(A) When required. The city storm water construction activity permit is required before any person or entity may excavate, grub and clear, grade or perform construction activity under the following circumstances:
(1) Five thousand square feet or greater: any activity disturbing 5,000 square feet of land or more;
(2) Common plan of development: construction activity related to residential building on an individual lot or parcel which is part of a common plan of development or sale, as more specifically defined in § 154.017 of this chapter;
(3) Special concern areas: any activity causing disturbance of land that is likely to result in erosion or the transport of sediment off of the site by storm water to a degree substantially greater than that which would occur under natural landscape conditions; and
(4) Exempt activities: see § 154.066 of this chapter for activities exempt from the requirements of this section.
(Prior Code, § 24.07.010)
(B) Application. Any person or entity desiring to obtain a storm water construction activity permit must first file an application with the Public Works Department.
(1) The application shall include an erosion control plan or storm water pollution prevention plan and notice of intent (NOI), as applicable.
(2) (a) The applicant shall file the application on or before the following dates:
1. Subdivision: at least five business days prior to the pre-construction meeting if the applicant proposes to develop a subdivision;
2. Site plan: at least five business days prior to the pre-construction meeting if the applicant proposes to develop a site plan or amended site plan;
3. Common plan of development or building permit: the date that the applicant submits a building permit application if the applicant proposes to construct a building on an existing lot or parcel;
4. Other: at least five business days prior to when the applicant intends to perform any type of earth disturbance; and
5. No work: no work shall commence until an approved storm water construction activity permit is obtained by the applicant.
(b) If an applicant’s development comes under more than one of the categories listed above, then the applicant shall submit the storm water construction activity permit application on the earliest of the listed dates.
(3) (a) Failure to comply with the application dates set forth above is not a criminal offense, but may delay the applicant’s project.
(b) It is unlawful to commence work on a site before obtaining a required storm water construction activity permit.
(4) The applicant for a storm water construction activity permit shall pay a fee in an amount set by resolution of the City Council.
(5) The city shall approve the application and grant the permit if the application is complete and meets the criteria set forth in § 154.061 of this chapter. The city shall deny the application if the city determines that the measures proposed fail to meet the criteria set forth in § 154.061 of this chapter.
(6) Unless otherwise revoked or suspended, a storm water construction activity permit shall be in effect for the full period of the construction activity. The construction activity will not be considered to be completed until the following events occur:
(a) For permits associated with a subdivision:
1. The permittee must complete all required subdivision improvements; and
2. One of the following three events must occur:
a. The city issues a final certificate of occupancy for each lot in the subdivision;
b. Individual storm water construction activity permits have been issued for each lot in the subdivision not having a final occupancy permit; or
c. The property has been re-vegetated or landscaped in a manner that eliminates erosion and sediment discharge or that brings the property back to its natural state.
(b) For permits associated with a site, the date that the permittee has completed all required landscaping and all outside construction work associated with the site plan.
(c) For permits associated with a building, the date that the city issues a final occupancy permit for the structure covered by the building permit.
(d) For permits issued that are not tied to other approvals from the city, the date that the permittee has completed all work associated with the permit and takes steps required by the permit to prevent further erosion and runoff from the site.
(7) No storm water construction activity permit shall be considered terminated until the permittee notifies the city of the completion of the project and a final inspection is performed by an authorized city inspector to verify site stabilization. In such cases when a notice of intent was issued, the permittee shall submit a notice of termination to the state when the City Inspector has verified the site is stabilized. the permittee shall keep and maintain all permit-required improvements on the site until the city accepts the notice of termination.
(8) In the event that the proposed construction activity for a site to which a permit pertains is materially altered from that described in an original plan in a way that may have a significant impact upon the effectiveness of the measures and controls described in the original plan, the permittee shall redline the storm water pollution prevention plan.
(Prior Code, § 24.07.020)
(C) Attachments.
(1) (a) For sites:
1. With a disturbance area between 5,000 square feet and 43,560 square feet (one acre) and not considered a common plan of development; and
2. Located within a special concern area (as determined by the city) with any amount of disturbance, an erosion control plan shall be required.
