Hollister Municipal Code § 15.24.210 Wet season work

A. Engineered Grading. For engineered grading, it shall be the responsibility of the civil engineer who prepares the approved grading plan to incorporate all recommendations from the soils engineering and engineering geology reports into the grading plan. He or she also shall be responsible for the monitoring and certification of the grading within his or her area of technical specialty. This responsibility shall include, but not be limited to, monitoring and certification as to the establishment of line, grade, and drainage of the development area. The civil engineer shall act as the coordinating agent in the event the need arises for liaison between the other professionals, the contractor, and the city engineer. The civil engineer shall also be responsible for the preparation of revised plans and the submission of as-graded grading plans upon completion of the work. The grading contractor shall submit in a form prescribed by the city engineer a statement of compliance to said as-graded plans.

During grading all necessary reports, compaction data, and soils engineering and engineering geology recommendations shall be submitted to the civil engineer and the city engineer by the soils engineer and the engineering geologist. The soils engineer's area of responsibility shall include, but need not be limited to, the monitoring and approval concerning the preparation of ground to receive fills, or withstand cuts, testing for required compaction, stability of all finish slopes, and the design of buttress fills, where required, incorporating data supplied by the engineering geologist.

The engineering geologist's area of responsibility shall include, but need not be limited to, monitoring and approval of the adequacy of natural ground for receiving fills and the stability of cut slopes with respect to geological matters and the need for subdrains or other ground water drainage devices. He or she shall report his or her findings to the soils engineer and the civil engineer for engineering analysis.

The city engineer shall inspect the project at any time necessary to determine that adequate control is being exercised by the professional consultants.

B. Regular Grading. The city engineer may require monitoring and testing by a soils engineer. The soils engineer's responsibility shall include, but need not be limited to, approval concerning the monitoring of cleared areas and benches to receive fill, the compaction of fills, and the excavation of hillsides into native material. When the city engineer has cause to believe that geologic factors may be involved, the grading operation will be required to conform to engineered grading requirements.

C. Nonconformity with Plans. If, in the course of fulfilling their responsibility under this chapter, the civil engineer, the soils engineer, or the engineering geologist, finds that the work is not being done in conformance with this chapter or the approved grading plans, the discrepancies shall be reported immediately in writing to the person in charge of the grading work and to the city engineer (see Section 14.12.020).

D. Change of Professionals. If the civil engineer, the soils engineers, the engineering geologist or the testing agency of record is changed during the course of the work, the work shall be stopped until the replacement has agreed to accept the responsibility within the area of their technical competence for approval upon completion of the work.

(Ord. 1053, § 1, 2009)

A. For the commencement of land disturbing or grading activities during the wet season the permittee shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the city engineer that land disturbance is relatively minor and that all BMP measures can be controlled. The city engineer may grant permission under this section on the basis of weather forecast, experience, and other pertinent factors, which indicate the activities may commence or continue without compromise of BMP control measures.

B. For continuation of land-disturbing or grading activities, other than installation, maintenance, or repair of measures in the interim or final plans, during the wet season, permittee must apply for and receive, every five working days, special permission from the city engineer to proceed.

C. Permittee's failure to obtain permission for wet season activity shall result in the imposition of suspension or revocation, action against the security, or criminal penalties or any combination thereof.

(Ord. 1053, § 1, 2009)

A. General. Unless otherwise recommended in the approved soils engineering and/or engineering geology report, cuts shall conform to the provisions of this section.

B. Slope. The slope of cut surfaces shall be no steeper than is safe for the intended use. Cut slopes shall be no steeper than two horizontal to one vertical unless approved by city engineer.

C. Drainage and Terracing. Drainage and terracing shall be provided as required by this chapter.

(Ord. 1053, § 1, 2009)

A. General. Unless otherwise recommended in the approved soils engineering report, fills shall conform to the provisions of this section. In the case of a project being of such minor nature that a soils report is not required, the city engineer may waive these provisions.

