[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Rockwood 2-16-1994 by Ord. No.
329. Amendments noted where applicable.]
Council hereby finds that excessive quantities of soil are eroding
from certain areas that are undergoing development for nonagricultural
uses, such as housing developments, industrial areas, recreational
facilities and roads. This erosion makes necessary costly repairs
to gullies, washed out fills, roads and embankments. The resulting
sediment clogs storm sewers and road ditches, muddies streams, leaves
deposits of silt in lakes and reservoirs and is considered a major
water pollutant.
The purpose of this chapter is to prevent soil erosion and sedimentation
from occurring as a result of nonagricultural development within the
City by requiring proper provisions for water disposal and the protection
of soil surfaces during and after construction, in order to promote
safety, public health, convenience and the general welfare of the
community.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The increased lay occurring as a result of man's activities.
The Chief of the Building Department of the City or his or
her duly authorized representative.
A signed written statement by the City Engineer or the Building
Official that specific construction has been inspected and found to
comply with all grading plans and specifications.
The City Engineer or his or her duly authorized representative.
Loose refuse or earth material not suitable for use as presently
situated or constituted, as determined by the City Engineer.
A man-made change in the natural cover or topography of land,
including cut and fill activities, which change may result in or contribute
to soil erosion or sedimentation of the waters of the state. "Earth
change" shall not apply to the practice of plowing and tilling soil
for the purpose of crop production.
The process by which the ground surface is worn away by action
of wind, water, gravity or a combination thereof.
Any act by which soil or rock is cut into, dug, quarried,
uncovered, removed, displaced or relocated, and includes the conditions
resulting therefrom.
A deposit of soil, rock or other material, placed or replaced
by man or machine, which raises an existing elevation.
That area which would be inundated by storm runoff or flood
water equivalent to that which would occur with a rainfall or flood
with a one-hundred-year recurrence frequency after total development
of the watershed.
Any stripping, excavating, filling, stockpiling or combination
thereof, including land in its excavated or filled condition.
A permit issued to authorize work to be performed under this
chapter.
An on-site roadway constructed to prevent the spread of debris
onto the public right-of-way.
Any danger to public health, welfare and safety, including
exposure to risk of damage to property or liability for personal injury,
or risk of harm to land, air or water resulting in environmental degradation.
"Hazard" includes flooding and ponding, compaction and settling, landslides,
earthquakes, toxic chemicals, radiation, fire and disease.
A use of land which may result in an earth change, including,
but not limited to, subdivision, residential, commercial, industrial,
recreational or other development, private and public highway, road
and street construction, drainage construction, logging operations,
agricultural practices and mining.
Includes, but is not limited to, existing streams, soil,
vegetation and trees two inches or greater in diameter or 15 inches
or greater in height, whichever is less.
Any ground surface in its original state before any grading,
excavation or filling, and established by the City Engineer when there
is any question of its location.
A speed of water movement which is not conducive to the development
of accelerated soil erosion.
Those control measures which are installed or constructed
to control soil erosion and which are maintained after completion
of the project.
A natural person, firm, corporation, partnership or association.
Any solid particulate material, both mineral and organic,
that is in suspension in, is being transported by, or has been moved
from its origin by air, water or gravity as a product of soil erosion.
Any lot or parcel of land or combination of contiguous lots
or parcels of land where grading is performed or permitted.
Any inclined, exposed surface or a fill, excavation or natural
terrain.
All earth material, of whatever origin, that overlies bedrock,
including the decomposed zone of bedrock which can be readily excavated
by mechanical equipment.
A facility or measure placed or constructed as necessary
for the successful control or abatement of accelerated soil erosion.
The proper placement of earth materials or rock for temporary
periods of time in accordance with the requirements of this chapter
for the purpose of facilitating construction operations.
The depositing of earth materials or rock for temporary periods
of time in accordance with the requirements of this chapter for the
purpose of facilitating construction operations.
A river, stream, creek or other surface waterway which may
or may not be serving as a drain, as defined by Act No. 40 of the
Public Acts of 1956, as amended, being MCLA 280.1 to 280.630, as amended,
and which has definite banks, a bed and visible evidence of a continued
flow or continued occurrence of water, including the connecting waters
of the Great Lakes.
Any activity which removes or significantly disturbs the
vegetative surface cover, and includes clearing and grubbing operations.
Interim control measures which are installed or constructed
for the control of soil erosion until permanent soil erosion control
is effected.
