Chapter 13 — DEMOLITION, DECONSTRUCTION, REMOVAL AND RECLAMATION

The purpose of this enactment is to require a discretionary permit (hereinafter referred to as "permit") for the demolition, deconstruction, or removal of major facilities such as abandoned or superseded roadways, former industrial sites, and other similar, significantly sized facilities such as factories, dams, railroad sites, which demolition, deconstruction, or removal work would or could have a potentially significant impact on the health, safety, welfare, and/or peaceful and quiet enjoyment of property if the work to be done is not done in such a manner and pursuant to such conditions as the County may reasonably impose so as to protect against, minimize, and mitigate impacts from such activities. As part of the permit process, reasonable financial assurances shall be required, together with all other reasonable requirements to insure that the work is done in a reasonable manner and so as to insure that reclamation is done so that the property shall be reclaimed and recovered to the point that it will return the site to such a condition as is consistent with its previous state or so as to insure that the property is reclaimed in a manner consistent with a reasonably safe and visually appealing condition.

The review of the application for the discretionary permit shall be in accordance with the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and, where applicable, the Applicant shall demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)

Sec. 10-13.02. - [Permit discretionary and conditional.]

The demolition, deconstruction, or removal permit shall be discretionary and conditioned so as to assure that the work will be done in a manner which will not create significant adverse environmental impacts and that reclamation will be done so as to mitigate all impacts to a level of insignificance.

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)

Sec. 10-13.03. - [Permit required.]

It shall be unlawful to demolish, deconstruct, or remove major facilities or do such major work without a permit granted by the County for such purposes.

A "major work" or "major facility" is defined as a demolition, deconstruction, or removal of 50,000 cubic yards of material or more, which has the potential to be injurious to the public health, safety, welfare, or property owners' reasonable quiet enjoyment of their property. Excluded from this definition are any mining activities, subject to a use permit under Title 10, Chapter 5, of this Code entitled Surface Mining and Reclamation, or the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975 (Public Resources Code, Division 2, Chapter 9, Section 2710 et seq.), and any County Public Works project involving roads, bridges, drainage improvement projects, landfill caps or similar projects.

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)

Sec. 10-13.04. - [Terms and conditions.]

There may be imposed on any such permit such reasonable conditions so that the work contemplated to be done will not be materially detrimental or injurious to the public health, safety and welfare, or to other property or improvements. The terms and conditions upon which the permit is granted shall be in writing, which terms and conditions shall be intended to protect the public health, safety, welfare, or property owners' improvements or reasonable quiet enjoyment of their property, with adequate financial assurances being posted to accomplish the work required by the permit, and the said work shall be done within the time frames set forth in the permit, unless otherwise extended by the County.

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)

Sec. 10-13.05. - [Duty of permittee.]

It shall be the duty of the person or entity to whom a permit is issued for the demolition, deconstruction, removal or reclamation to perform the work required by the permit and remove all debris, items of the structure to be deconstructed and removed, and all loose, miscellaneous, and other useless material from the parcel and to do all the necessary reclamation work as required by the permit issued.

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)

Sec. 10-13.06. - [Unlawful to leave property in dangerous or defective condition.]

It shall be unlawful to leave or maintain any of the property upon which work of demolition, deconstruction, or removal has been done in a dangerous or defective condition or so as to create a risk of harm to public health and safety or other property.

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)

Sec. 10-13.07. - [Application.]

An application for a demolition, deconstruction, or removal permit shall be filed with the Public Health and Community Development Department and shall not be considered complete unless it is accompanied by a full and complete project description of the work to be done, a full description of the site, an agreement to indemnify the County for any and all work to be done pursuant to the permit, a statement of the timeframe within which the work is to be done, a reasonable estimate of the costs to perform the work contemplated by the permit, including a statement of the willingness to provide the necessary financial assurances in a form acceptable to the County to secure performance of the work contemplated by the permit, together with all other information which may be reasonable and necessary to enable the County to fully review and condition the permit so that the work to be done can be done in a satisfactory manner and so as to assure that the work will be conducted in a manner that does not create significant adverse environmental impacts. In addition, the application shall provide a complete set of plans and specifications for the proposed work to be done, evidence that adequate financing for the work to be done has been secured and/or committed, together with evidence of the necessary engineering and construction contracts expected to be needed to complete the work contemplated.

