In order to ensure that the excavated area shall be rehabilitated to a condition of practical usefulness and reasonable physical attractiveness within a reasonable amount of time, to prevent environmental degradation to the ecologic and hydrologic regimes caused by excavation, and to prevent present and future hazards to public safety and welfare, all owners and/or operators of excavation operations shall adhere to a rehabilitation plan approved by the Planning Commission, which shall include the following, except for items which are, for due cause, waived or modified by the Planning Commission as being unnecessary for a particular excavation site.
(A) Progressive rehabilitation. The owner and/or operator shall, at the option of the Planning Commission, submit a plan for progressive rehabilitation, meaning that rehabilitation will commence and be carried on during excavation operations. When the excavation of an area of two acres or less is completed per the excavation plan, that area shall be rehabilitated. Rehabilitation shall proceed as soon as practicable after completion of the excavation of a phase, or site if there are no phases, as set forth in the approved excavation and rehabilitation plan, or as determined by the city’s zoning staff.
(B) Backfilling. Where back-filling is required, the excavated area shall be graded and backfilled with uncontaminated native materials or topsoil only. This backfill must be of such material as to support vegetation and grass growth. The graded or back-filled area shall not be contoured so that it will collect and permit stagnant water to remain thereon. Peaks and depressions in the excavation area shall be reduced to a surface which will result in level or gently sloping topography in substantial conformity to the land area immediately surrounding the excavation site and which will minimize the possibility of erosion. In rehabilitation involving material that is of loose or friable nature, no slope shall be left that exceeds 30 degrees or the normal angle of repose of the material involved, whichever is less.
(C) Grading, stockpiling, seeding, phases, and the like. Excavations shall be planned so as to progressively develop the proposed final land forms by grading and by stockpiling topsoil and overburdened materials in areas designated for future land forms or in excavations where the material will be spread over the excavation floor where no future excavation is anticipated. Such areas are to be covered with topsoil, seeded and planted immediately after grading is completed or within appropriate planting seasons, but in any case, the grading and planting shall be complete within one year. The rehabilitation plan shall contain a description of the phased rehabilitation process throughout the anticipated life of the excavation.
(D) Final rehabilitation. Final rehabilitation shall begin immediately for any site where operations authorized under a conditional use permit or a legal nonconforming use as referenced in § 155.356 have ceased for a period of at least 18 months, or otherwise terminated. The final rehabilitation shall conform to the plan approved (including approved modifications) in the conditional use permit. All rehabilitation plans shall conform at least to the below listed minimum standards and other requirements listed elsewhere in this subchapter as reasonably determined by the Planning Commission; provided, however, that the Planning Commission may require more stringent standards where special hazards exist in order to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the public and to prevent injury to adjacent property or improvements.
(1) Grading. Slopes, overburdened stockpiles, and abandoned soil piles shall be graded and smoothed so as to control erosion and prevent the creation of potentially dangerous areas in accordance with the direction of the city’s zoning staff.
(2) Water-filled areas. All excavations which create standing water or ponds shall be filled with native materials. This requirement shall not apply, however, to any water-filled excavations scheduled to become an integral part of the final rehabilitation plan. The rehabilitation of these areas shall be done in such a manner that the groundwater is not polluted. Fill material shall be porous to allow for water dispersion unless otherwise specified in the rehabilitation plan.
(3) Landscaping. The excavated areas and all other disturbed areas shall be replanted and maintained with trees, shrubs, grasses, or other vegetative ground cover, preferably native to the area, in order to minimize erosion and to restore the land to a natural appearance.
(4) Removal of buildings and equipment. As soon as excavation has been permanently terminated, all buildings and equipment (including electrical conduits) used in the administration of the operations shall be removed unless deemed necessary to the approved final use of the rehabilitated site.
(5) Rehabilitation project. In the final year of excavation, the mining operation may, as part of the rehabilitation project, excavate closer than 200 feet to any property lines, but only upon a showing of compelling mutual good and the approval of the Planning Commission.
(E) Rehabilitation verification. At the conclusion of excavation operations and rehabilitation of the excavation site, the city zoning staff shall present a statement to the Planning Commission verifying the permit area or nonconforming excavation area has been rehabilitated in compliance with the requirements of the excavation ordinance and excavation and rehabilitation plan previously submitted in compliance with this subchapter.
(Ord. 2008-005, passed 8-12-2008) Penalty, see § 155.999