Article I — General

Rock, sand, aggregate, gravel, earth, clay and similar materials are valuable natural resources whose recovery in a responsible manner is encouraged. These regulations are intended to provide for surface mining, and quarrying, and processing of these materials in a manner which is both environmentally sensitive and compatible with existing and future land uses. These regulations are also intended to implement the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975, Public Resources Code Section 2710 et seq., as amended, hereinafter referred to as "SMARA," and Public Resources Code Section 2207 , and the California Code of Regulations adopted pursuant thereto (14 California Code of Regulations, Section 3500 et seq.) are intended to ensure that sites are excavated in a safe and reasonable manner with progressive reclamation to a natural appearing or otherwise useable condition compatible with adjacent areas.

Except as provided in this Code, every site zoned SG sand and gravel extraction shall have a single comprehensive SG site permit which shall delineate all of the uses permitted on that particular site. An SG site permit shall consist of the plan of operations, the drainage and erosion control plan, the vehicular access plan, the reclamation plan, and financial assurances. Except as provided in Section 9.188.010 of this title, no uses shall be permitted in the SG district unless authorized by an SG site permit. Any request for a zone change to the SG district shall be accompanied by an application for SG site permit and neither shall be approved or become effective separately. (Ord. 176 § 1, 2007)

For the purpose of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall be defined as follows:

"Commercial extraction operation" means the removal or displacement of sand, gravel, rock, aggregate, clay or similar materials conducted for financial gain.

"Community Development Director" or "Director" means the City's Director of Community Development.

"Haul road" means a road along which material is transported from one area of the site to another.

"Idle" means to curtail for a period of one year or more surface mining operations by more than 90% of the operation's previous maximum annual mineral production, with the intent to resume those surface mining operations at a future date. (Public Resources Code, Section 2727.1 )

"Minerals" means any naturally occurring chemical element or compound, or groups of elements and compounds formed from inorganic processes and organic substances, including, but not limited to, coal, peat, bituminous rock, but excluding geothermal resources, natural gas, and petroleum. (14 California Code of Regulations, Section 3501 ) For the purposes of this chapter, minerals shall also include, but not be limited to sand, gravel, aggregate, cinders, diatomaceous earth, shale, limestone, flagstone, decorative stone, and riprap.

"Mining" means the process of obtaining sand, gravel, rock, aggregate, clay, or similar materials from an open excavation in the earth for financial gain, but not including the removal of minerals extracted by underground methods.

"Operator" means any person who is engaged in surface mining operations or who contracts with others to conduct operations on his or her behalf, except a person who is engaged in surface mining operations as an employee with wages as his or her sole compensation.

"Overburden" means soil, rock or other materials that lie above a natural mineral deposit or in between mineral deposits, before or after their removal by surface mining operations. (Public Resources Code, Section 2732 )

"Owner" means a person who owns a site upon which is located mining, quarrying, and/or commercial extraction operations which are being conducted or may be conducted.

"Permit" means any permit or authorization issued pursuant to this chapter, together with the application for the same, the conditions upon which it was issued, and any plans, specifications, reports, and approved modifications thereto.

"Person" means any individual, firm, association, corporation, organization, or partnership, or any city, county, district, the State or any department or agency thereof. (14 California Code of Regulations, Section 3501 )

"Quarrying" means the process of removing or extracting stone, rock, or similar materials from an open excavation for financial gain.

"Reclamation" means the combined process of land treatment that minimizes water degradation, air pollution, damage to aquatic or wildlife habitat, flooding, erosion, and other adverse effects from mining operations, including adverse surface effects incidental to underground mines, so that mined lands are reclaimed to a useable condition which is readily adaptable for alternative land uses and create no danger to public health or safety. The process may extend to affected lands surrounding mined lands, and may require backfilling, grading, resoiling, revegetation, soil compaction, stabilization, or other measures. (Public Resources Code, Section 2733 )

"Settling basin" means an area devoted to the storage of waste residue.

"SG (sand and gravel) site permit" means the land use permit obtained pursuant to Sections 9.150.030 to 9.150.045 . and 9.150.060 of this chapter to operate a surface mine in the SG district of this City.

"Site" means a lot or parcel of land, or a series of contiguous or adjacent lots or parcels of land, described by a lease or similar document upon which a surface mine is located or upon which commercial extraction operations are being or may be conducted, and which is covered by a permit.

"Slope" means the exposed surface of an excavation or fill which forms an incline.

"State Director of Conservation" means the Director of the State of California, Department of Conservation.

"Surface mining operations" means all or any part of the process involved in the mining of minerals on mined lands by removing overburden and mining directly from the mineral deposits, open pit mining of minerals naturally exposed, mining by the auger method, dredging and quarrying, or surface work incidental to an underground mine. Surface mining operations shall include, but are not limited to:

1. In-place distillation or retorting or leaching;

2. The production and disposal of mining waste;

3. Prospecting and exploratory activities. (Public Resources Code, Section 2735 )

Surface mining operations shall also include the creation of borrow pits, streambed skimming, segregation and stockpiling of mined materials (and recovery of same). (14 California Code of Regulations, Section 3501 )

"Ultimate right-of-way" means the right-of-way shown as ultimate on an adopted precise plan of highway alignment, or a street right-of-way shown within the boundary of a recorded tract map, a recorded parcel map, or a recorded planned Community Development plan. The latest adopted or recorded document in the above case shall take precedence. If none of these exist, the ultimate right-of-way shall be considered to be the right-of-way required by the highway classification as shown on the master plan of arterial highways. In all other instances, the ultimate right-of-way shall be considered to be the existing right-of-way in the case of a private street, and the existing right-ofway, but not less than 60 feet in the case of a public street. (Ord. 176 § 1, 2007)

The provisions of the California Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975 as amended (Public Resources Code, Sections 2710 et seq.), Public Resources Code Section 2207 , and the California Code of Regulations implementing SMARA (14 California Code of Regulations, Sections 3500 et seq.), and (14 California Code of Regulations, Article 9, Chapter 8, Section 3700 et seq., reclamation standards), hereinafter also referred to as the "State regulations," as those provisions may be amended from time to time, are made a part of this chapter by reference with the same force and effect as if the provisions therein were specifically and fully set out herein, excepting that when the provisions of this chapter are more restrictive than conflicting State provisions, this chapter shall prevail.

(Ord. 176 § 1, 2007)