ORD 91-08 CLEARING AND GRADINGGRS
Date submitted: April 2, 1990.
Date passed: February 7, 1991
Effective date: February 19, 1991
Chapter 15.28
CLEARING AND GRADING p
Sections: 67ic.,c�ilvl�/VC� �D� -//' O�
15.28.010 Purpose
15.28.020 Definitions
15.28.030 Application of regulations
15.28.040 Regulations
15.28.050 Permit applications
15.28.060 Expiration of permits and applications
15.28.070 Security
15.28.080 Inspection
15.28.090 Enforcement
15.28.100 Appeals
15.28.010 Purvose
The purpose of this chapter is to regulate the clearing and
grading of land in the city in order to:
A. Preserve, replace or enhance evergreens, specimen deciduous trees, under -
story and ground cover;
B. Preserve and enhance watercourses and minimize water quality degradation
of creeks, streams, ponds, lakes, wetlands and other water bodies, as
identified and defined by Chapter 18.84, Environmentally Sensitive Areas;
C. Maintain and protect groundwater resources;
D. Decrease potential landslide, flood and erosion damage to public and
private property;
E. Promote site planning and building practices which are consistent within
the city's natural topographical, vegetational and hydrological features.
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CLEARING AND GRADING February 7, 1991
15.28.020 Definitions
For the purpose of this chapter, the definitions listed hereunder shall be
construed as specified in this section.
1._ 'Applicant" means the individual, partnership, association or
corporation applying for a permit to do work authorized under this
chapter.
2. "Approved" means approved by the City Engineer in consultation with a
certified arborist. Consultation fees will be paid by the applicant..
3. "Area of special flood hazard" means the land in the floodplain subject
to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year.
4. "As graded" means the surface and subsurface condition after the
completion of grading.
5. "Base flood" means the flood having a one percent chance of being
equalled or exceeded in any given year.
6. "Best available technology" means the most effective method, technique
or product available, is technically feasible, has a history of
demonstrated effectiveness in the field, and relates to the needs of
receiving waters and to site conditions.
7. "Caliper" means the diameter of the trunk of a tree measured at four
feet above the surface of the ground. -
8. "Clearing" means the act of destroying vegetation by mechanical or
chemical means.
9. "Clearing and grading permit" means the written permission of the City
Engineer to the applicant to proceed with the act of clearing, grading
and land development within the provisions of this chapter.
10. "Colluvium" means a soil deposit derived from down-slope movement of
material from other soil formations. These deposits are most often
found on the walls of ravines or on steep hillsides.
11. "Environmentally Sensitive Areas", meaning any of those areas of Winslow
which are subject to natural hazards or those landform features which in
their natural state carry, hold or purify water and support unique,
fragile, or valuable natural resources including fishes, wildlife and
other organisms and their habitat. Environmentally Sensitive Areas
include the following landform features: archaeological sites, erosion
hazard areas, soil instability areas, wetlands, streams, and the
protective buffers necessary to protect the public health, safety and
welfare, each as defined in this chapter.
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February 7, 1991
12. "Erosion" means the wearing away of the ground surface as a result of
action by wind, water and/or ice.
13. "Excavation" means the physical, man -mads removal of earth material.
14. "Existing grade" means the land surface elevation prior to grading.
15. "Fill" means a solid material which increases the ground surface
elevation.
16. "Finished grade" means the land surface elevations of the site after
alterations are completed.
17. "Geotechnical engineer" means a professional engineer licensed by the
State of Washington in civil engineering or geotechnical engineering who
is qualified by reason of experience and education in the practice of
evaluating and predicting the engineering properties of soils and
geologic formations.
18. "Grade" means the vertical elevation of the ground surface.
19. "Grading" means any act which changes the elevation of the ground
surface.
20. "Ground cover" means vegetation normally less than four feet in height.
21. "Impervious" means resistant to infiltration or absorption of moisture.
22. "Protective Buffers", meaning an area -which provides the margin of
safety, as shown in appendix_ through protection of slope stability,
attenuation of surface water flows and landslide hazards reasonably
necessary to minimize risk to the public from loss of life or well-being
or property damage resulting from natural disasters; or an area which
is an integral part of a stream or wetland ecosystem and which provides
shading, input of organic debris and coarse sediments, room for
variation in stream or wetland edge, habitat for wildlife and protection
from harmful intrusion necessary to protect the public from losses
suffered when the functions and values of aquatic resources are
degraded.