Every application for a permit shall be upon a form furnished by the County and shall set forth such information as may be reasonably necessary in order to carry out the purposes of this chapter, which may be in addition to that information heretofore requested, which information may require a map of the proposed traffic routes, disposition of any sediment, debris and removal of rubble, soil, contaminants or

matter of whatsoever nature which shall be the subject of demolition/deconstruction and any reports or information from registered engineers or other applicable professionals regarding the work to be done and the steps to be taken so as to insure that the work is done in a safe manner.

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)

Sec. 10-13.08. - [Permit subject to review.]

Where the work to be done contemplates significant size projects and potential adverse environmental impacts, the permit shall be subject to review and issuance by the Board after review and action by the Planning Commission. The permit shall be conditioned to assure that the work which needs to be done can be and will be conducted in a manner which will not create significant adverse environmental impacts.

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)

Permit fees shall be paid to the Public Health and Community Development Department in an amount established by the Board of Supervisors and which amount shall be deemed necessary to cover the actual costs incurred to do the work contemplated by this permitting process. The fees shall be paid by the applicant at the time of filing of the permit application and at such other times as are necessary in order to insure that all actual costs of implementing this chapter are borne by the applicant.

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)

Sec. 10-13.10. - [Best management practices to be used.]

The best management practices shall be used throughout all phases of work to control dust, noise, and traffic, erosion and release of contaminants, so as to avoid adverse impacts on the public health, welfare, and safety and so as to avoid noise and/or the discharge of contaminants to the soil, water or atmosphere so as to avoid any violation of any applicable rules, regulations, ordinances, statutes, or other applicable law.

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)

If at any time the work to be contemplated by the permit is not done in compliance with the terms and conditions of the permit or results in the development of a dangerous or unsafe condition, operations pursuant to the permit may be suspended by the County Public Health and Community Development Department staff unless and until it is determined that the work can proceed in a safe manner. Review of the suspension order shall be by appeal of the permittee to a committee consisting of a representative of the County Public Health and Community Development Department and a representative of the Public Works Department. An appeal from the action of this review committee can be made by appeal to the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors within ten (10) days of the decision of the review committee. The permittee shall be required to do all the work necessary within twenty (20) days to remedy the dangerous or unsafe condition. Failure to do so within twenty (20) days may entitle the County to halt the work and/or resort to posted security to complete the demolition/reclamation work, cause the remedying of the unsafe

condition, or pursue any course of action which may be legally appropriate to require the permittee to complete the contemplated work. All remedies shall be nonexclusive.

In addition to any other remedies for violations of the provisions hereof, the County may elect to proceed with any appropriate actions against a violator, including injunctive relief. Any person or entity who violates this chapter shall be deemed subject to fines of up to Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) per separate violation. A person or entity shall be deemed to have committed separate violations for each and every day, or portion thereof, during which any such violation is committed, continued, or permitted to occur.

Further, any person or entity who violates the provisions hereof shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or by imprisonment in the County jail for a period not to exceed six months. Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the appropriate authorities of the County of Siskiyou from pursuing any civil, criminal, or administrative remedy deemed necessary or appropriate to gain compliance with the applicable provisions of this Code. The provisions of the chapter are to be supplementary and complementary to all of the provisions of this Code, state law, and any other law cognizable at common law or in equity, and nothing herein shall be read, interpreted or construed in any manner so as to bar or limit the County from seeking any remedy to which it may otherwise be entitled.

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)

Financial assurances shall be in a form and in a sufficient amount acceptable to the County to assure compliance with all elements of the approved permit, including, but not limited to, revegetation and landscape requirements, restoration of habitat, restoration and maintenance of water quality, slope stability and erosion and drainage control, disposal of hazardous, toxic, or unsightly materials, removal of structures and other debris, and any other measures which are reasonable and necessary to adequately complete the reclamation of the site.

(a)

The amount of financial assurance required shall be adjusted annually to account for changes in the cost of doing the work required. The applicant shall, within thirty (30) days of notice of adjustment, post the necessary additional financial assurance in an amount and form acceptable to the County.

(Ord. No. 09-04, § I, 4-7-2009)