§ 500.225. Land Disturbance and Grading., Chapter 500. Construction Generally, Building and Construction, Code of Ordinances, Warson Woods

Definitions. For the purpose of this Section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

EXCAVATION: Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock or any other similar material is cut into, dug, uncovered, removed, displaced, relocated or bulldozed, and shall include the conditions resulting therefrom.

FILL: Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock or any other similar material is deposited, placed, pushed, pulled or transported to a place other than the place from which it was excavated and shall include the conditions resulting therefrom.

GRADING: Excavation, fill, land disturbance or any combination thereof and shall include the conditions resulting from any excavation, fill or land disturbance.

LAND DISTURBANCE: Any removal of trees, groundcover or other vegetation by means of heavy equipment (including all equipment weighing in excess of one thousand five hundred (1,500) pounds) or by any means affecting an area of two thousand (2,000) square feet or more in a period of one (1) year or less.

SITE: Contiguous lots, tracts, projects or subdivisions of a single owner or several owners.

SITE OWNER: The owners, contract-owners, developers or occupants, and any contractors, subcontractors, or builders, agents, employees or other representatives of the owner, occupant, jointly and severally, of any site on which grading is taking place or is proposed to take place.

Permit, Fees And Exceptions.

Permit required — fees. Prior to any grading, a site owner shall submit an application and pay a fee for, and be issued, a grading permit from the City.

Fees. Site owner shall submit an application for a grading permit in writing on forms provided by the City of Warson Woods that contains the information set forth in Subsection (C). Site owner shall file the completed application with the City Clerk along with a fee of five hundred dollars ($500.00). The fee is charged to cover the City's expected costs related to inspections of the grading operation. The City may reduce the cost of the permit fee if circumstances indicate that a lesser amount shall sufficiently cover the City's expected costs, but in no event shall the minimum fee for a grading permit be less than two hundred dollars ($200.00). At the end of the project, the City may refund any balance not needed to cover costs.

Validity. The permit shall be valid for one (1) year. An applicant may apply for an extension of the permit. A permit extension fee of two hundred dollars ($200.00) shall be charged, and an additional permit fee may be charged if the estimated cost of grading has increased, as determined by the Building Commissioner or City Engineer. The Board of Aldermen shall authorize such extension provided the applicant demonstrates good cause for same.

Exceptions. A grading permit shall not be required for grading of a site for or by any:

Governmental agency in connection with a public improvement or public work;

Site owner for any building additions on, or landscaping of, residential site considered by the Building Commissioner to be of such a limited nature, extent and degree so as not to necessitate the protections provided by this Article; or

Grading in conjunction with a lawfully issued demolition permit under Section 500.045 or construction/building permit under Section 500.030(A).

Although a grading permit application and fee is not required in the situations set forth in Subsection (B)(2)(a — c) above, all functional and information requirements of Section 500.225(C — I) shall nonetheless apply to all grading activities, except as may be waived by express authorization of the Building Commissioner as not warranted by the circumstances.

Application Procedure. The application shall be accompanied by duplicate copies of the following documents and information:

A contoured development map showing existing contours of the site and adjoining strips of non-site property and proposed contours after completion of the proposed grading and development, based on United States Geological Survey datum, with established elevations at buildings, walks, drives, street and roads, and information on necessary clearing and grubbing, removal of existing structures, excavating, filling, spreading and compacting; the City may further require the development map to be prepared and sealed by a licensed professional engineer or land surveyor;

An accurate plat showing the location of the grading site, a description of the type and features of the soil, and details of all structures, walls, cribbing and surface protection;

Name and address of owner;

Site address;

Estimated grading quantity;

Details of site drainage system;

Details of site erosion and siltation control, including any siltation basins;

Construction access to site;

Location of temporary off-street parking; and

10.

The estimated schedule of operations, including the dates of starting and completion of grading work.

