Watsonville Municipal Code Art. 1 Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as set forth in this article.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Accelerated erosion” shall mean rapid erosion caused by human induced alterations of the vegetation, land surface topography, or runoff patterns. Evidence of accelerated erosion is usually indicated by exposed soils, active gullies, rills, and sediment deposits or slope failures caused by human activities.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Access and building envelope” shall mean an area delineated on the site plan within which all grading, land clearing, and other disturbances for construction and access will be confined.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Approved erosion control specialist” shall mean a person who has a certificate of qualifications from the Santa Cruz County Resource Conservation District and is recognized by the City Engineer as capable of preparing erosion control plans.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff October 22, 1981)

“City Engineer” shall mean the Director of Public Works and his duly authorized agents.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Civil engineer” shall mean a professional engineer licensed to practice civil engineering work by the State.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Clearing” shall mean the removal of vegetation and debris down to the bare soil by any method.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Compaction” shall mean the densification of earth and solids or fill by mechanical means.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Design storm” shall mean a storm with such intensity and duration that its magnitude would only be exceeded on the average once every ten (10) to fifteen (15) years. Such rainfall curve is a part of the Public Improvement Standards.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Drainage course” shall mean a well-defined natural or man-made channel which conveys storm water runoff either year around or intermittently.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Erosion” shall mean the wearing away of the ground surface by the actions of water, wind, or gravity, or a combination thereof.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Erosion hazard” shall mean the susceptibility of a site to erode, based on soils, the condition and steepness of a slope, rock type, vegetation, and other site factors.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Excavation” shall mean any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock, or any other similar material is cut into, dug, quarried, uncovered, removed, displaced, relocated, or bulldozed and shall include the conditions resulting therefrom.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Fill” shall mean any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock, or any other similar material is deposited, placed, pulled, or transported and shall include the conditions resulting therefrom.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Grade” shall mean the vertical location of the ground surface or the degree of rise or descent of a slope.

(a) Existing grade. “Existing grade” shall mean the grade prior to any land disturbance of grading.

(b) Rough grade. “Rough grade” shall mean an approximate elevation of the ground surface conforming to the proposed design.

(c) As graded or finished grade. “As graded or finished grade” shall mean the final grade which conforms to the approved plan.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Grading” shall mean an excavation or fill, or any combination thereof, and shall include the conditions resulting from any excavation or fill, excluding stripping and/or clearing.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Key” shall mean a designed terrace excavated into firm, undisturbed slopes to stabilize fills and increase shearing resistance.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Keyway” shall mean a designed compacted fill placed in a trench excavated in undisturbed earth material beneath the toe of a proposed fill slope to develop shearing resistance.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Land disturbance” shall mean the clearing, excavating, grading, or other manipulation of the natural terrain.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Owner” shall mean the person shown in the office of the County Recorder as the owner of the property.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Permittee” shall mean the owner, contractor, or any person undertaking land disturbance activities upon a site pursuant to a permit granted by the City.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Riparian corridor” shall mean those areas which fall into one of the following three (3) categories:

(a) An area extending fifty (50') feet, measured horizontally, from each side of a perennial stream. Distance shall be measured from the top of the existing bankfull flowline;

(b) An area extending thirty (30') feet, measured horizontally, from each side of an intermittent stream. Distance shall be measured from the top of the existing bankfull flowline; or

(c) An area extending thirty (30') feet from the high water mark of a marsh or a natural body of standing water.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Runoff’ shall mean the movement of surface water over the ground surface.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Sediment” shall mean eroded earth material which is carried by water, wind, or gravity and deposited into channels, lakes, rivers, or other areas.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Site” shall mean a lot or parcel of land or a series of lots or parcels joined together where land disturbances, including excavations, grading, filling, cutting, erosion control, clearing, or construction, are performed, permitted, or proposed.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Slope” shall mean an inclined ground surface, the inclination of which is expressed as a ratio of horizontal distance to vertical distance. Three to one (3:1) shall mean that for every three (3') feet moved horizontally, the ground surface will rise or drop one foot. Slope may also be expressed in percent and/or degrees from the horizontal.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Soil” shall mean naturally occurring mineral and organic earth materials on the immediate surface overlying bedrock or parent material.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Soils engineer” shall mean a civil engineer licensed by the State and experienced in soil mechanics and slope stability analyses.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Stream” shall mean any watercourse designated by a solid line or dash and three (3) dots symbol on the largest scale of a United States Geological Survey map most recently published.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Supervised grading” shall mean grading done under the supervision of a soils engineer.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Terrace” shall mean a relatively level step constructed in the face of a graded slope surface for erosion control, drainage, and maintenance purposes.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Topsoil” shall mean the loose, friable, organic and fertile earth materials on top of a soil profile.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)

“Water break” shall mean a ditch, dike, or dip, or combination thereof, constructed to effectively divert water for erosion control.

(§ 1, Ord. 538-81 C-M, eff. October 22, 1981)