(a) Purposes: Plans for Drainage. It is the intention of Council to provide within the Municipality an overall system of drainage which will safeguard the health and safety of all residents therein and which will protect the property located therein, insofar as the same is possible. In order to accomplish such purposes, any person, firm or corporation seeking a permit to construct any building or structure within the Municipality designated or to be used for the housing of human beings shall, together with the application for such permit, submit all necessary plans and profiles to demonstrate a plan for the proper and adequate drainage and control of erosion of the lots or lands upon which such building or structure is to be built. Such plans and profiles shall contain therein provisions for preserving any natural watercourse, drainage ditch, sewer, conduit, culvert or other existing channel which carries storm or other flowing waters through or from such lots and lands and, if necessary under the particular circumstances, for removing any obstructions within or to any such natural drainage ditch, sewer, conduit, culvert or other existing water channel. Insofar as is practical, such plans and profiles shall provide for the direct connection of all downspouts to storm sewers and for the continued drainage of such lots and lands in the manner, place and direction theretofore existing. Any changes therein shall be in keeping with the express purposes of Council set forth in this section.
(b) Approval by Engineer. The plans and profiles required by subsection (a) hereof shall be examined and approved, or disapproved, by the Municipal Engineer, who shall determine whether or not they make proper and adequate provision, from the standpoint of hydraulic and other accepted engineering principles, for the proper drainage and control of erosion of the lots or lands upon which the proposed building or structure is to be built and whether or not they adequately safeguard the health and safety of residents in the surrounding drainage areas and protect the property therein. In making such determination, the Engineer is directed to consider and determine the effect upon the surrounding lots, lands and other properly, the overall drainage and erosion control requirements of the Municipality and the relationship of the drainage of the lots or lands upon which the proposed improvement is to take place to the public streets, ways, existing storm and sanitary sewers and to the general health and safety of residents of the Municipality: The Engineer shall consult with the County Soil and Water Conservation Department and the U.S. Soil Conservation Service in determining the adequacy of erosion control plans. In lieu of disapproval of such plans and profiles, the Engineer may require such changes or modifications therein as he shall deem necessary by reason of the foregoing considerations of public health and safety. All plans and profiles, as approved by the Engineer, shall be deemed incorporated into and made a part of the applicant's plans and specifications for the building or structure for which a building permit is sought, and no modification thereof or deviation therefrom shall be permitted without the express permission of the Engineer. All determinations made hereunder by the Engineer shall be conclusive.
(c) (1) Top of foundation wall elevation check. Upon completion of the installation of the foundation wall, the builder shall submit to the City Engineer, a certified top of foundation wall elevation by a registered engineer or surveyor, to be checked against the topography survey approved by the City Engineer. Any change in the existing foundation wall elevation, from the approved elevation, must be approved by the City Engineer or his designated representative. No additional work, after the foundation wall is installed, shall be done by the builder until the existing foundation wall elevation is approved by the City Engineer or his designated representative.
(2) Final grade elevation check. Upon completion of the grading of a lot, the builder shall submit, to the City Engineer, a certified topographical map of the lot, by a registered engineer or surveyor, to be checked against the topography survey approved by the City Engineer. This topographical survey shall include the ground elevations at all corners of the structure and along all swales or drainage courses located on the property, at a minimum of 50' intervals and at all property pins, to insure that positive surface drainage is provided. Any variations in the topography, from the approved elevation, must be corrected or the new elevations approved by the City Engineer or his designated representative.
(d) Grant of Building Permit, Bond. No permit to construct any building or structure upon any lots or lands within the Municipality shall be granted until the applicant therefor has complied with subsections (a) and (b) hereof and, also, has posted with the Director of Finance either a cash deposit or a bond approved as to legal form by the Director of Law and executed by the applicant as principal and by a compensated corporate surety company as surety, in an amount estimated by the Engineer to be equal to the actual cost of providing and installing the system for the proper and adequate drainage and control of erosion of such lots or lands. The estimate of cost by the Engineer shall be conclusive.
(e) Installation of Property Pins and Return of Bond. After final grading of a lot, the general contractor will set all property pins as required by the topographic survey and improvement plan as approved by the City Engineer. The cash deposit or bond, contained in subsection (d) hereof, shall be returned to the applicant by the Director of Finance upon receipt from the Engineer of a certificate stating that the system of drainage and soil erosion and installation of property pins has been provided for and installed in compliance with the approved plans and profiles therefor.
(f) Inspection by Municipal Officials. The application for and the granting of a permit for any improvement contemplated under the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed to be perpetual license and right for any agent or employee of the Municipality to enter at any reasonable time or times upon the grounds and premises where in such improvement is located, for the purpose of inspecting the construction, condition or operation of the system of drainage or erosion control thereon and to do all things necessary and proper on such premises to cause the system of drainage and erosion control to operate as indicated by the approved plans and profiles therefor.