23. "Regulatory floodway" means the channel or a river, stream, or other
watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order
to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water
surface elevation more than one foot.
24. "Restoration" means replacing or restoring original attributes or
amenities such as natural biological productivity or cultural and
aesthetic resources which have been diminished or lost by past
alterations or activities.
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CLEARING AND GRADING February J, 1991
25. "Rilling" means the creation of very small erosion channels in the
ground surface.
26. "Riparian corridors" means streams which are channels of either
perennial or intermittently running water, and which in a typical
condition consists of a bed, lower banks and upper banks. Upper banks
include water dependent as well as upland vegetation.
27. "Sediment" means soils and organic particles deposited, displaced and/or
transported by water or wind.
28. "Sedimentation" means the process of deposition of soil and organic
particles displaced, transported and deposited by water or wind.
29. "Significant trees" means any healthy trees that are: conifers and
deciduous (excluding alders) over forty feet tall and including madrones
at seventy-five percent of mature height.
30. "Significant vegetation areas" means any existing areas of vegetation
that exhibit one or more of the following characteristics: Is important
to the management of water quality or storm water management; is
important in the prevention of erosion or land instability; comprises or
is part of a wetland.
31. "Siltation" means deposition of fine textured sediment in streams and
surface waters.
32. "Surface waters" means water bodies exposing a free water surface, with
or without movement, such as streams, -lakes,, bogs, ponds and the like.
33. "Tree" means any woody perennial plant with one or more main stems(s) or
trunk(s) which develop many branches.
34. "Understory" means vegetation four feet to ten feet in height.
35. "Unstable slopes" means those sloping areas of land which have in the
past exhibited, are currently exhibiting, or will likely in the future
exhibit mass movement of earth.
36. "Vegetation" means all organic plant life growing on the surface of the
earth.
37. "Wetlands",as defined by State Law, meaning those areas that are
inundated or saturated by ground or surface water at a frequency and
duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do
support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in
saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes,
bogs, and similar areas, such as sloughs, potholes, wet meadows, river
overflow channels, and open water ponds less than twenty acres in size.
Where the vegetation has been removed or substantially altered, a
wetland shall be determined by the presence or evidence of hydric or
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February 7, 1991
organic soils. Wetlands do not include those artificial wetlands
intentionally created from nonwetland sites, including, but not limited
to, irrigation and drainage ditches, grass -lined swales, canals,
detention facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, farm ponds, and
landscape amenities. However, wetlands may include those artificial
wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland areas created to mitigate
conversion of wetlands, if permitted by the city.
15.28.030 Application of Regulations.
No person shall make changes or cause changes to be made in the surface of any
land by grading, excavating, or the removal or disturbance of the natural
topsoil, trees, or other vegetative covering thereon without first having
obtained a valid clearing and grading permit except as provided in the
following exemptions:
A. Agricultural crop management limited to the preparation of soil by
turning, discing, or other means in common local usage and the harvesting
of fruit from bushes or trees, or on non -woody, herbaceous row crops;
B. Cemetery graves;
C. Routine landscape maintenance involving not more than twenty cubic yards
of excavation and fill on a single parcel of property per year;
D. Landscape installation where fill is confined to less than one foot of
topsoil or landscape berms not exceeding four feet in height and twenty
cubic yards in volume with side slopes flatter than three feet horizontal
to one foot vertical (thirty-three percent);
E. Emergency situations involving immediate danger to life or property,
substantial fire hazards or other public safety hazards within seven days
of the onset of the emergency or during the period covered by an
emergency declaration by the city;
F. In any one year an excavation of less than twenty cubic yards of material
which:
1. Is less than two feet in depth; or
2. Which does not create a cut slope greater than five feet in height
and steeper than two horizontal to one vertical;
G. During any one year a fill less than one foot in depth and placed on
natural terrain with a slope flatter than five horizontal to one vertical
(twenty percent) or a fill less than three feet in depth and not intended
to support structures, which does not exceed twenty cubic yards on any
one lot and does not obstruct a stream or surface waters:
H. A clearing less than twenty-five hundred square feet where the
existing zoning is single-family residential. Only one exempted
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CLEARING AND GRADING February 7, 1991
cLearing or grading operation per site per year shall be permitted
under the exemption provided in this subsection.