No site plan, plot plan or plat shall be approved under the
Zoning Code[1] unless such site plan, plot plan or plat includes soil
erosion and sediment control measures consistent with the requirements
of this chapter and related land development regulations.
No certificate of occupancy for any building shall be issued
under the Zoning Code unless the applicant for such certificate has
obtained a certification of compliance indicating compliance with
all grading plans and specifications and completion of all permanent
soil erosion control measures, issued by the County of Wayne.
A.
Permit required. Except as exempted by § 102-16, no person
shall do any grading, stripping, excavating or filling, or undertake
any earth change, which disturbs one or more acres of land, or if
the earth change is within 500 feet of a lake or stream of the state,
unless he or she has a valid grading permit issued by the County of
Wayne. Anything less than one acre must be referred to the Building
Department.[1]
B.
Application. A separate application shall be required for each grading
permit. Plans, specifications and timing schedules shall be submitted
with each application for a grading permit. The plans shall be prepared
or approved by a professional engineer or architect. Wayne County
may waive this requirement if the work entails little hazard to the
adjacent property and does not include the construction of a fill
upon which a structure may be erected.[2]
C.
Plans and specifications. The plans and specifications accompanying
the grading permit application shall contain the following data:
(1)
A vicinity sketch indicating the site location as well as the adjacent
properties within 500 feet of the site boundaries;
(2)
A boundary line survey of the site on which the work is to be performed;
and
(3)
A plan of the site showing:
(a)
The name, address and telephone number of the landowner, developer
and petitioner;
(b)
A timing schedule indicating the anticipated starting and completion
dates of the development's construction sequence and the time
of exposure of each area prior to the completion of effective erosion
and sediment control measures;
(c)
A certified statement of the quantity of excavation and fill
involved;
(d)
Existing topography at a maximum of one-foot contour intervals
or noted elevations on a grid not exceeding 100 feet;
(e)
Proposed topography at a maximum of one-foot contour intervals
or noted elevations on a grid not exceeding 100 feet;
(f)
The size and location of any structure or natural feature on
the site;
(g)
The location of any structure or natural feature on the land
adjacent to the site and within 50 feet of the site boundary line;
(h)
The location of any proposed additional structures or development
on the site;
(i)
Elevations, dimensions, location, extent and slope of all proposed
grading (including building and driveway grades);
(j)
Topography, based on National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD);
(k)
The estimated total cost of required temporary and permanent
soil erosion control measures;
(l)
Plans of all drainage provisions, retaining walls, cribbing,
planting, erosion control measures or other temporary or permanent
soil erosion control measures to be constructed in connection with,
or as a part of, the proposed work, together with a map showing the
drainage area of land tributary to the site and the estimated runoff
of the area served by drains; and
D.
Fees. Fees shall be established, as part of the building permit fee,
from time to time by resolution of Council.
A grading permit shall not be issued unless the permittee first
posts per Wayne County requirements a bond executed by the landowner
and a corporate surety with authority to do business in the state
as a surety.
If a permittee is unable to complete the work authorized by
this chapter within the specified time, he or she must adhere to Wayne
County requirements pertaining to extension of time.
The City will not issue a certificate of occupancy if the permittee
fails to complete the work and to meet all requirements.
Grading permits shall not be issued where:
A.
The proposed work would cause hazards to the public safety and welfare.
B.
The work as proposed by the applicant will damage any public or private
property or interfere with any existing drainagecourse in such a manner
as to cause damage to any adjacent property, result in the deposit
of debris or sediment on any public way or into any waterway or create
an unreasonable hazard to persons or property.
C.
The land area for which grading is proposed is subject to geological
hazard to the extent that no reasonable amount of corrective work
can eliminate or sufficiently reduce settlement, slope instability
or any other hazard to persons or property.
D.
The land area for which the grading is proposed may lie within the
floodplain of any stream or watercourse (not specifically designated
and delineated by the City as an area subject to flood hazard) unless
a hydrologic report, prepared by a professional engineer, is submitted
to certify that the proposed grading will have, in his or her opinion,
no detrimental influence on the public welfare or upon the total development
of the watershed.
All modifications of approved grading plans must be submitted
to and approved by the City Engineer. All necessary sustaining reports
shall be submitted with any proposal to modify the approved grading
plan. No grading work in connection with any proposed modification
shall be permitted without the approval of the City Engineer.
During grading operations the permittee shall be responsible
for:
A.
The prevention of damage to public utilities or services within the
limits of grading and along any routes of travel of the equipment;
B.