(b) The erosion control plan shall identify:
1. The general topographic features of the site;
2. The direction of existing storm water flows from the site;
3. Proposed improvements to the site;
4. Locations of best management practices to control quantity and quality of storm water leaving the site during disturbance, including restoration; and
5. Sequencing plan or narrative.
(2) A storm water pollution prevention plan (SWPPP), including a state-issued notice of intent, shall be required for all sites disturbing one acre or greater and that are less than one acre that are part of a common plan of development. The SWPPP shall contain, but not be limited to, the following information: (For complete requirements, see the general permit for construction activities, UTR300000 which can be found on the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Quality, website.)
(a) A site description (including a map with spot elevations and contour lines) which includes a description of the nature and location of the construction activity, a description of the intended sequence of major activities which will disturb soils for major portions of the site (e.g., grubbing, excavation, grading, utilities and infrastructure installation and the like), and estimates of the total area of the site and the total area of the site that is expected to be disturbed by excavation, grading or other activities; and
(b) A description of the proposed measures and controls that will be implemented during construction activity and/or while the site is not stable. The plan must clearly describe the times during the construction process that the measures will be implemented for each major activity identified pursuant to division (C)(2)(a) above. The plan shall also state the name and phone number of the person or entity responsible for implementation of each control measure.
(3) The proposed measures and controls described in the plan shall be designed to meet the following goals and criteria.
(a) The proposed measures and controls shall be designed to prevent or minimize, to the maximum extent practicable, the discharge of sediment, debris and other construction-related pollutants from the construction site by storm water runoff into the storm drainage system.
(b) The proposed measures and controls shall be designed to prevent or minimize, to the maximum extent practicable, the deposit, discharge, tracking by construction vehicles, or dropping of mud, sediment, debris or other potential pollutants onto public streets and rights-of-way. Any such discharge shall be cleaned up and removed immediately upon notification to the permittee or when it otherwise comes to the attention of the permittee. at a minimum, the deposit or discharge shall be cleaned and removed at the end of the work shift in which the deposit occurred, or at the end of the workday, whichever comes first.
(c) The proposed measures and controls shall consist of best management practices (BMPs) available at the time that the plan is submitted. BMPs may include, but shall not be limited to, temporary silt or sediment fences, sediment traps and detention ponds, gravel construction entrances and wash down pads to reduce or eliminate off-site tracking, straw bale sediment barriers, establishment of temporary grasses and permanent vegetative cover, use of straw mulch as a temporary ground cover, erosion control blankets, temporary interceptor dikes and swales, storm drain inlet protection, check dams, pipe slope drains, rock outlet protection, reinforced soil retaining systems and gabions.
(d) The proposed measures and controls shall be designed to preserve existing vegetation, where possible. Disturbed portions of the site shall be stabilized. Stabilization practices may include temporary seeding, permanent seeding, mulching, geotextiles, sod stabilization, vegetative buffer strips, protection of trees, preservation of mature vegetation and other appropriate measures. Use of impervious surfaces for stabilization should be avoided. Stabilization measures shall be initiated as soon as practicable in disturbed portions of the site where construction activities have temporarily or permanently ceased, but in no case more than 14 days after the construction activity in that portion of the site has temporarily or permanently ceased, except under the following circumstances:
1. If the initiation of stabilization measures by the fourteenth day after construction activity temporarily or permanently ceases is precluded by snow cover or frozen ground conditions, stabilization measures shall be initiated as soon as practicable; or
2. If construction activity on a portion of the site is temporarily ceased, and earth disturbing will resume within 21 days, temporary stabilization measures need not be initiated on that portion of the site.
(e) The proposed measures and controls shall be employed to minimize the risk of discharge of construction-related pollutants (such as paint, thinners, solvents and other chemicals) from the construction site. Such measures may include implementation of storage practices to minimize exposure of the material to storm water as well as spill prevention and response.
(4) PLAN shall be defined as the erosion control plan or storm water pollution prevention plan, as applicable.
(Prior Code, § 24.07.030)
(Ord. 20-01, passed 1-2-2020)