Grading and land clearing activities impact the City’s aesthetic value and community character. Establishing minimum standards and requirements relating to land grading, clearing, excavations and fills, and procedures by which these standards and requirements may be enforced, will help to ensure soil is not stripped and removed from lands in the City, leaving them unsightly and susceptible to erosion, subsidence, faulty drainage and sediment deposition.
Useful documents:
GRADING NOTES(Scroll down for Erosion and Sediment Control Notes)
For Mass, Rough, and Precise Grading Plans
- All grading and related activities shall conform to the Grading, Erosion & Sediment Control Ordinance No. 04-04, and if applicable, to the State Water Resources Control Board NPDES General Permit for Construction Activities.
- Building pad and drainage swale slopes shall be a minimum of 1%. Drainage swales shall be a minimum of 0.2’ deep and be constructed a minimum of 2’ away from the top of graded slopes. Finish grade shall slope away from all exterior walls at not less than ¼” per foot for a minimum of 3 feet.
- Maximum cut and fill slopes shall be 2:1.
- Provide, as applicable, concrete brow ditches designed to convey 100-year storm flows, or provide graded berms, along the top of all graded slopes over 3’ in vertical height or that are adjacent to graded areas to direct surface runoff away from the top of slopes.
- All grading shall be done under the supervision of a Registered Civil Engineer, Soil Engineer, or Engineering Geologist who shall certify that all fills have been properly placed and who shall submit a final compaction report for all fills over 1’ deep.
- A Registered Civil Engineer shall submit to the City of Temecula’s Public Works Department a written certification of completion of rough grading in accordance with the approved grading plan prior to issuance of the building permit. Certification shall be to line, grade, elevation and location of cut / fill slopes.
- Final compaction report will be required for all fills greater than one foot.
- All grading shall be done in conformance with recommendations of the preliminary soils investigation by ______________ dated ____. Two sets of the final compaction report shall be submitted to the Public Works Department which shall include foundation design recommendations and certification that grading has been done in conformance with the recommendations of the preliminary soils report.
- The contractor shall notify the Public Works Department at least 48 hours in advance requesting finish lot grade and drainage inspection. This inspection must be approved prior to building permit clearance for each lot. Public Works Department Phone: (951) 694-6411
- Cut and fill slopes shall be protected with a combination of erosion and sediment controls to protect the slope from erosion and instability during the grading phase.
- Post-grading activities shall include, but not be limited to, installing, where applicable, groundcover, trees, shrubs, or a combination thereof in accordance with City codes prior to the approval of final inspection. Slopes over 4’ in vertical height shall have permanent irrigation systems with backflow prevention devices per the U.P.C.
- Fill material shall not be placed on existing ground until the ground has been cleared of weeds, debris, topsoil, and other deleterious material. If steep sloping terrain occurs upon which fill is to be placed, the terrain must be cleared, keyed, and benched into firm natural soil for full support. A Registered Civil Engineer, Soil Engineer, or Engineering Geologist shall approve placement of fill.
- Temporary drainage shall be provided until permanent drainage structures are installed. Protective measures shall be implemented to protect adjoining and downstream properties from silt deposition and ponding water during grading operations.
- Dust shall be controlled by methods approved by the City Engineer.
- Stability calculations with a factor-of-safety of at least one and five-tenths (1.5) shall be submitted to the Public Works Department by a Registered Civil Engineer, Soil Engineer, or Engineering Geologist for cut and fill slopes over 30’ in vertical height.
- A Registered Civil Engineer or Licensed Land Surveyor shall submit certification of building pad elevations. Where specific elevations are required, the elevation (with respect to mean sea level) shall be given. If an elevation with respect to adjacent ground surface is required, the actual distance above the adjacent ground shall be given.
- EROSION AND SEDIMENT CONTROL: The permittee shall abide by the requirements outlined in the City of Temecula Grading, Erosion & Sediment Control Ordinance No. 04-04 throughout the duration of the project, including adherence to the State NPDES
Permit for Construction Activities, if applicable.
- Existing drainage courses shall continue to function during the rainy season. No obstruction of flood plains or natural water courses shall be permitted.
- All property corners shall be clearly delineated in the field prior to commencement of any construction/grading.
- The permittee must obtain an encroachment permit prior to any work within a public right-of-way.
- Approval of these plans by the City or its agents does not relieve the applicant and his engineer from the responsibility for the correction of errors or omissions discovered during construction. Upon request, the appropriate plan revisions shall be promptly submitted to the City Engineer for review and approval.
- The issuance of this permit by the City of Temecula does not imply or provide any clearances from state or federal agencies regulating the provisions of state or federal endangered species acts or water quality regulations. The Contractor/Owner/Developer is responsible for obtaining the appropriate clearances
from these agencies prior to any site disturbances or grading.
EROSION AND SEDIMENT CONTROL NOTES
- Information on this plan is for erosion prevention and sediment control only. These notes are comprehensive and should be applied according to the site-specific conditions for each individual project. The Discharger is responsible for the installation and maintenance of a combination of erosion and sediment controls by October 1st of each year for all applicable soil-disturbing activities (clearing, grading, excavating) and on all exposed slopes throughout the entire site. The Discharger is also responsible for any discharges from subcontractors.
- Stormwater runoff should be filtered prior to discharging to a stormwater conveyance system (natural watercourses, streets, flow-lines, drainage inlets, etc). All non-permitted discharges are prohibited from entering any stormwater conveyance system year-round.
- Discharger Contact Information: (Responsible Person) (Company) (24-Hour Phone No.)
