(A) No person shall do any grading without first having obtained a grading permit from the Building Inspection and Planning Department, except for the following:
(1) “Agricultural grading” means grading related strictly to agriculture, which takes place on land designated on the county’s General Plan and zoning maps as permitting agriculture use, or where there exists a documented, continuous historical agricultural use. This includes routine leveling, plowing, harrowing, disking, ridging, listing, cultivating, on-site drainage ditches, brush removal, preparation of ranch roads related strictly to access to fields, creation of stock ponds and similar operations necessary for the preparation and maintenance of field crops. Agricultural grading does not include any grading on such lands connected with the construction of roads to new dwellings, driveways, building sites for which a building permit is required, the creation of any dam requiring engineering or any grading that is not directly related to agriculture. The grading shall not be located within a landslide hazard area, or steep slopes as defined under §§ 19.17.006 and 19.17.007 of this chapter, and shall not take place within 50 feet from the top of a stream bank, creek, river, wetland or other body of water as required under § 19.17.005 of this chapter. The grading shall not require engineering as defined in the county grading ordinance, Uniform Building Code or the requirements of other state or regional agencies;
(2) Any excavation below finished grade for basements and footings of a building, retaining wall or other structure authorized by a valid building permit. This shall not apply to the placement of any fill resulting in an unsupported height greater than five feet. All retaining walls over four feet in height shall be engineered and require a permit;
(3) Cemetery graves;
(4) Solid waste facilities controlled by other regulatory agencies and subject to other permits;
(5) Mining, quarrying, excavating, as defined and regulated in Chapter 19.13 of the San Benito County Code;
(6) Exploratory excavations under the direction of soil engineers or geologists for the purposes of preparing soils and geotechnical reports, provided that professional standards (including compaction and reseeding where appropriate) are met when covering the excavation;
(7) Minor alterations of non-agricultural land which do not exceed 50 cubic yards on any one parcel and do not obstruct or seriously alter a natural drainage course or occur within the riparian corridor as defined by this chapter;
(8) Grading for the purposes of restoring land to a safe condition following a flood or natural disaster or grading to eliminate a potential hazard created by same and that does not create a hazard to adjacent land;
(9) Water wells;
(10) Public utilities and/or public agencies work which does not accelerate erosion, cause drainage problems and that has been reviewed pursuant to CEQA and processed appropriately, including public notice; and
(11) Landscaping where all excavation and fill are used entirely for landscaping purposes, and limited to 100 cubic yards with a maximum excavation or embankment of two feet. The landscaping shall not obstruct or seriously alter a natural drainage course or occur within the riparian corridor as defined by this chapter.
(B) Any grading requiring engineering is not exempt from the provisions of this chapter.
(1966 Code, § 7A-4) (Ord. 708, § 1; Ord. 801, § 1(II, III))