Alameda County Municipal Code Art. I General Provisions

This chapter shall be known as the watercourse protection ordinance of Alameda County.

(Prior gen. code § 7-200.0)

This chapter is enacted to safeguard and preserve watercourses, protect lives and property, prevent damage due to flooding, protect drainage facilities, control erosion and sedimentation, restrict discharge of polluted materials and enhance recreational and beneficial uses of watercourses.

(Prior gen. code § 7-200.1)

Unless the context clearly requires a different meaning, the meanings given for the following words and phrases shall apply when said words and phrases are used in this chapter:

"Agricultural operation" means any land-related activity for the purpose of cultivating or raising plants or animals or conserving or protecting lands for such purposes when conducted on agriculturally zoned lands, and is not surface mining or borrow pit operations nor preparation for construction or construction of any structure for human occupancy.

"Bank" means any embankment, dike, levee, wall or similar feature of natural or man-made origin which adjoins or parallels any watercourse and which has as a function the confinement of the water of said watercourse.

"Board" means the board of supervisors of Alameda County.

"City" means an incorporated city in Alameda County.

"Development" means any act of filling, depositing, excavating or removing any natural material, or constructing, reconstructing or enlarging any structure, which requires a permit issued by the director of public works.

"Director of public works" means the director of public works of Alameda County, California, acting either directly or through his authorized deputies.

"District" means the Alameda County flood control and water conservation district.

"Floodway" means the channel of a watercourse and adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to convey flood flows as determined by the director of public works. Where shown on a flood boundary and floodway map of the Federal Insurance Administration, "floodway" means a designation on said map.

"Maintenance" means the desilting, pruning or removal of vegetation, the removal of trash and debris, the removal of algae, water treatment, mosquito abatement activities, repair, or any other work required to maintain conveyance or storage capacities of watercourses or purity and quality of water, or to safeguard public health.

"Permit" means a permit issued by the director of public works pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.

"Permittee" means any person granted a permit under the provisions of this chapter.

"Person" means any individual or group of individuals, firm, corporation or public agency.

"Public agency" means any federal, state, regional or local government entity or any subdivision thereof.

"Setback" means a distance adjacent to an open channel watercourse within which development shall be controlled. Setback limits are defined in Article 5 of this chapter.

"Structure" means any works or constructions of any kind, including those of earth or rock, permanent or temporary, and including fences, poles, buildings, pavings, inlets, levees, tide gates, spillways, drop structures and similar facilities.

"Watercourse" means any conduit or appurtenant structure or any natural or man-made channel through which water flows continuously or intermittently in a definite direction and course or which is used for the holding, delay or storage of water. Natural channels shall generally be limited to those designated by a solid line or dash and three dots as shown in blue on the most recent U.S. Geological Survey 7.5 minute series of topographic maps. At the discretion of the director of public works, the definition of natural channel may be limited to those channels having a watershed area of fifty (50) acres or more, and this definition will be commonly used in the administration of this chapter except for those cases in which the director of public works determines that the definition must be extended to a natural channel with a watershed area smaller than fifty (50) acres in order to prevent a condition which is a menace to life and limb, endangers property, is a hazard to public safety, adversely affects the safety, use or serviceability of adjacent property, public way or drainage channel, or could adversely affect the water quality of any water body or watercourse were the definition not extended to a particular natural channel with a watershed area below fifty (50) acres.

(Prior gen. code § 7-200.2)

This chapter shall apply to the unincorporated area of Alameda County.

(Prior gen. code § 7-200.3)

It shall be the responsibility of the director of public works to enforce the provisions of this chapter and he is hereby so authorized.

(Prior gen. code § 7-200.4)

Every person owning property through which a watercourse passes, or said person's lessee or tenant, shall keep and maintain that part of the watercourse within said property reasonably free of trash, debris, excessive vegetation and other obstacles which would pollute, contaminate or significantly retard the flow of water through the watercourse; shall maintain existing privately owned structures within or adjacent to a watercourse, so that such structures will not become a hazard to the use, function or physical integrity of the watercourse; and shall not remove healthy bank vegetation beyond that actually necessary for said maintenance or other maintenance specified in Section 13.12.190(C) of this chapter, nor remove said vegetation in such a manner as to increase the vulnerability of the watercourse to erosion.

(Prior gen. code § 7-200.5)

This chapter shall be prospective in operation only. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to existing construction for which all previously necessary permits were obtained. Said provisions shall also not apply to a project or development not yet constructed provided that an appropriate permit has been obtained and said permit bears a date prior to the effective date of this chapter.

(Prior gen. code § 7-200.6)

This chapter shall be administered for Alameda County by the district.

(Prior gen. code § 7-200.7)