-of-way the city needs to construct and maintain those planned facilities.