(A) Site development permit required.
(1) No person, firm, corporation or governmental agency shall commence any development regulated by this chapter on any lot or parcel of land without first obtaining a site development permit from the building commissioner and city engineer.
(2) A permit shall be issued of the proposed development meets the requirements of this chapter.
(3) No development site shall be occupied, no certificate of occupancy shall be issued, and no subdivision or other development shall be accepted by the city council unless and until all provisions of this chapter are met, including the issuance of a final letter of map revision, where appropriate.
(B) The building commissioner and city engineer shall be responsible for fulfilling all of the duties listed in § 151.06.
(C) To fulfill those duties, the building commissioner and city engineer first should use the criteria listed in § 151.06 to confirm whether the development site is located within a floodplain. Once it has been determined that a site is located within a floodplain, the building commissioner and city engineer must determine whether the development site is within a flood fringe, a regulatory floodway, or within a SFHA or floodplain on which no floodway has been identified. If the site is within a flood fringe, the building commissioner and city engineer shall require that the minimum requirements of § 151.31 be met. If the site is within a floodway, the building commissioner and city engineer shall require that the minimum requirements of § 151.32 be met. If the site is located within a SFHA or floodplain for which no detailed study has been completed and approved, the building commissioner and city engineer shall require that the minimum requirements of § 151.33 be met. The developer shall supply the commissioner and engineer with evidence substantiating location of development with regards to floodplain, wetland, and storage requirement. No building permits will be issued until such time as other required permits have been issued and received including but not limited to MWRDGC, IEPA, etc. The developer is responsible for securing the aforementioned permits.
(E) If a variance is to be granted for a proposal, the building commissioner and city engineer shall review the requirements of § 151.36 to make sure they are met. In addition, the building commissioner and city engineer shall complete all notification requirements.
(F) In order to assure that property owners obtain permits as required in this chapter, the building commissioner and city engineer may take any and all actions as outlined in § 151.99.
(G) Grandfathering.
(1) Development projects that have been approved or permitted prior to the effective date of this chapter are exempt from this chapter providing the stormwater management facilities and flood protection measures are installed, functioning and in compliance with all applicable stormwater and floodplain regulations in effect at the time of approval or permit.
(2) If a previously developed site is redeveloped or modified so that the amount of impervious surface or the amount of stormwater runoff will increase, then the redevelopment or modification project shall comply with the provisions of this chapter.
(3) Improvements, modifications, additions and repairs to an existing building in the Special Flood Hazard Area shall meet the requirements of this chapter.
(H) Contiguous property. In order to preclude inappropriate phasing of developments to circumvent the intent of this chapter, when proposed development activity will occur on a lot or parcel of land that has contiguous lots or parcels of lands owned by the same property owner, then the criteria as defined in this section will be applied to the total land area complied from aggregate ownership parcels.
(I) Other permits.
(1) The developer shall be responsible for:
(a) Obtaining all other federal, state and local permits, approvals or permit-not-required letters that may be required for this type of activity; and
(b) Providing copies of the permits, approvals and letters to the building commissioner, director of public works and city engineer.
(2) The building commissioner and/or city engineer shall not issue site approvals or permits unless all other federal, state, and local permits have been obtained.
(3) The building commissioner and/or city engineer is responsible for obtaining and maintaining copies of all other required federal, state, and local permits.
(J) Conditional approval.
(1) The building commissioner and/or the city engineer may issue a letter of conditional approval of:
(a) The regulatory floodplain and regulatory floodway delineation, overland flow path, wetland delineation, runoff volume reduction hierarchy, and/or detention and bypass computation for a developer; and/or
(b) Parts of the development project that comply with local requirements. A letter of conditional approval shall not be issued for those parts of the project that are awaiting state or federal approval.
(2) A conditional approval to alter the floodway delineation shall not be granted until a CLOMR has been granted by FEMA.
(3) A conditional approval will be based on conformance with the performance standards, and the submittal of the appropriate requirements.
(4) The letter of conditional approval will state the conditions placed on the permit applicant. Variation from these conditions is considered a violation of the provisions of this chapter.
(5) Before the issuance of a letter of conditional approval, the developer shall sign a statement that he or she understands that:
(a) The project has not been granted a final site permit;
(b) The final site development permit may require changes to the plans; and
(c) The applicant proceeds at his or her own risk pending issuance of the final permit.
(K) Timing of work.
(1) Stormwater management facilities shall be functional before building permits are issued.
(2) Foundation-only permits may be issued for nonresidential developments prior to completion of the stormwater systems.
(3) Soil erosion and sediment control measures shall be functional before general construction begins.
(4) Where development of a site is to proceed in phases, the timing requirements shall apply to each phase.
(L) Application review. The building commissioner and/or the city engineer shall approve, deny, or identify what needs to be changed in an application.
(M) Permit termination. A permit shall be terminated for any of the following causes:
(1) Noncompliance with any conditions of the permit;
(2) The permitee's failure to disclose fully all relevant facts in the application process or the permitee's misrepresentation of any relevant facts at any time; or
(3) If the authorized work is not commenced within 180 days after issuance of the permit or, if the authorized work is suspended or abandoned, for a period of 180 days after the time of commencing work, unless the extension has been granted in writing by the building commissioner or the city engineer. The extension should be requested of the building commissioner or city engineer, in writing no sooner than 90 days prior to the termination of the permit.
(Ord. O-14-03, passed 2-18-03)