A. General. All grading operations for which a permit is required issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to inspection by the city engineer or his or her representative.
B. Grading Requirements.
1. It shall be the responsibility of the civil engineer who prepared the grading plans to incorporate the applicable recommendations from the geotechnical engineering and engineering geology reports and to incorporate any city engineer-approved alternatives into the grading plan.
2. The civil engineer shall be responsible for establishing line and grade for the grading and drainage improvements and shall act as the coordinating agent in the event the need arises for liaison between the other professionals, the contractor and the city engineer.
3. The civil engineer shall be responsible for the preparation of plan revision, and upon completion of the work, the submission of as-graded drawings incorporating all changes and/or additions made during construction.
4. Prior to issuance of building permits for any given lot or lots, the civil engineer shall submit a written statement as evidence that rough grading for land development has been completed within standard tolerances in accordance with the approved plans and that all embankments and cut slopes and pad sizes are as shown on the approved plans.
5. The geotechnical engineer's area of responsibility shall include, but not be limited to, performing the preliminary geotechnical engineering investigation and preparing the preliminary geotechnical engineering report, determining the suitability of soils during grading, providing compaction inspection and testing, and preparing the final geotechnical engineering report.
6. The engineering geologist's area of responsibility shall include, but not be limited to, professional inspection and approval of the stability of cut slopes with respect to geological matters, and the need for subdrains or other groundwater drainage devices. The engineering geologist shall report the findings to the geotechnical engineer for engineering analysis.
7. The landscape architect shall incorporate applicable recommendations from the geotechnical engineering reports into the landscape and irrigation plans. The landscape architect shall also prepare plan revisions, as required by the city engineer, and shall submit as-graded drawings incorporating all changes and/or additions made during construction.
C. Notification of Noncompliance. If, in the course of fulfilling their responsibility under this grading code, the engineer of record, the geotechnical engineer, the engineering geologist, or the testing agency finds that the work is not being done in accordance with approved plans, specifications or this chapter, the discrepancies shall be reported immediately in writing to the grading contractor, the permittee and the city engineer. Recommendations for corrective measures, if necessary, shall be submitted for approval to the City Engineer.
D. Transfer of Responsibility for Approval. If the civil engineer, engineer of record, the geotechnical engineer, the engineering geologist, or the grading contractor of record are changed during the course of the work, the work shall be stopped until:
1. The permittee submits a letter of notification verifying the change of the responsible professional; and
2. The new responsible professional submits in writing that he or she has reviewed all prior reports and/or plans (specified by date and title) and work performed by the responsible professional party, and that he or she concurs with the findings, conclusions and recommendations, and is satisfied with the work performed. He or she must state that they assume all responsibility within his or her purview as of a specified date. All exceptions shall be justified to the satisfaction of the city engineer.
Exception. Where clearly indicated that the firm, not the individual engineer and/or geologist, is the contracting party, the designated engineer or geologist may be reassigned and another engineer and/or geologist within the firm may assume responsibility.
E. Site Inspection by the City Engineer.
1. Prior to the approval of any grading plans and specifications, the city engineer may inspect the site to determine that the plans and specifications are current and reflect existing conditions.
2. The permittee or his or her agent shall notify the city engineer when the grading operations are ready for inspection.
3. If the inspector finds the soil or other conditions not as stated in the approved plans and soil or geology reports or as in additional information which was required for issuance of the grading permit, he or she may, using reasonable judgement, refuse to allow further work until approval is obtained for a revised grading plan which will conform to the conditions.
4. The provisions of Section 202(d) of the Uniform Building Code shall apply to all grading work and whenever the city engineer determines that any work does not comply with the terms of a permit, or this chapter, or that the soil or other conditions are not as stated on the permit, the city engineer may order the work stopped by notice in writing to the permittee.
5. Prior to the issuance of building permits for a graded site, the grading shall be completed in accordance with Subarticle 14 of the Grading Manual and to the satisfaction of the responsible civil engineer, engineering geologist, soil engineer, and to the city engineer.
6. Whenever any work on which inspections are required is covered or concealed by additional work without first having been inspected, the city engineer may require, by written notice, that such work be exposed for examination. The work of exposing and recovering shall not entail or be subject to expense by the city.
F. Special Inspections. The city engineer may establish inspection requirements in accordance with Section 306 of the Uniform Building Code, for special cases involving grading or paving related operations. Special cases may apply to work where in the opinion of the city engineer it is necessary to supplement the resources or expertise available for inspection.
(Ord. 349 § 4 (part), 2006: Ord. 346 § 4 (part), 2006: Ord. 97 § 1 (part), 1993: Ord. 3 § 1 (part), 1991: prior code §§ 8.12.100.836--8.12.100.841)