Grading permits are not required for:
A. An excavation below the existing finished grade for recompaction within the building zone (within five (5) feet of footings) or for basements and footings for a building, mobile home, retaining wall, septic system, well, or structure authorized by a building permit. This shall not exempt any fill made with the material from such excavation or exempt any excavation having an unsupported height greater than two (2) feet after the completion of such structure.
B. Cemetery graves.
C. Refuse disposal sites controlled by other statutorily authorized regulations or agencies.
D. Earthwork or construction controlled by the federal, state, county, or city governments, or by a local agency as defined by Government Code Sections 53090 through 53095 (special districts). Pipeline or conduit excavation and backfill conducted by local agencies or public utilities. Earthwork construction performed by railway companies on their operating property. This exemption, however, shall apply only when the grading activity takes place on the property, or dedicated rights- of-way or easements of the above agencies.
E. Excavation and backfill for installation of underground utilities by public utilities or companies operating under the authority of a franchise or public property encroachment permit.
F. Mining, quarrying, excavating, processing stockpiling of rock, sand, gravel, aggregate or clay for commercial purposes where established and provided for by a conditional use permit, provided such operations do not affect the lateral support of any adjacent or adjoining properties, or alter the direction of, or contribute to, sedimentation to natural watercourses.
G. Exploratory excavations under the direction of civil engineers, geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists, and/or archaeologists or paleontologists, or pursuant to a well permit, provided all excavations are properly backfilled or otherwise restored. All such excavations and trenches are subject to the applicable sections of Title 8 of the State Orders, Division of Industrial Safety.
H. An excavation which does nor exceed fifty (50) cubic yards on any one site and: (1) which is less than two (2) feet in vertical depth; or (2) which does not create a cut slope greater than five (5) feet in vertical height and steeper than two horizontal to one vertical (2:1).
I. A fill less than one (1) foot in vertical depth, placed on natural grade with a slope flatter than five (5) horizontal to one (1) vertical (5:1), which does not exceed fifty (50) cubic yards on any one lot, does not obstruct a drainage course, and does not support a settlement sensitive structure.
J. A fill less than three (3) feet in depth, not intended to support structures or mobile homes, which does not exceed fifty (50) cubic yards on any one lot and does not obstruct a drainage course.
K. Grading performed for agricultural purposes in connection with the raising of crops or animals, but not including grading for buildings or structures that require a building permit unless such grading is exempt under other provisions of this section.
L. The construction or maintenance of roads or facilities for the generation, storage or transmission of water, including floodwaters or electrical energy by public agencies or their agents. Work may be subject to Water Quality Management Plan (WQMP) requirements. A WQMP high priority project includes the construction or reconstruction of 5,000 square feet of pavement in a parking lot, street, road or highway.
M. Clearing and brushing when directed by the fire chief to mitigate a potential fire hazard with the concurrence of the director of planning that such clearing and brushing will not cause significant damage to any rare, endangered or protected species of plant or wildlife or cause any significant damage to any habitat of any rare, endangered or protected species of wildlife or endanger any archaeological or historical resources, open space areas with biological significance, or transition areas between land to be cleared for fire fuel mitigation and permanent open space.
N. Clearing and brushing, expressly for the following purposes:
1. Routine landscaping and maintenance of already landscaped areas, and the removal of dead or diseased trees or shrubs.
2. Clearing which conforms to the location, extent and purpose authorized explicitly by a construction permit pursuant to a discretionary land use permit or a discretionary development permit.
Note: The above listed exemptions do not apply to clearing, grubbing, brushing, disking or grading when:
a. Work will occur in, or physically impact designated or dedicated open space or environmentally sensitive areas designated in the general plan, or the finally adopted plan of any public agency or governmental office with jurisdiction over the site, or shown on any approved specific plan; or
b. Work will occur in any waterway or wetland, stream, river, channel, pond, lake, marsh, bog, lagoon, vernal pool, or riparian habitat, except as provided in subsection P. below; or
c. Work will occur in any floodway or floodplain as shown on the Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Plain Maps, or on city revised maps except as provided in subsection P. below.
O. Repaving, resurfacing and maintenance of existing private roads and parking lots and the preparation necessary for that work, provided no grading beyond the limits of other exemptions is performed. Work may be subject to WQMP requirements.
P. Minor maintenance and alterations to natural drainage areas that do not:
1. Obstruct or redirect drainage from adjacent properties; nor
2. Divert the outflow of drainage from the existing or natural discharge point of the property; nor
3. Concentrate or accelerate the flow of drainage as it leaves the property; nor
4. Create ponding, siltation or erosion in or of the streambed; nor
5. Disturb wetlands.
(Ord. 349 § 4 (part), 2006: Ord. 346 § 4 (part), 2006)