Guarantee. Unless waived by the Building Commissioner, the site owner shall include with the permit application an escrow, cash deposit or letter of credit (hereinafter "guarantee") in a sum equal to that necessary for assurance of completion of the project as may be required for particular sites but in no case less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00). Grading permits shall be issued by the Building Commissioner after the site owner deposits with the City a sum equal to that necessary for assurance of completion of the project, assuming the project has been fully approved by the City of Warson Woods. The guarantee is intended to secure, and may be used by the City to complete, the restoration, maintenance and/or rehabilitation of the site and all affected streets and/or sidewalks if the project is abandoned or does not proceed in accordance with this Section or the plans as approved by the City. Any portion of the guarantee amount not expended or budgeted for expenditure shall be refunded when the grading operation is completed and soil conditions are stabilized to the satisfaction of the City. Any amounts expended in excess of the deposit shall be paid to the City within thirty (30) days.

Standards — Safety Precautions. A permit shall be issued and shall remain in force only upon compliance with the following requirements and conditions of issuance:

Surface waters — damage. Adequate provision shall be made to prevent any surface waters from damaging the cut face of an excavation or the sloping surface of a hill.

Retaining walls — cribbing. Retaining walls or cribbing shall be required whenever deemed necessary by the City to prevent the surface of any excavation or fill from exceeding at any point the maximum allowable slopes as set forth herein.

Drainage. All drainage provisions shall be of such design to carry surface waters to the nearest practical storm drain, natural watercourse or street as approved by the City as a suitable place to deposit and receive such waters.

Protection of streets, property. No excavation shall be made so close to the property line to endanger any adjoining public or private street without supporting and protecting such public or private street or property from settling, cracking or other damage.

Fill — location. No fill shall be made so as to cause or to allow the same to be deposited upon or to roll, flow or wash upon or over the premises of another without the express written consent of the owner of such premises so affected; or upon or over any public street, walk, place or way; nor so close to the top of a bank of a channel as to create the possibility of bank failure and sliding.

Materials. Materials for fills shall consist of material obtained from excavation of banks, borrow pits or other approved source. Material shall be free of vegetable matter and deleterious material and shall not contain large rocks or lumps as recommended in a soils report approved by the City. Grading sites will require silting basins and/or other mechanisms to prevent mud from washing onto adjacent properties.

Minimum standards. No excavation shall be made with a cut face steeper in slope than three (3) horizontal to one (1) vertical nor shall fill be made which creates an exposed embankment face steeper in slope than three (3) horizontal to one (1) vertical. The embanked end of the fill shall be uniformly compacted as provided in paragraph (8) hereof and stable under the proposed conditions.

Compaction. All fills intended to support buildings or structures, sewers and conduits shall be compacted to a minimum of ninety percent (90%) compaction as determined by Modified Proctor, ASTM D-1775. Compaction of fills for these uses must be certified by a registered professional engineer at the owner's expense. Frequency of compaction tests shall be determined by the Building Commissioner. Compaction of other fills shall be required where necessary as a safety measure to aid in preventing the saturation, slipping or erosion of the fill. The requirements of the City for the compaction of fills shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following:

Areas to be graded by cutting or filling shall be rough graded to within two-tenths (0.2) of a foot of accepted elevation after allowance has been made for thickness of topsoil, paved areas and other installations.

The natural ground surface shall be prepared by removing topsoil and vegetation and by compacting the fill upon a series of terraces. Hillside or slope fills shall require plowing or scarification of original ground.

Grading on slopes will require silt fencing at intermediate levels to slow surface water, prevent rutting and decrease erosion.

If fill material moisture content is below the requirement for compacting to maximum practical density, water in the proper amount shall be added. If moisture content is too great, fill material shall be aerated by blading or other satisfactory methods to reduce moisture content.

Frozen materials or soft, mucky, friable, easily compressible materials shall not be incorporated in fills intended to support buildings, structures, sewers or conduits or in the embanked ends of fills. In heavy rain, interrupted work shall not be resumed until moisture content is satisfactory. Fill material shall not be placed, spread or rolled while the ground is frozen or thawing.

