A. Permit Required: Except as exempted under subsection B of this section, a site disturbance permit shall be required for the following activities:
1. Construction of all new driveways, common driveways, private roads, or infrastructure authorized through the subdivision or conditional use permit process;
2. Conversion of roads from one use to another (such as a logging road to a private road, etc.) regardless of the level of improvement required on the road;
3. Excavation for the construction of structures;
4. Creation of a new commercial or industrial access or parking lot, or grading and paving of an existing commercial or industrial access or parking lot;
5. All other excavation and grading activity.
B. Exemptions: The following activities are exempt from the requirements of this article:
1. Mining, quarrying, excavating, processing, stockpiling of rock, sand, gravel, aggregate, or clay, to the extent approved for operation under applicable federal, state, Panhandle health district, and county regulations.
2. Agricultural practices in common local usage.
3. Activities governed by and subject to the Idaho forest practices act, title 38, chapter 13, Idaho Code (IFPA) which are solely for the purpose of enabling or engaging in a "forest practice", as defined in subsection 38-1303(1), Idaho Code.
4. Cemetery graves.
5. Emergency situations involving immediate danger to life or property, substantial fire hazards, or other public safety hazards as subsequently determined by the county, or during the period covered by an emergency declaration by the county.
6. Operation of a refuse disposal or landfill site which is constructed and operated under permits from appropriate federal, state and local agencies.
7. In any twelve (12) month period, excavation or placement of fill less than fifty (50) cubic yards in volume which is outside of any stream protection buffer or shoreline management area.
8. Private road or driveway maintenance where work is limited to the travelway, no cut or fill slopes are created, and no drainage features are created or modified.
9. Excavation of test holes for soil testing activities, provided that no access road will be created for test hole excavation, and the total excavation is less than fifty (50) cubic yards.
10. Grading, excavating and placement of fill on a site that has less than ten percent (10%) slope, and is more than five hundred feet (500') from surface water as defined by this article, and that results in disturbance of less than one-third (1/3) of the parcel, or sites over the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer which are greater than five hundred feet (500') from surface water. This exemption shall not apply to commercial or industrial developments or for subdivision infrastructure development.
11. Grading, excavating, or placement of fill which is subject to the regulations and permitting authority of the U.S. army corps of engineers, the federal energy regulatory commission, the Idaho department of lands, the Idaho department of environmental quality, and/or the Idaho department of water resources. Grading activities that are related to such projects, but which are not subject to the aforementioned agencies' regulations or permitting authority, are not exempt.
12. Abatement of noxious weeds.
C. BMPs: Activities exempted pursuant to subsection B of this section shall employ BMPs to prevent sediment from leaving the site.
D. Utility Providers: Site disturbing activities conducted by utility providers shall be regulated as follows:
1. Major installation projects where utility service is regional in nature, e.g., intending to serve more than one subdivision or intending to upgrade existing service to multiple subdivisions, or commercial or industrial projects, shall comply with all applicable requirements of this article, unless otherwise exempt.
2. All other work conducted by utility providers shall be exempt from the requirements of this article, but shall use BMPs to prevent sediment from leaving the site. (Ord. 493, 6-9-2016; amd. Ord. 546, 10-17-2019)