The above exemptions shall not apply in Environmentally Sensitive Areas and
Protective Buffers. Clearing and grading shall be prohibited in
Environmentally Sensitive Areas and their Protective Buffers except as
specifically permitted by Section 15.28.040 F. and Chapter 18.84.
15.28.040 Regulations.
It is the intent of this section to promote practices consistent with the
city's natural topographic, vegetational, and hydrologic features, and to
control substantial land alterations of a speculative nature. In review of an
application for permit and in the event that conditions should be imposed
thereon, the City Engineer shall apply the following standards and criteria:
A. Permit Issuance A clearing and grading permit shall be issued only in
conjunction with one or more of the following:
1. A completed building permit application has been received;
2. Utility extension approved by the City Engineer;
3. Property access road to existing developed property;
4. Conditional Use Permit;
5. Approved street, water, storm and sanitary sewer construction
drawings for a preliminary plat or approved short plat, provided
that approval will only be given for infrastructure construction, -
not for the clearing of individual building sites;
6. Approved landscape, street, water, storm and sanitary sewer
construction drawings for an approved final PUD;
7. Approval of a shorelines substantial development permit or a
shorelines management exemption for the subject property by the city
after expiration of all appeal periods pursuant to WAC 173-14-180;
8. Special permission of the City Engineer for site work under five
hundred cubic yards based on a demonstration that extenuating
circumstances are present and that the project is consistent with
the intent and purposes of this chapter; in conjunction with a
clearing, grading and drainage plan with erosion and sedimentation
control, landscaping, soil stabilization and surface ground cover
elements including continuous maintenance.
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CLEARING AND GRADING February 7, 1991
B. Clearing. All clearing of vegetation shall conform to the specifications
of this section unless such clearing qualifies as an exemption.
1. Minimum levels of existing vegetation shall be preserved or restored
or replaced by approved landscaping in accordance with Chapter
18.90.
2. Clearing shall be prohibited in Environmentally Sensitive Areas and
their Protective Buffers except as specifically permitted by Section
15.28.040 F. and Chapter 18.84. The limits of Protective Buffers
and the limits of all other vegetation to be preserved shall be
fenced prior to any clearing adjacent to such areas, and during all
construction related activities.
3. All significant trees which, in the opinion of the City Engineer, do
not constitute a safety hazard, in the required perimeter
landscaping areas shall be retained. In areas of the site other
than the required perimeter landscape area, the applicant must
retain at least [15 percent] of the significant trees existing in
this area. Special attention shall be given to the preservation of
the following:
a. The preservation of healthy significant trees over 40' in
height.
b. The preservation of significant trees which form a continuous
canopy.
c. -The preservation of significant trees which contribute to the
character of the environment, and do not constitute a safety
hazard.
d. The preservation of significant trees which provide winter wind
protection or summer shade.
e. The preservation of groups of significant trees which create a
distinctive skyline feature.
f. The preservation of significant trees in areas of steep slopes
or adjacent to watercourses or wetlands.
4. Survey of existing trees. A survey shall be conducted, and a
drawing prepared to show the location, name and caliper of all
significant trees, and identify which trees are to be retained. The
trees to be retained shall be fenced at the drip line to prevent
damage to the root area during construction of the project.
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February 7, 1991
C. Grading. Changes in site topography shall conform to the following
restrictions:
1. Fills in regulatory floodway shall not be permitted.
2. The project shall be designed -to minimize changes in grade, cleared
areas, and volumes of excavation or fill.
3. The maximum surface gradient on any artificially created slope shall
be two feet of horizontal run to one foot of vertical fall. This
gradient may be increased to a gradient which can be demonstrated
through engineering calculations to be stable with a 1.5 factor of
safety, if in the opinion of the City Engineer, it has been
demonstrated by the applicant through engineering calculations that
surface erosion can be controlled to that erosion rate equal to a
two -to -one slope under the same conditions.
4. The applicant shall at all times protect improvements to adjacent
private properties and public rights-of-way or easements from damage
during grading operations. The applicant shall restore public
improvements damaged by his/her operations to the standards in
effect at the time of the issuance of the permit.
