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(a) No surface mining shall be conducted pursuant to a Major Use Permit or pursuant to a vested nonconforming right unless prior to commencement an Agreement has been entered into whereby the operator agrees to reclaim the land in accordance with the Reclamation Plan and which allows the County to enter the property to correct any landscaping or irrigation system deficiencies, any unsafe condition, or any breach of provisions of the Major Use Permit and/or Reclamation Plan.
(b) The Agreement shall authorize the County or any person authorized by the County to enter the property at a mutually agreeable time and after having given the mining operator or permittee a minimum 24 hour notice, to perform an inspection at least once each calendar year, as mandated by the State, or follow-up inspections as a result of the once a year inspections. The Agreement shall also authorize the County or any person authorized by the County to enter the property at any reasonable time to investigate any suspected violation of any condition of the Major Use Permit or Reclamation Plan and/or for emergency abatement of hazardous conditions. Said Agreement shall be executed by the permittee, the owner of the property and by holders of any lien upon the property which could ripen into a fee, other than government entities. The permittee shall provide acceptable evidence of title showing all existing legal and equitable interests in the property. The Director of Planning and Development Services is hereby authorized to execute and accept the Agreement on behalf of the County. The Agreement shall be recorded before any mining is done.
(c) The Agreement shall be secured by financial assurances as follows:
(1) Pursuant to Section 2773.1 of SMARA, financial assurances shall be provided in an amount as specified in subsection (d), to assure that the site is reclaimed in accordance with the requirements of the approved Reclamation Plan. The assurance shall be made payable to the Director of Planning and Development Services and the California Department of Conservation and may take the form of surety bonds, irrevocable letters of credit, trust funds, or other forms of financial assurance adopted by the State Mining and Geology Board, which the County reasonably determines will be readily available to pay for reclamation in accordance with the surface mining operation's approved Reclamation Plan.
(2) The County Official may also require that additional, separate security be provided pursuant to Section 7362.a of the Zoning Ordinance, to insure the performance of conditions of a major use permit for a surface mining operation or a reclamation plan, other than the obligation to reclaim the site in accordance with the Reclamation Plan.
(d) The financial assurances required by paragraph (c)(1) shall be in an amount equal to the estimated cost to reclaim, in accordance with the requirements of the approved Reclamation Plan, all disturbed, unreclaimed lands and all acreage expected to be disturbed in the forthcoming year, to a condition that will not constitute a danger to the public health or safety and that will provide for the type of reclamation required in the Reclamation Plan. The surface mining operator or permittee shall provide an estimate of the cost of reclamation prepared by a state-registered civil engineer. All financial assurances shall be forwarded to the California Department of Conservation for review at least 45 days prior to County approval. The Director of Planning and Development Services shall review all financial assurance estimates and shall approve those that are sufficient. The estimate must be submitted not later than July 1st of each year. If the operator or permittee does not submit this estimate by the required deadline, the County may calculate an estimate of assurance. The staff time spent calculating this estimate will be charged against the inspection deposit. The financial assurance shall be provided to the County within 60 days of notification of the Director of Planning and Development Services' approval of the financial assurance amount.
(e) The amount specified in paragraph (d) shall be adjusted annually to account for new lands disturbed or expected to be disturbed in the forthcoming year by surface mining operations, inflation, and reclamation of lands accomplished in accordance with the approved Reclamation Plan. In no event shall the amount of assurance required be construed as a limitation on the liability of the permittee.
(f) The surface mining operator or permittee, and the surety(ies) providing financial assurances, shall continue to be firmly bound under a continuing obligation for the payment of all necessary costs and expenses that may be incurred or expended by the County in causing any and all work covered by the assurances to be done. When reclamation has been completed in accordance with the approved Reclamation Plan, financial assurances pursuant to paragraph (c)(1) above shall no longer be required and shall be released, upon written notification by the County, which shall be forwarded to the surface mining operator or the permittee and the Director of Conservation. Financial assurances provided pursuant to paragraph (c)(2) above shall be released and returned upon completion of the covered work or performance of applicable conditions. In the case of a cash deposit, any unused portion thereof shall be refunded to the surface mining operator or permittee.
(g) The County must be notified no less than 180 days prior to cancellation of any financial assurance. The County may seek the forfeiture of such financial assurance if new assurance is not posted at least 30 days prior to the expiration of the financial assurance.
(h) If a mining operation is sold or ownership is transferred to another person, the existing financial assurances shall remain in force and shall not be released by the lead agency until new financial assurances are secured from the new owner and have been approved by the County.
(i) The County Official is authorized to terminate and release the Agreement and the right of entry, and to execute all documents necessary to effectuate such termination and release, upon determining that all required reclamation work and other obligations of the Agreement have been completed to the County Official's satisfaction.
(Added by Ord. No. 9547 (N.S.), effective 5-9-03; amended by Ord. No. 9634 (N.S.), effective 4-23-04; amended by Ord. No. 10224 (N.S.), effective 10-25-12)
Any application for a reclamation plan which is denied, shall be revised as directed by the authority denying it and resubmitted within 120 days of such denial. All resubmitted applications shall be accompanied by a fee of $250 paid to the County unless said fee is waived by the decisionmaker, for cause.
