(A) Persons conducting land-disturbing activity shall be responsible for preparing a plan for all land-disturbing activities subject to this ordinance whenever the proposed activity is to be undertaken on a tract disturbing more than 12,000 square feet of land, excluding single-family residential development addressed in § 158.05(B).
(B) Seven complete copies of the plan shall be filed with the City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist in the office of the City of Monroe Engineering Department at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the proposed activity. A fee, made payable to the City of Monroe, shall be charged for each plan review. Such fee shall be in accordance with a fee schedule adopted by the City of Monroe City Council. No plan shall be considered complete unless accompanied by such fee and a performance bond in the form of a certified check, cash or irrevocable letter of credit, in an amount deemed sufficient by the Engineering Department to cover all costs of protection or other improvements required to establish protective cover on the site in conformity with this ordinance. The performance bond shall remain effective until work has been completed, inspected and approved by the Engineering Department.
(C) One complete set shall be transmitted to the Union Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) for their review. The SWCD shall be given up to twenty (20) days to make comment on the plan. Failure of the SWCD to submit its comments to the City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist within such time period shall not delay final action on the proposed plan by the City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist.
(D) The City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist shall render a decision on a plan within 30 days of submittal. The City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist shall condition approval of a draft plan upon the applicants' compliance with local, state and federal water quality laws, regulations, ordinances and rules. Such decision shall be approval, approval with modifications, approval with performance reservations, or disapproval. Failure to approve, approve with modifications or performance reservations, or disapprove a complete plan within 30 days of receipt shall be deemed approval.
(E) Any final decision made pertaining to the proposed plan shall be filed in the City of Monroe Engineering Department (or as otherwise designated by the City) and sent to the applicant by first class mail.
(F) Denial of a plan or a revised plan must specifically state in writing the reasons for disapproval. The City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist must approve, approve with modifications, or disapprove a revised plan within 15 days of receipt, or it is deemed to be approved.
(G) Plan approval shall expire three years following the date of approval, if no land-disturbing activity has been undertaken. If, following commencement of a land-disturbing activity pursuant to an approved plan, the City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist determines that the plan is inadequate to meet the requirements of this section, the Erosion Control Specialist may require any revision of the plan that is necessary to comply with this section.
(H) Persons conducting land-disturbing activities which are addressed by § 158.16 shall have secured a Plan Certificate and Letter of Approval (in accordance with procedures described herein) before any land-disturbing activities commence. A copy of the approved plan and the Certificate of Plan Approval shall be maintained at the job site by the persons conducting the land-disturbing activity. After approving the plan, if the City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist, either upon review of such plan or on inspection of the job site, determines that a significant risk of accelerated erosion or off-site sedimentation exists, the Specialist may require that a revised plan be submitted. Pending the preparation and approval of the revised plan, work shall cease or shall continue under conditions outlined by the Erosion Control Specialist.
(I) A plan may be disapproved unless accompanied by an authorized statement of financial responsibility and ownership. This statement shall be signed by the person financially responsible for the land-disturbing activity or their attorney-in-fact. The statement shall include the mailing and street addresses of the principal place of business of the person financially responsible and of the owner of the land or their registered agents. If the person financially responsible is not a resident of North Carolina, a North Carolina agent must be designated in the statement for the purpose of receiving notice of compliance or non-compliance with the plan, the Act, this ordinance, or rules or orders adopted or issued pursuant to this ordinance. If the applicant is not the owner of the land to be disturbed, the draft erosion and sedimentation control plan must include the owner's written consent for the applicant to submit a draft erosion and sedimentation control plan and to conduct the anticipated land disturbing activity.
(J) The person submitting a plan to the City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist is, prior to submission of the plan, solely and exclusively responsible for determining whether the proposed land-disturbing activities require any form of state or federal environmental certification or documentation. Any plan submitted for a land-disturbing activity for which an environmental document is required by the North Carolina Environmental Policy Act (G.S. § 113A-1 et seq.) shall be deemed incomplete until a complete environmental document is available for City review. The City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist, upon discovery that an environmental certification or documentation is required but was not obtained, shall promptly notify the person submitting the plan that the 30 day time limit for review of the plan pursuant to § 158.16(D) of this ordinance shall not begin until a complete environmental document or certificate is available for review by the City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist. However, no term or condition in the ordinance shall be interpreted to place the burden for determining the necessity for an environmental certificate or documentation upon the City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist, and the person submitting the plan, as well as any other persons specified by law, rule or regulation, shall remain solely and exclusively responsible for such determination.
(K) The plan required by this section shall contain architectural and engineering drawings, maps, assumptions, calculations, and narrative statements as needed to adequately describe the proposed development of the tract and the measures planned to comply with the requirements of this ordinance. Any erosion and sediment control measures and/or devices must be drawn to scale and contour when deemed applicable by the City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist. Plan content may vary to meet the needs of specific site requirements. Detailed guidelines for plan preparation shall be found in the City of Monroe Standard Specifications and Detail Manual. The Erosion Control Specialist shall automatically disapprove a plan if it is determined that implementation of the plan would result in a violation of rules adopted by the Environmental Management Commission to protect riparian buffers along surface waters.
(L) A plan may be disapproved upon a finding that an applicant, or a parent, subsidiary, or other affiliate of the applicant:
(1) Is conducting or has conducted land-disturbing activity without an approved plan, or has received notice of violation of a plan previously approved by the NCSCC or the City pursuant to the Act and has not complied with the notice within the time specified in the notice;
(2) Has failed to pay a civil penalty assessed pursuant to the Act or a local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Act by the time the payment is due;
(3) Has been convicted of a misdemeanor pursuant to G.S. § 113A-64(b) or any criminal provision of a local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Act; or
(4) Has failed to substantially comply with applicable local, state or federal laws, regulations, rules or ordinances adopted pursuant to the Act. For purposes of this subsection (L), an applicant's record may be considered for only the two years prior to the application date.
(M) Applications for amendment of a plan in written and/or graphic form maybe made at any time under the same format as the original application. Until such time as said amendment is approved by City of Monroe Erosion Control Specialist, land-disturbing activity shall not proceed except in accordance with the plan as originally approved.
(N) Any person engaged in land-disturbing activity who fails to file a plan in accordance with this ordinance, or who conducts a land-disturbing activity except in accordance with provisions of an approved plan shall be deemed in violation of this ordinance.
(Ord. O-2002-18, passed 4-2-02; Am. Ord. O-2003-33, passed 6-17-03; Am. Ord. O-2011-12, passed 6-7-11; Am. Ord. O-2019-14, passed 4-2-19)