A. 
The purpose of this chapter is to provide minimum standards to safeguard persons and property and to promote the public welfare by preventing excess erosion, hazardous rock and soil slippage, sediment production and other soil and water management problems, and by regulating and controlling the design, construction, quality of materials, use, location and maintenance of grading, excavation, and fill operations in the Borough.
B. 
These regulations are adopted and implemented to achieve the following general purposes and objectives:
(1) 
To provide minimum standards regulating the grading, excavation and fill of land within the Borough.
(2) 
To require permits for certain grading, excavation and filling activities.
(3) 
To require security for the due performance of grading, excavating and filling activity undertaken.
The provisions of this chapter shall apply to all grading, excavation, or fill operations in the Borough unless specifically exempted or otherwise modified herein.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words or terms shall be defined as follows:
ACT
The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act of July 31, 1968, Act No. 247, as amended).[1]
ALLEGHENY COUNTY SOILS SURVEY
The Allegheny County Soils Survey, as prepared by the USDA Soil Conservation Service.
APPLICANT
Any landowner, developer, contractor, subcontractor, option holder, and any other person who has filed an application for grading, excavation, fill or combination thereof, including his/her heirs, successors and assigns, and subsequent landowners of the real property to which the grading plan relates.
ARCHITECT
A registered architect licensed as such in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
BEDROCK
Natural rock layer, hard or soft, in place at ground surface or beneath unconsolidated deposits.
BOROUGH
The Borough of Glen Osborne.
BOROUGH ENGINEER
A professional engineer registered in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania specializing in civil engineering and appointed as such by the Borough of Glen Osborne.
CONSULTING ENGINEER
A professional engineer registered in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and retained by the Borough of Glen Osborne for a specific purpose. This person shall specialize in the branch of engineering as specified by the Borough.
DEVELOPMENT SITE
A lot, parcel or tract of land on which development is taking place or where grading, excavation, fill or a combination of such is proposed or taking place.
ENGINEER
A professional engineer registered in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and retained by the applicant to complete a proposed project. This person must specialize in the branch of engineering as specified by the applicant.
EROSION
The detachments and movement of soil or soil fragments by water, wind, ice or gravity, including such processes as gravitational creep due to natural or man-made forces.
EXCAVATION
Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock or any other material is cut into, disturbed, quarried, uncovered, removed, displaced, relocated or bulldozed and shall include the conditions resulting therefrom.
FILL
Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock or any other similar material is deposited, placed, pushed, dumped, pulled, transported or moved to a new location and shall include the conditions resulting therefrom.
FLOODPLAIN
A normally dry land area adjacent to stream channels that is susceptible to inundation by over bank stream flows. For regulatory purposes, the Pennsylvania Floodplain Management Act (Act of October 4, 1978, P.L. 851, No. 166)[2] and regulations pursuant thereto define the floodplain as the area inundated by a one-hundred-year flood and delineated on a map by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) or by the applicant in accordance with Borough requirements.
FLOODWAY
The channel of the watercourse and those portions of the adjoining floodplains which are reasonably required to carry and discharge a one-hundred-year frequency flood.
GRADE
The elevation of the existing or proposed ground surface at the location of any proposed excavation or fill.
GRADING
Excavation or fill or any combination thereof including the conditions resulting from any excavation or fill.
GRADING PERMIT
Any permit required pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
GRADING PLAN
The plan which shows the proposed grading, excavation and/or fill operations for a specific development site.
HAZARD
A danger or potential danger to life, limb or health, or any adverse effect or potential adverse effect to the safety, use or stability of property, waterways, public ways, structures, utilities, and storm sewers; including stream pollution and disposition of materials on pavement.
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
A registered landscape architect licensed as such in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
PA ONE-CALL SYSTEM
PA Act 287 of 1974 and Act 187 of 1996, as amended,[3] requiring advance notification of 72 hours prior to excavating for identification and location of underground utility lines.
PAVEMENT
The application of such material as will produce a dust-free, all-weather, hard surface.
PERMIT HOLDER
Any applicant who has received or is the beneficiary of a grading permit under this chapter.
PROHIBITIVE SLOPE
Either of the following: those slopes as identified on the Allegheny County Soils Survey Map as steep slopes of 25% or more; or any area where, in a one-hundred-foot horizontal distance, the slope exceeds 25%.
RETAINING WALL
A structure composed of concrete, steel or other building material constructed for the purpose of supporting a cut or filled embankment and which is greater than six feet in height as measured on the exposed vertical surface of the wall.
SITE
A lot, tract, or parcel of land, or a series of lots, tracts, or parcels of land, joined together, where grading work is continuous and performed at the same time.
SOILS ENGINEER
A registered professional engineer licensed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and specializing in the branch of geotechnical engineering.
STRUCTURE
Any man- or machine-made object constructed, erected or placed on, above or under the soil or water of a lot, parcel or tract of land by the owner thereof, his agent or representative, or anything so constructed, erected or placed the use of which demands a permanent location on the soil, or anything attached to something having a permanent location on the soil. It shall include dwellings and accessory structures such as stables, barns, swimming pools, racket courts and any other similar man-made object having a stationary location on the soil. Excluded from this definition are: pavements and walkways which provide ingress and egress to a principal use or accessory structure; on-lot wastewater disposal systems which are placed on the lot along the natural contours of the land; and any driveway entrance structure, fence or wall not exceeding six feet in height. The term "structure" includes the term "building" and shall be construed as if followed by the words "or part thereof."
SURVEYOR
A registered professional land surveyor licensed as such by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
VIOLATION
An act, intentional or unintentional, of violating the requirements so established; or willful disregard to the governing regulations and responsibilities.
WETLAND
Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface- or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, including swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas. The term includes but is not limited to wetland areas listed in the Pennsylvania State Water Plan, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Wetlands Inventory Maps, and the Pennsylvania Coastal Zone Management Plan and any wetland area designated by a river basin commission.
ZONING OFFICER
The individual authorized by the Borough to be the administrator of the daily application of the provisions contained in this chapter or any regulations promulgated hereunder.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
[2]
Editor's Note: See 32 P.S. § 679.101 et seq.
[3]
Editor's Note: See 73 P.S. § 176 et seq.