(Added by Ord. No. 9547 (N.S.), effective 5-9-03)
(a) An approved Reclamation Plan, or any conditions thereof, may be modified using the same procedures for processing a new application, including environmental review. The application fee and deposit for a Reclamation Plan modification shall be the same as that required for a modification of a Major Use Permit. If both a Major Use Permit and Reclamation Plan modification are applied for concurrently, the fee and deposit are the same as for a modification of a Major Use Permit. The County shall send a copy of all applications to modify Reclamation Plans to the Director of Conservation for review in sufficient time before the County acts on the application, to allow the Director of Conservation 30 days to review the application after receipt of the documents.
A modification to an approved Reclamation Plan shall be filed with the San Diego County Recorder pursuant to Section 87.705(f).
(b) The County Official may approve minor amendments to the Reclamation Plan in the same manner as a Minor Deviation to a Major Use Permit. A minor amendment is a change to the approved Reclamation Plan that the Director determines will not increase any deleterious impact the project has on the environment or the conditions of the project's approved Major Use Permit or Reclamation Plan. The application fee for a minor amendment to an approved Reclamation Plan shall be the same as that required for a Minor Deviation of Major Use Permit.
(c) Pursuant to Section 2774 of SMARA, any modification or amendment to a Reclamation Plan shall be forwarded to the Director of Conservation. The Director of Conservation shall have 30 days to provide written comments.
(d) The County Official may modify or revoke a reclamation plan for cause, upon the grounds and upon following the same procedures as are specified regarding grading permits at Section 87.216 of this Division.
(Added by Ord. No. 9547 (N.S.), effective 5-9-03; amended by Ord. No. 9634 (N.S.), effective 4-23-04; amended by Ord. No. 10119 (N.S.), effective 2-25-11)
(a) The County Official shall inspect each surface mining site at least once each calendar year within 6 months of receipt of a copy of the mining operation's annual report, filed with the State pursuant to Section 2207 of SMARA. A copy of the completed inspection report shall be forwarded to the Director of Conservation, within thirty days of inspection using a form approved by the State.
(b) The mining operator or permittee shall provide to the County Official by each July 1, aerial photographs of the mining site taken in the same month of the second quarter of each year. The aerial photographs shall consist of:
(1) Defined, marked and permanent ground controls; and
(2) Planimetric map of the mining site based on the aerial models with 5" contours and drawn to 1" = 200' scale.
(c) Upon the request of a mining operator or permittee, the County Official may waive the requirement for the aerial photographs on a case by case basis, such as when only channel maintenance is involved or when no excavation has been accomplished since the last inspection, or may adjust the quarter of each year in which the aerial photographs are taken.
(d) Each surface mining operator or permittee shall pay an annual inspection deposit to the County Official by July 1 of each year unless otherwise stated in an approved Reclamation Plan. The amount of the deposit shall be as determined by the Board of Supervisors. This amount shall apply for the first year to all existing surface mining operations and for the first year of any new mining operation. Thereafter, the County Official will determine the amount of the deposit annually based on the cost to inspect each surface mining operation. If the County Official determines that the annual inspection should include volume calculations or a boundary survey, the cost for this work shall be included in the deposit. The County Official shall notify each mining operator by May 1 each year of the amount of the deposit. The amount of the deposit required shall not be construed as a limitation on the liability of the operator or permittee.
(e) If, after inspecting the mining operation, the County Official determines that it does not comply with the Major Use Permit or Reclamation Plan, he or she shall notify the mining operator in writing of the non-compliance and shall give the mining operator a reasonable time, not to exceed 180 days, to comply. If at the end of this time the mining operation still does not comply with the Major Use Permit or Reclamation Plan, the County Official may:
(1) Pursue the remedies specified at Section 2774.1 of SMARA, if the Major Use Permit or Reclamation Plan violation(s) are also violations of said Section;
(2) Pursue the remedies specified in the Zoning Ordinance for violation of a Major Use Permit, including revocation or modification for cause; and/or
(3) Pursue the remedies specified in Chapter 1 of this Division.
(Added by Ord. No. 9547 (N.S.), effective 5-9-03; amended by Ord. No. 9634 (N.S.), effective 4-23-04)
Whenever any surface mining operation or portion of an operation subject to this Division is sold, assigned, conveyed, exchanged, or otherwise transferred, the successor in interest shall be bound by the provisions of any reclamation plan approved pursuant to the provisions of this Division and shall notify and provide evidence of the transfer to the County Official no later than thirty days from the date of the transfer.
(Added by Ord. No. 9547 (N.S.), effective 5-9-03)
All final grades established pursuant to the major use permit plot plan or reclamation plan shall comply with the "Design Standards -- Performance Requirements" contained in Chapter 4 of this Division; except that the requirement of 90% compaction of fills and the requirements of Section 87.425 "Completion of Work -- Final Reports" may be waived by the County Official. All soil engineer's reports relative to the grading of the property shall be maintained and be made available to the County Official prior to placement of any permanent structure on the property.
(Added by Ord. No. 9547 (N.S.), effective 5-9-03)
An idle mine (as defined by SMARA) must meet all of the following requirements:
(a) Obtain County approval of an Interim Management Plan, pursuant to Section 2770(h) of SMARA and Section 87.714 of this Division. Costs of review of Interim Management Plans shall be charged to the annual inspection deposit;
(b) Comply with the requirements for financial assurance;
(c) Submit the annual report required by Section 2207 of SMARA; and
(d) Submit to an annual inspection, pursuant to Section 2774 of SMARA.
(Added by Ord. No. 9547 (N.S.), effective 5-9-03)
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