Dublin Municipal Code Art. I General Provisions

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.

(Ord. 52-87 § 1)

This chapter shall be administered for the city by the Director of Public Works.

(Ord. 52-87 § 7)

This chapter shall apply to the incorporated area of the city.

(Ord. 52-87 § 3)

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 manmade origin which adjoins or parallels any watercourse and which has as a function the confinement of the water of such watercourse.

“City”

means the city of Dublin.

“City Council”

means the City Council of the city of Dublin.

“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 the city, 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 such a designation on such 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 III.

“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 manmade 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.

(Ord. 52-87 § 2)

Where storm drain facilities and/or watercourses have been accepted for maintenance by the District or other public agency legally responsible for certain watercourses then the responsibility for enforcing the provisions of this chapter are hereby assigned to those public agencies over those watercourses for which they have accepted maintenance.

(Ord. 52-87 § 5)

Every person owning property through which a watercourse passes, or such person’s lessee or tenant, shall keep and maintain that part of the watercourse within the 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 7.20.080 herein, nor remove said vegetation in such a manner as to increase the vulnerability of the watercourse to erosion.

(Ord. 52-87 § 6)