D. Drainage. All clearing and grading activities shall make provisions for
drainage pursuant to the following requirements:
1. Control
a. All drainage facilities shall be designed to carry water to the
nearest practicable drainage way approved by the City Engineer
as a safe place to deposit such waters
b. Whenever the streams and/or surface waters in the vicinity are
adequate, or by the use of engineering design or equipment can
be made adequate to handle the anticipated water runoff, the
streams and/or surface waters shall be utilized
c. The City Engineer shall not approve plans if the cumulative
incremental effects of the proposed project considered alone or
together with existing or future similar projects or practices
in the vicinity or drainage basin could likely result in
substantial habitat or other damage to the existing riparian
corridor, drainage course, or public or private drainage
facilities, and/or to streams and surface waters by erosion,
siltation or sedimentation, or significant changes in quality
or increased off-site velocity of storm surface water, or
significant harmful deterioration of groundwater drainage
d. It is prohibited, without the authorization of the City
Engineer, and the obtaining of a SEPA Determinations of Non-
significance (when applicable) and those permits or
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CLEARING AND GRADING February 7, 1991
certificates as may be required by the provisions of RCW
Chapters 90.03 and 90.44, to:
i. Change the point of discharge of surface waters or
concentrate them in ditches;
ii. Divert waters which would have naturally escaped in
another direction;
iii. Discharge them at a higher velocity;
iv. Add to their pollution.
2. Drainage Improvements. Control structures may be necessary to
reduce velocities and moderate the flow if the possibility exists
that damage could occur downstream from the project. Drainage
improvements and control structures shall not include the enclosing
of streams except to provide for site access and to control
excessive water flows beyond the capacity of the watercourse. All
discharges of water from the project shall be of like quality,
quantity and velocity as previously flowed at the disposal location
prior to the clearing or grading for which the permit is sought, as
required by the Washington State Department of Ecology.
3. Storm water control (detention/retention) structures shall be
designed to release runoff, resulting from a 100 year design storm,
from a developed site at no greater rate than the rate produced
under natural conditions prior to development. Design shall be in
compliance with the requirements of Chapter 15.20 of the Winslow
Municipal Code. The City Engineer may require that the maximum
release rate be adjusted downward to prevent downstream habitat or
water quality damage, erosion or flooding.
E. Erosion Control.
1. Temporary Erosion and Sedimentation Control.
a. A temporary erosion and sedimentation control plan is required
for all construction. The plan shall clearly indicate the
construction sequence for establishment of all erosion control
work, both temporary and permanent. The plan shall be designed
by and carry the seal of a civil engineer licensed in the State
of Washington. The erosion control plan shall be based on the
best available technology for water quality and quantity
control.
b. Applicant shall be responsible for the design and construction
of revised temporary erosion and sedimentation control if
approved plan fails. The applicant shall notify the city of
alterations to plans.
C. All surfaces where bare soil is exposed during clearing and
grading operations shall be covered or otherwise protected from
erosion if left unworked for more than seven days.
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CLEARING AND GRADING February 1, 1991
d. Temporary erosion and sedimentation control devices shall be
maintained by the applicant until all possibility for erosion
has passed and permanent vegetation has been established, as
determined by the City Engineer.
2. Permanent Erosion Control and Vegetation Restoration.
a. Permanent erosion control shall be considered and set forth in
the original design of the project to provide erosion control
following completion of construction.
b. The erosion control shall include,but not be limited to,
permanently installed landscaping, terracing, or other grading
design methods, drainage control structures such as ponds or
catch basins, and retention or reestablishment of native
vegetation.
C. Vegetation shall be restored on those areas of the site
disturbed by the land alteration activity which are not covered
by permanent impervious surface improvement (e.g. buildings,
parking lots, etc.) within five working days of the completion
of grading, unless seasonal or weather conditions are
unfavorable for transplanting. In this case, temporary erosion
control measures shall be installed and maintained until such
time as restoration can be completed. The soil shall be
stabilized in the area of vegetation restoration prior to that
restoration to the satisfaction of the City Engineer.
d. In no case shall the period between the completion of work
authorized under this chapter and final and complete
restorative vegetation planting for a given project or project
phase be more than two years. Hydroseeding shall not be
considered a lawn or permanent vegetation until it has been
established for at least two growing seasons and must receive
final approval from the City Engineer. The planting shall
restore the vegetation on the site to a condition equal to or
better than the pre -cleared condition to the maximum extent
possible as determined by the City Engineer.
e. Rockeries are considered to be an erosion protection method and
may be used to protect cut slopes of up to eight feet in height
or fill slopes of up to three feet in height. Cut or fill
slopes of up to twelve feet in height may be protected by a
rockery if a geotechnical engineer evaluates the slope and
demonstrates with engineering calculations that it is suitably
stable to be protected by a rockery. The geotechnical engineer
shall also provide recommendations for rockery construction.