The prevention of damage to adjacent property. No person shall grade
on land so close to the property line as to endanger any adjoining
public street, sidewalk or alley, or any public or private property,
without supporting and protecting such property from settling, cracking
or other damage that might result;
C.
Carrying out the proposed work in accordance with the approved plans
and in compliance with all the requirements of the permit and this
chapter; and
D.
The prompt removal of all soil, miscellaneous debris or other materials
applied, dumped or otherwise deposited on public streets, highways,
sidewalks or other public thoroughfares during transit to and from
the construction site, where such a spillage constitutes a public
nuisance or hazard.
A.
Earth changes shall be conducted in such a manner so as to effectively
reduce accelerated soil erosion and resulting sedimentation.
B.
All earth changes shall be designed, constructed and completed in
such a manner that the exposed area of any disturbed land shall be
limited to the shortest possible period of time.
C.
Sediment caused by accelerated soil erosion shall be removed from
runoff water before it leaves the site of the earth change.
D.
Any temporary or permanent facility designed and constructed for
the conveyance of water around, through or from the earth change area
shall be designed to limit the water flow to a nonerosive velocity.
E.
Permanent soil erosion control measures for all slopes, channels,
ditches or disturbed land areas shall be completed within 15 calendar
days after final grading or after the final earth change has been
completed. When it is not possible to permanently stabilize a disturbed
area after an earth change has been completed, or where significant
earth change activity ceases, temporary soil erosion control measures
shall be implemented within 30 calendar days. All temporary soil erosion
control measures shall be maintained until permanent soil erosion
control measures are implemented.
Persons carrying out soil erosion and sediment control measures
under this chapter, and all subsequent owners of property concerning
which such measures have been taken, shall maintain all permanent
erosion control measures, retaining walls, structures, plantings and
other protective devices.
All grading plans and specifications, including extensions of
previously approved plans, shall include provisions for erosion and
sediment control in accordance with, but not limited to, the standards
contained in the County Soil District Standards for Soil Erosion and
Sedimentation Control. Copies of such standards shall be available
for inspection in the offices of the City Clerk and the City Engineer.
A.
No grading permit shall be required for the following:
(1)
Agricultural uses of land zoned agricultural;
(2)
Grading or an excavation below finished grade for basements, footings,
retaining walls or other structures on plots zoned RA-1, RA-2 or RA-3,
of less than 20,000 square feet and more than 100 feet from any lake,
stream or drainage course;
(5)
Where the City Engineer certifies, in writing, that the planned work
and the final structures or topographical changes will not result
in or contribute to soil erosion or sedimentation of the waters of
the state; will not interfere with any existing drainagecourse in
such a manner as to cause damage to any adjacent property or result
in the deposit of debris or sediment on any public way; will not create
any hazard to any person or property; and will have no detrimental
influence upon the public welfare or upon the total development of
the watershed.
B.
Even though no permits are required under Subsection A(1) to (5)
hereof, operations and construction which are exempt from the permit
requirement must still be in compliance with the provisions of this
chapter concerning grading and erosion.
C.
Where it is alleged that there is an error or misinterpretation in
any order, requirement, decision, grant or refusal made by the City
Engineer, the Zoning Board of Appeals may hear specific applications
and may amend or change such order, requirement, decision, grant or
refusal so that it is in harmony with the general purpose and intent
of this chapter. The procedural requirements for appeals under the
Zoning Code shall be applicable to appeals under this chapter.
A.
This chapter shall be enforced by the City Engineer. The City Engineer
shall inspect the work and shall require adequate inspection or compaction
by a soil engineer or by a soil testing agency, approved by the City
Engineer, unless he or she determines that such inspection requirements
may be waived due to the nonhazardous nature of the grading.
B.
Upon satisfactory execution of all approved grading plans and other
requirements, the City Engineer shall issue a certification of completion.
If the City Engineer finds any existing conditions not as stated in
any application, grading permit or approved plan, he or she may refuse
to approve further work until approval of a revised grading plan,
which will conform to the existing conditions, has been granted.
A.
Notwithstanding the existence or pursuit of any other remedy, the
City may maintain an action in its own name in any court of competent
jurisdiction for an injunction or other process against any person
to restrain or prevent violations of this chapter.
B.
The City Engineer or his or her duly authorized agents may enter,
at all reasonable times, in or upon any private or public property
for the purpose of inspecting and investigating conditions and practices
that may be a violation of this chapter.
