A. It shall be unlawful for any person to conduct, or permit to be conducted, any land disturbing activity upon any land without a land disturbing permit issued under this chapter and a general OPDES permit, with a copy provided to the manager. Such permit shall be required in addition to any building permit or other permit required by this code for the site and shall be available for inspection by the manager on the job site at all times during which land disturbing activities are in progress. The phrase "land disturbing activity" shall not include the following:
1. Such minor land disturbing activities as home gardens and individual home landscaping, home repairs, home maintenance work and other related activities which result in minor soil erosion;
2. The construction of single-family residences when built separately on lots less than five (5) acres not within a subdivision and have been issued building permits; provided that excavation is limited to trenches for the foundation, basements, service and sanitary sewer connections, and minor grading for driveways, yard areas and sidewalks, with no off site discharge of pollutants;
3. Individual service and sanitary sewer connections for single- or two-family residences;
4. Agricultural practices involving the establishment, cultivation or harvesting of products of the field or orchard, preparing and planting of pastureland, forestry land management practices including harvesting, farm ponds, dairy operations and livestock and poultry management practices, and the construction of farm buildings;
5. Any project carried out under the technical supervision of the soil conservation service of the United States department of agriculture;
6. Installation, maintenance and repair of any underground public utility lines when such activity occurs on an existing hard surface road, street or sidewalk, provided the activity maintains pollution control and is confined to the area of the road, street or sidewalk which is hard surfaced and a street, curb, gutter or sidewalk permit has been obtained; and
7. Construction, repair or rebuilding of tracks of a railroad company.
These activities may be undertaken without the required permits; however, the persons conducting these excluded activities shall remain responsible for conducting these activities in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and other applicable laws including responsibility for controlling sedimentation and runoff both during the land disturbing activity and after the land disturbing activity is complete.
B. The minimum standards for controlling erosion and sedimentation from land disturbing activities shall be set forth in rules or regulations as adopted and amended from time to time by resolution approved by the city council. A copy of the rules and regulations shall be maintained in the office of the city clerk and may be viewed and copied in accordance with the provisions of this code. (Ord. 2011-27, 12-20-2011)