B. Fill Location. Fill slopes shall not be constructed on natural slopes steeper than two horizontal to one vertical.

C. Preparation of Ground. The ground surface shall be prepared to receive fill by removing vegetation, noncomplying fill, topsoil, and other unsuitable materials, scarifying to provide a bond with a new fill, and, where slopes are steeper than five to one and the height is greater than five feet, by benching into sound bedrock or other competent material as determined by the soils engineer. The bench under the toe of a fill on a slope steeper than five to one shall be at least ten feet wide. The area beyond the toe of fill shall be sloped for sheet overflow or a paved drain shall be provided. Where fill is to be placed over a cut, the bench under the toe of fill shall be at least ten feet wide but the cut must be made before placing fill and approved by the soils engineer and engineering geologist as suitable foundation for fill. Unsuitable soil is soil, which in the opinion of the civil engineer is not competent to support other soil or fill, to support structures or to satisfactorily perform the other functions for which the soil is intended.

D. Fill Material. Detrimental amounts of organic material shall not be permitted in fills. Except as permitted by the city engineer, no rock or similar irreducible material with a maximum dimension greater than 12 inches shall be buried or placed in fills.

Exception: The city engineer may permit placement of rock larger than 12 inches when the civil engineer properly devises a method of placement, continuously inspects its placement and approves the fill stability. The following conditions shall also apply:

1. Prior to issuance of the grading permit, potential rock disposal areas shall be delineated on the grading plan;

2. Rock sizes greater than 12 inches in maximum dimension shall be ten feet or more below grade, measured vertically; and

3. Rocks shall be placed so as to assure filling of all voids.

E. Compaction. All fills shall be compacted to a minimum of 90 percent of maximum density. All fills shall be compacted in accordance with the most current version of the California Building Code Chapter 18 adopted by the city, or equivalent as approved by the city engineer.

F. Slope. The slope of fill shall be no steeper than is safe for the intended use. Fill slopes shall be no steeper than two horizontal to one vertical.

G. Drainage and Terracing. Drainage and terracing shall be provided as required by this chapter.

(Ord. 1053, § 1, 2009)

In addition to the engineering requirements contained herein, all grading must also be in conformance with certain lot design criteria contained within the Zoning Ordinance. Such considerations include, but are not limited to, pad elevation differentials and future building pad locations relative to top/bottom of slope or engineered retaining walls.

(Ord. 1053, § 1, 2009)

A. General. Unless otherwise recommended in the approved soils engineering report, drainage facilities and terracing shall conform to the provision of this section.

B. Terrace. Terraces at least six feet in width shall be established at not more than 30-foot vertical intervals on all cut or fill slopes to control surface drainage and debris, except that where only one terrace is required it shall be at mid-height.

For cut or fill slopes greater than 60 feet and up to 120 feet in vertical height, one terrace at approximately mid-height shall be 12 feet in width. Terrace widths and spacing for cut and fill slopes greater than 120 feet in height shall be designed by the civil engineer and approved by the city engineer. Suitable access shall be provided to permit proper cleaning and maintenance.

Swales or ditches on terraces shall have a minimum gradient of five percent and must be paved with reinforced concrete not less than three inches in thickness or an approved equal paving. They shall have a minimum depth at the deepest point of one foot and a minimum paved width of five feet.

Any section of swale or ditch shall not collect runoff from a tributary area exceeding 13,500 square feet without discharging into an approved public or private water system.

C. Subsurface Drainage. Cut and fill slopes shall be provided with subsurface drainage as necessary for stability.

D. Disposal. All drainage facilities shall be designed to carry waters to the nearest practicable drainageway approved by the city engineer or other appropriate public agency as a safe place to deposit such waters. Ground erosion in the area of discharge shall be prevented by installation of non-erosive downdrains or other devices.

E. Interceptor Drains. Paved interceptor drains shall be installed along the top of all cut slopes where the tributary drainage area above slopes towards the cut and has a drainage path greater than 40 feet measured horizontally from the top of all cut slopes. Interceptor drains shall be paved with a minimum of three inches of reinforced concrete or gunite with a minimum depth of 12 inches and a minimum paved width of 30 inches measured horizontally across the drain. The city engineer shall approve the slope of drain.

(Ord. 1053, § 1, 2009)