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CLEARING AND GRADING February 7, 1991
F. Clearing and Grading in Environmentally Sensitive Areas and Protective
Buffers (Chapter 18.84)
1. Environmentally Sensitive Areas include, but are not limited to, the
following:
a. Areas of special flood hazard;
b. Riparian corridors;
C. Wetlands;
d. Areas of colluvial or landslide deposits on slopes of fifteen
percent or more, or areas where there is evidence of
instability;
e. Sloes of forty percent or greater;
f. Shorelines as designated in Chapter 16 of the Winslow Municipal
Code;
g. Archaeological sites;
h. Significant wildlife habitat areas; and
i. Other areas which may be identified by the city in accordance
with the provisions of the State Environmental Policy Act and
Chapter 16, Environment.
2. Any activity governed by this chapter is prohibited in
Environmentally Sensitive Areas and Protective Buffers except for
activity conducted in connection with an approved use allowed under
the code where such activity, in the opinion of the City Engineer
can be accomplished in a manner which meets the following criteria:
a. Assures the protection and safety of persons and property,
public and private;
b. Is harmonious with the existing natural environment;
c. Will not result in significant erosion causing rilling
sedimentation, water quality degradation and siltation on-site
or in down-slope or downstream areas;
d. Assures long-term slope and soil stability with minimum
maintenance or replacement costs; and
e. Provides reasonable financial assurance in a form approved by
the City Engineer that future repairs and maintenance will be
performed, when required; provided, that essential public
services will be permitted where no feasible alternative exists
in which event the development shall be accomplished in a
manner which assures the protection and safety of persons and
property, public and private.
3. No structure, stockpile, clearing, excavation, fill or other
activity governed by this chapter that increases the weight loaded
onto, or erosion of, an unstable or potentially unstable slope shall
be located in unstable soils.
4. No structure, stockpile, clearing, excavation, fill or other
activity governed by this chapter shall occur on any former
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CLEARING AND GRADING February 7, 1991
landslide deposit or any other unstable or potentially unstable
areas where said activity increases the risk of damage to adjacent
property or resources, or injury to persons, unless said activity
can be accomplished in a manner consistent with Winslow Municipal
Code Chapter 18.84 and subdivision 2 of this subsection.
5. For Environmentally Sensitive Areas and Protective Buffers, special,
more stringent conditions than otherwise provided for herein may be
required by the City Engineer if in the opinion of the City Engineer
for reasons of health and safety, stability, or environmental
sensitivity, such special conditions are needed to mitigate adverse
impacts.
6. Restoration.
a. When required. Any person who alters an Environmentally
Sensitive Area or Protective Buffer without a permit, in
violation of a permit, or in any way not permitted, and any
property owner upon whose property such an area has been so
altered, shall submit a plan for restoration of said sensitive
area within thirty days of notification of such a requirement
by the city. Upon approval of the restoration plan and other
necessary permits, the person and/or property owner shall
restore the sensitive area in accordance with the approved plan
at his/her expense pursuant to a schedule approved by the City
Engineer.
b. Approval. The City Engineer must review and approve or approve
with modifications, a restoration plan submitted pursuant to
Paragraph a. Such approval does not eliminate the need to
obtain any other city permit otherwise required to accomplish
the work.
C. Plan Requirements.
i. The City Engineer shall specify plan submittal
requirements, including the type, level of detail, and
number of copies for an enhancement or restoration plan
to be deemed complete and acceptable.
ii. The City Engineer may waive specific submittal
requirements determined to be unnecessary, or may require
such additional material as may be determined to be
necessary to fully review the proposed restoration or
enhancement.
FOR ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS RELATIVE TO ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE
AREAS AND PROTECTIVE BUFFERS, SEE CHAPTER 18.84.