- If soil disturbance meets or exceeds one acre, the site must be covered under the State General Construction Permit, a Notice of Intent (NOI) must be filed with the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), a Waste Discharge Identification (WDID) Number shall be provided to the City, and a stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) shall be implemented throughout the duration of the project and be readily available on site to City and State inspectors. A SWPPP template can be downloaded from the City’s web site at www.cityoftemecula.org under NPDES information.
- During the rainy season (October 1 – April 30), the Discharger shall make available, as necessary, equipment and workers for emergency work to protect the site. Additional erosion and sediment control materials shall be stockpiled at various locations throughout the site for immediate implementation.
- All erosion and sediment controls shall be inspected, restored, repaired, or modified regularly throughout the site to protect downgrade perimeters, adjacent properties, environmentally sensitive areas, and all private and public stormwater conveyance systems. If any erosion or sediment controls fail during the rainy season, more effective ones will be required in their place.
- During the rainy season, clearing shall be limited to areas that will receive immediate grading. A combination of erosion and sediment controls shall be implemented in areas that have been cleared.
- During the rainy season, erosion control for graded slopes shall include 100% vegetative coverage, wood mulch, stapled or pinned blankets (straw or coconut), plastic sheeting (10-mil), polypropylene mats, or other measure approved by the Director of Public Works. For spray-on controls, only bonded and stabilized fiber matrix products with minimum application rates of 3500 lb/acre and 10 gal/acre respectively, shall be used for grades of 4:1 and greater. Jute netting shall not be used as a stand-alone erosion control. If hydroseeding is implemented, the application must allow sufficient time for adequate seed growth. Inactive graded pads shall be protected with acrylic/latex polymers, soil stabilizers, fiber matrix, or other measure approved by the Director of Public Works.
- Sediment controls shall include desilting basins, graded berms, fiber rolls, silt fences, gravel-bag chevrons (3/4” gravel), check dams, drainage inlet protection, etc.
- All onsite and offsite flow-lines (v-ditches, brow-ditches, terrace drains, ribbon gutters, curb gutters, etc.) and drainage inlets shall be free of sediment, construction materials, construction waste, miscellaneous debris, and deteriorated erosion and sediment controls at all times.
- Construction waste and miscellaneous debris shall be placed in water-tight bins. Wire mesh trash receptacles will not be allowed. Wash-out stations shall be provided for concrete, paints, and stucco and shall be lined with plastic and located away from streets, sidewalk right-of-ways, and drainage inlets. Prior to any forecasted rain, bins and wash-outs shall be covered with a lid or plastic tarp preventing any overflow into the drainage system.
- Construction accesses shall be stabilized with a combination of gravel and shaker plates yearround to prevent track-out onto streets. For residential developments with street grades exceeding 2%, individual driveways shall also be protected with gravel to prevent track-out onto interior streets. Gravel shall also be placed on driveways that are used to access individual lots. Routine street sweeping shall be performed on all paved streets where tracking is observed. Vacuum sweepers shall be used when street sweepers become ineffective. Controlled street washing will only be allowed prior to the application of asphalt seal coats. However, drainage inlets shall be protected to filter the washwater.
- Silt and debris shall be removed from check dams, chevrons, silt fences, desilting basins, streets, onsite and off-site flow lines, downgradient drainage inlets affected by a discharge from the site, and other private and public stormwater conveyance systems prior to and after each storm event. For residential developments, silt fence shall be installed along interior streets and combined with gravel-bag or silt-fence-chevrons inside the sidewalk right-of-way, where applicable.
- Desilting basins shall be constructed at the start of all grading operations and sized according to the State General Construction Permit (3600 cubic feet of storage per acre drained), even if the site does not require coverage under this permit. Water shall be filtered and drained from the basins between storm events.
- Stormwater runoff shall not be directed over any slopes without permanent downdrains installed. Temporary erosion and sediment controls are required on all exposed slopes until sufficient permanent landscaping has been established. Fiber rolls shall be installed in increments of 10 feet measured vertically on the face of slope for grades of 3:1 and greater in combination with fiber matrix products or blankets. Silt fence shall be installed at the toe of all exposed slopes 3’ or more in height.
- Material storage areas shall be established. Fuel tanks, portable toilets, liquids, gels, and powders shall be stored away from streets, sidewalk right-of-ways, and drainage inlets and shall have secondary containment. Stockpiles of soil shall be protected prior to a forecasted rain.
- All portable mixers shall have plastic under-liners to contain spillage. Gravel bags shall also be placed on the down-hill side of the liners to contain discharges.
- The Discharger shall properly post and secure site areas where impounded water, due to erosion and sediment control devices or anything else, creates a hazardous condition to the public. However, emergency accesses shall be maintained at all times.
- No obstructions, other than sediment controls, shall be allowed at any existing public, or private, stormwater conveyance system, unless adequate temporary or permanent drainage facilities have been approved by the Director of Public Works to carry surface water to the nearest practical stormdrain or natural water course.
- Fill areas shall have erosion and sediment controls implemented while being brought up to grade. These measures include: temporary downdrains (pipes or paved ditches with protected outfalls); earth berms at the top of slopes; vegetation; mulch; fiber matrix products; blankets; ponding areas; check dams; fiber rolls; gravel bags around drainage inlets; and appropriate grading to direct drainage away from the edge of the top of slopes.
- Slope protection must be in place during the rainy season prior to the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy to prevent erosion.
- The Department of Public Works reserves the right to make changes to this plan. The Department’s approval of this plan does not relieve the Discharger for corrections of errors and omissions discovered during construction.
|