Yolo County Municipal Code Art. 1 Title, Authority and Purpose

This chapter shall be known as the "The Surface Mining Reclamation Ordinance of Yolo County" or “Reclamation Ordinance”. (§ 1, Ord. 1191, eff. September 5, 1996; as amended by Ord. 1518, eff. February 13, 2020)

This chapter is enacted pursuant to the authority granted by the California Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975, Chapter 9 of Division 2 of the Public Resources Code of the state, commencing with Section 2710; the State Mining and Geology Board Reclamation Regulations, Chapter 8 of Division 2 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, commencing with Section 3500; and pursuant to the powers of the County to protect the public health, safety, and welfare pursuant to Section 7 of Article XI of the Constitution of the State. (§ 1, Ord. 1191, eff. September 5, 1996; as amended by Ord. 1518, eff. February 13, 2020)

The purposes of this chapter are as follows:

(a) The reclamation of mined lands is necessary to prevent or minimize the adverse effects of mining on the environment and to protect the public health and safety;

(b) The reclamation of mined lands shall provide for the protection and subsequent beneficial use of mined lands. However, mining takes place in diverse areas, with significantly different geologic, topographic, climatic, biological, and social conditions, so that the methods and operations of reclamation plans may vary accordingly to provide for the most beneficial reclamation of mined lands;

(c) In order to provide for reclamation plans that are specifically adapted to the requirements of particular mined lands; and to ensure that mined land is reclaimed to end uses such as agriculture, habitat, groundwater recharge, flood control, and channel stabilization in a consistent manner to maximize their overall management; this chapter imposes performance standards by which reclamation methods and operations shall be measured;

(d) The continued protection of agriculture and open-space uses is essential. As such, all off-channel, prime agricultural land and/or off-channel lands within a Williamson Act contract at the time that mining commences shall be reclaimed to an agriculturally productive state equal to or greater than that which existed before mining commenced. Prime agricultural land that is not within a Williamson Act contract shall be reclaimed to those uses which are declared by the County to be compatible with agricultural activities. Such uses include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) Agriculture and range land;

(2) Groundwater storage and recharge areas;

(3) Native fish, wildlife, invertebrate, and plant habitat;

(4) Watercourses and flood control basins; and,

(5) Recreational or open space lands;

(e) Non-prime agricultural land shall be similarly reclaimed to one of the alternate uses described above; and

(f) Reclamation plans shall be designed to integrate with the long-term goals of encouraging agriculture and recreation while protecting habitat and the riparian corridor. Provisions shall be made to continue monitoring and maintenance activities after reclamation is completed, where appropriate, in order to ensure that reclaimed uses remain compatible with and enhance local resource management.

(§ 1, Ord. 1191, eff. September 5, 1996; as amended by Ord. 1518, eff. February 13, 2020)