(g) Obstructions of Drainage. Council finds and determines that certain drains, ditches, drainage ditches, culverts, sewers, natural watercourses, other watercourses, depressions and conduits for the drainage of water within the Municipality have become obstructed, enclosed, impeded and diverted or that the location, direction, size or capacity thereof has been varied. Council further finds and determines that such acts result in the backing, stagnation and overflow of water and that the resultant sedimentation endangers the health and safety of the residents of the community and the property situated therein and creates great risk of flood and the spread of disease and noxious odors.
(h) Prohibition of Obstructions. For the reasons set forth in subsection (g) hereof, no owner, occupant or person shall, except as hereinafter provided, obstruct, impede, divert, enclose or vary the location, direction, size or capacity of any drain, ditch, drainage ditch, culvert, sewer, natural watercourse, swale or other watercourse, depression or conduit for the drainage of water situated within the Municipality. No owner, occupant or person shall fail, neglect or refuse to remove any obstruction, impediment, diversion, enclosure or variance in the location, direction, size or capacity of any drain, ditch, swale, drainage ditch, culvert, sewer, natural watercourse or other watercourse, depression or conduit for the drainage of water after having been notified as provided in subsection (j) hereof to remove such obstruction, impediment, diversion, enclosure
or variance.
(I) Exceptions. It shall not be deemed a violation of subsection (h) hereof when the act of obstructing, impeding, diverting, enclosing or varying the location, direction, size or capacity of a drain, ditch, drainage ditch, culvert, sewer, natural watercourse or other watercourse, depression or conduit is done pursuant to a permit issued by the Engineer expressly authorizing such action and when the permittee follows the directions of the Engineer in the work done.
(j) Enforcement. Upon the advice of the Municipal Engineer, the Building and Zoning Inspector shall serve upon any person, occupant, owner, firm or corporation who has committed or caused to be committed any act prohibited by subsection (h) hereof a notice in writing of the violation, which notice shall set forth in detail the nature and manner thereof. Such notice shall be deemed sufficiently served if it is mailed by certified mail to the usual place of business or residence of the offender or, if the violator is a corporation, to its usual place of business. The offender shall be permitted ten days from the day upon which such notice is placed in the mail to initiate and execute to the satisfaction of the Engineer all necessary measures to cease the violation set forth therein and in all respects to restore substantially the drainage conditions on such property to the conditions as they existed prior to such violation.
(k) Violations. Any person, firm or corporation who fails, within the time above prescribed by the Engineer, to correct all violations specified in the notice and to restore the previous status or otherwise to comply with the notice served shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as hereinafter provided. Each day in excess of the time prescribed by the Engineer for completion shall constitute a separate violation.
Such person, firm or corporation shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each and every day in excess of the time prescribed by the Engineer for completion during which a violation is committed, continued or permitted.
(l) Permit Required. Any person, firm or corporation wishing to divert, obstruct, drain r otherwise vary the location, direction, size or capacity of any drainage ditch, depression or other conduit for the drainage of water or sewage situated within any dedicated street in the Municipality shall first obtain a permit from the Engineer or Division of Permits and Inspections to do so.
(m) Plans and Specifications. Each applicant for a permit required by subsection (1) hereof shall submit to the Engineer plans and specifications fully disclosing and outlining the manner in which the applicant proposes to divert, obstruct, drain or otherwise vary the location, direction, size or capacity of such drainage ditch, depression or conduit. The Engineer shall issue approval for a permit only if the applicant's proposed action will not create such danger of flooding, backing or stagnation as will constitute a substantial risk to the health or safety of persons residing in the area surrounding or served by such drainage ditch, depression or other conduit or endanger the property situated in the area and, unless an alternate method of drainage satisfactory to the Engineer and of at least substantially equal capacity is provided by such plans and specifications, only if the proposed action will not materially reduce the drainage capacity of such drainage ditch depression or other conduit. Upon being satisfied that the work to be done by the applicant will comply with the requirements of this subsection, and upon the posting of the cash deposit or bond required by subsection (n) hereof, the Engineer shall issue a permit for the proposed action.
(n) Cash Deposit. The applicant shall post with the Director of Finance a cash deposit in an amount estimated by the Municipal Engineer to be equal to the actual cost of carrying out the action proposed to be taken by the applicant in accordance with the plans and profiles approved by the Engineer. The estimate of cost of the Engineer shall be conclusive. Such cash deposit shall be returned to the applicant by the Director of Finance upon receipt from the Engineer of a certificate stating that the work done or action taken under such permit was done or taken in accordance with the plans and profiles.
(o) Other Laws: Conflicts. It is the intention of Council that the provisions of subsections (a) to (n), inclusive, hereof, be supplementary to other provisions of these Codified ordinances pertaining to the subject of drainage and sanitation, particularly Chapters 1024 and 1478 of the City's Codified ordinances. However, in the case of a conflict between the provisions of subsections (a) to (n), inclusive, hereof and the provisions specifically enumerated in this subsection, the provisions of subsections (a) to (n), inclusive, shall prevail.
(Ord.122-03. Passed 12-8-03.)