G. Maintenance. It shall be the responsibility of the applicant to maintain
all erosion control and drainage devices in good operating condition
during the lifetime of the permit. The applicant shall clean and repair,
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CLEARING AND GRADING February 7, 1991
revise or replace all erosion control facilities or devices as often as
necessary and as directed by the City Engineer to maintain their
effectiveness and level of performance. In addition, the applicant shall
be responsible for assuring that any such facilities deemed ineffective,
damaged during floods, storms, or other adverse weather conditions are
returned to normal operating condition within twenty-four hours of
receipt of notice from the City Engineer.
H. General.
1. Staged construction shall be approved by the City Engineer only if
each stage of the project involves construction of the necessary
drainage and erosion control facilities to assure compliance with
this chapter and if a phasing plan is approved by the City Engineer.
2. Activities governed by this chapter shall not be commenced during
unfavorable weather conditions as determined by the City Engineer
unless authorized in writing by the City Engineer based on a
demonstration of an emergency situation described in Section
15.28.030 E. Work halted by unfavorable weather conditions shall
not be resumed until soil moisture conditions are acceptable to the
City Engineer.
3. No work shall occur under a clearing and grading permit within a
Protective Buffer adjacent to an Environmentally Sensitive Area,
other than a riparian corridor, between September 15 and April 1,
unless otherwise authorized in writing by the City Engineer. No
work shall occur within a Protective Buffer adjacent to a riparian
corridor between September 15 and -June 15 unless otherwise
authorized in writing by the City Engineer.
4. Crossing of riparian corridors, where allowed, shall be made by
bridging roadways, driveways or above ground utilities to minimize
damage to the stream.
5. Vegetation on all disturbed areas shall be restored in accordance
with Section 15.28.040 F 6, prior to approval of construction by the
city.
6. All work permitted under this chapter shall proceed continuously to
completion in an expeditious manner unless authorized by the City
Engineer with the intent that work may be halted due to weather
conditions or the need to coordinate other construction on the site.
7. Daily removal of deposits (track out) shall be required in
compliance with Section 15.12.044 of the Winslow Municipal Code and
as amended.
8. All necessary drainage and erosion control facilities shall be
installed prior to any construction.
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CLEARING AND GRADING February 7, 1991
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15.28.050 Permit Applications
A. Application. An application for a clearing and grading permit shall be
submitted on a form provided by the city, which shall include:
1. The name and address of the applicant and the name and address of
the legal property owner if other than the applicant;
2. A legal description of the property -to which the application
applies.;
3. Description of the work to be covered and method of accomplishment;
4. A statement of the purpose for which the proposed work is intended;
5. A drainage and erosion control plan pursuant to the requirements of
this chapter and Chapter 15.20 of the Winslow Municipal Code and as
amended;
6. Plans (1"=20' minimum) and specifications as required by subsection
B of this section;
7. An estimate of the quantities
8. Survey of existing trees;
9. Any other information required
provisions of this chapter.
of work to be done;
by the City Engineer to carry out the
B. Plans and Specifications. Each application shall be accompanied by four
sets of plans and specifications including calculations. The plans and
specifications shall be prepared by a registered professional engineer
and shall have his/her stamp affixed. The plans and specifications shall
include:
1. An accurate plan of the entire site as it exists at the time of the
application which includes:
a. All property lines;
b. Contours at no more than two -foot intervals over the entire
site;
c. Contour lines extending a minimum -of 200 feet off-site when
site contains slopes in excess of 15 percent.
d. A graphic representation of existing vegetation on site,
including all significant trees, designated by their common
names, the amount of bare ground and the amount and type of
impervious material (rock or artificial);
e. A description of the upper 36 inches of soil composition;
f. The location of all existing drainage facilities, natural and
man-made;
g. The location and estimated capacity of any areas which impound
surface water;
h. The location and estimated discharge capacity of all visible
springs;
i. The location and elevation of all structures, utilities and
their appurtenances, including structures and utilities on
adjacent properties which are within 200 feet of the property.
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February 7, 1991
2. An accurate plan of the entire site as it would appear after the
completion of work covered by the permit showing the following:
a. The finished contours achieved by grading;
b. The boundaries of all areas to remain in the existing or
natural state, and the location and general or typical size of
all vegetation, including significant trees, shown on the plan
that will remain after the completion of work with the minimum
distance to the nearest excavation or fill;
c. The location and capacities of drainage facilities and related
construction.This includes detailed plans of all surface or
subsurface devices or facilities to be constructed with or as
part of the proposed work.
d. Boundaries of all areas where surface water percolation will be
retained or improved;
e. The method for discharging surface water off-site including the
provisions required to control the velocity and direction of
discharge to protect downstream properties.
C. Additional Information. The City Engineer may require the applicant to
submit additional information when he finds the submitted plans and
specifications and associated information are not clear enough to allow
for an adequate determination, or when special conditions are found to
exist which require specific explanation. This may include, but not be
limited to the following:
1. Computations of expected peak runoff for 10, 25 and 100 year
storms entering and leaving the site and impounded during
construction;
2. Cross section scale drawings of channel or pipe at both the
upstream an downstream property lines with elevations for
specific runoff periods;
3. Engineering geology report;
4. Soils engineering report, which may include slope stability
information;
5. Hydrology report for the drainage basin in which the property
is located.
15.28.060 Expiration of permits and applications
The expiration of clearing and grading permits and applications shall follow
the same regulations as for building permits and applications therefore. The
City Engineer may set specific limits to the permit for project initiation
and/or completion if for environmental reasons or for coordination with other
permitted site work he/she finds it is advisable to do so.
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February 7, 1991
15.28.070 Security.
A. The City Engineer may require the applicant to furnish security in the
form of a bond, cash escrow account, an irrevocable letter of credit or
other form of security which may be acceptable to the city at its sole
discretion, in an amount determined by the City Engineer to be sufficient
to reimburse the city if it should become necessary to eliminate
hazardous conditions relating to soil stability and/or erosion, to
restore vegetation, and/or for the purposes authorized herein.
B. In no case shall the amount of the security be less than the City
Engineer's estimate of the cost of correcting or eliminating hazardous
conditions that reasonable may occur, and/or if insuring compliance with
the stipulations of the permit and the approved plans and specifications.
In addition, security may be required to protect the city from potential
damage claims of others and/or damage to city streets, utilities or
property in the same manner and extend as may be required prior to
issuance of a building permit.
C. Should the city, during the course of construction, find it necessary to
expend the security to correct any work not in accordance with the
approved plans and specifications, a stop work order may be issued to the
applicant on any additional work until the full amount of the security is
reestablished by the applicant.
15.28.080 Inspection.
All projects which include clearing and grading shall be subject to inspection
by the City Engineer or his/her designee, who shall be granted reasonable
right of entry to the work site by the applicant. When required by the City
Engineer special inspection of the grading operations and special testing
shall be performed by qualified professionals employed by and paid for by the
applicant.
15.28.090 Enforcement.
The City Engineer may suspend or revoke a permit whenever he/she determines
that the act or intended act of clearing, grading, excavation or fill has
become or will constitute a hazard to life and limb, endangers property,
adversely affects the safety, use or stability of public way, drainage
channel, stream or surface water, including siltation and sedimentation, or
that the applicant has violated the conditions of the permit or has violated a
provision of this chapter.
The applicant or other person or agent in control of said property, upon
receipt of notice in writing from the City Engineer shall, within the period
specified therein, terminate such clearing and grading, excavation, embankment
or fill, or eliminate the same from the development plans, or modify the
plans, as may be required so as to eliminate the hazard and be in conformance
with the requirements of this chapter. The applicant shall also be required
to take measures to correct damages caused to adjacent and/or downstream or
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CLEARING AND GRADING February 7, 1991
upstream properties as directed by the City Engineer, or if not accomplished
in a reasonable period of time the city shall do so using the security
provided as part of the permit under which the work was done.
15.28.100 Appeals.
Any person aggrieved by any decision of the City Engineer made in
administering this chapter may appeal such decision as provided for appeals
related to compliance with building permit requirements.
15.28.110 Violations -- Penalty
A. Violation of the provisions of this chapter or failure to comply with any
of the requirements shall constitute a misdemeanor and shall be
punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by
imprisonment for not more than ninety days, or by both such fine and
imprisonment. Each day such violation continues shall be considered a
separate, distinct offense.
B. Any person who commits, participates in, assists or maintains such
violation may be found guilty of a separate offense and suffer the
penalties as set forth in subsection A.
C. In addition to the penalties set forth in subsections A and B, any
violation of the provisions of this chapter is declared to be a public
-nuisance and may be abated through proceeding for injunctive or similar
relief in Superior Court or other court of competent jurisdiction.
CLEARING AND GRADING
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February 7, 1991