The maximum uncompacted thickness of layers of the fill to be compacted shall not exceed eight (8) inches.

Topsoil disturbed by grading or building operations shall be stripped and piled for storage in an amount necessary to complete finished grading only.

Removal of timber, rubbish, etc. Site owners are required to remove and dispose of timber, logs, felled trees, brush, vegetable matter and rubbish of any description so as to leave the disturbed area with a neat and finished appearance and, during the course of construction or excavation, to clean up all paper, refuse, sticks, other building waste and all other waste material daily and to prevent the same from blowing or otherwise being scattered over adjacent public or private property.

Tree stumps, masonry and other obstructions shall be removed to the following depths:

	Paved area	Two (2) feet below subgrade
	Lawn areas	Two (2) feet below finished grade
	Solid rock, shale or similar materials shall be removed to a depth of fifteen (15) inches below subgrade for paved areas and two (2) feet below finish grade for lawn areas except where it is impractical because of rock out-cropping.

Inspections, Notice. Inspections may be made by the Building Commissioner during any stage of fill operations and final approval shall be required upon completion of operations. The site owner shall notify the City upon commencement and completion of the grading.

Dirt, Debris And Mud.

Barriers at construction site. After new excavation or construction is commenced on any lot or tract of land in the City and until sodding, planting, paving or other final surfacing is in place that will prevent washing or spreading of dirt and mud onto other property, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, streets and the space between sidewalks and curbs, the site owner shall erect and maintain temporary fencing or other approved barriers to prevent such washing or spreading of mud or dirt. Dirt and mud on the sidewalks, curbs, gutters and street and the space between sidewalk and street, resulting from work, must be removed at the end of each day, and as required throughout the day, during the course of excavating or construction.

Removing mud from vehicle wheels. The site owner shall provide all personnel with shovels or other equipment as necessary to remove dirt from the wheels of all vehicles leaving any grading site where mud has accumulated on the wheels before such vehicles enter any public or private street of the City. It shall be unlawful for any site owner to permit any vehicle to leave such place with mud on the wheels which is able to be dispersed over any City street (public or private), and it shall be unlawful for any driver of a vehicle to enter City streets without having first removed mud from the wheels. Each occurrence shall be a separate offense.

Spilling materials on streets. The site owners, jointly and severally, who may load dirt, mud or other materials on any vehicle at any grading site in the City, during construction or otherwise, shall so load the same that no portion thereof shall be spilled or be liable to be spilled on the streets of the City. It shall be unlawful for any such person to permit any vehicle to enter upon the streets of the City loaded in violation of this provision, and it shall be unlawful for any driver to operate a vehicle on the streets of the City which is loaded in such manner that it spills or is liable to spill mud, dirt or other materials on the streets.

Boards over sidewalks. Boards, tracks or other protection must be laid over sidewalks, curbs and gutters to avoid dirt and mud accumulating therein, as completely as possible, and to prevent breakage or damage to such installations, of whatever materials constructed. Damage to walks, curbs and gutters will be repaired by the site owner; if not, the City may cause to have them repaired at the expense of the site owner.

Planting ground. Vacant property and improved property, after excavation and construction is completed, shall be sodded, planted, concreted, paved or otherwise surfaced within five (5) days to avoid washing or spreading of dirt and mud onto other property, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, streets and the space between sidewalks and curbs prior to issuing an occupancy permit.

Scheduling. Grading shall be accomplished between the hours of 7:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M., unless in the case of emergency or an extension of hours is specifically granted by the Building Commissioner.

Forfeiture of guarantee. Notwithstanding any provision in this Section, the City may, if the site owner fails to remedy any situation that is in violation of this Subsection within ten (10) days of notification by the City of the violation or immediately, if it is an emergency situation, the City may use the funds held as a guarantee to remedy such situation and the site owner shall forfeit such amount of the guarantee established under Subsection (D) of this Section as may be needed to take such remedial measures.

Correction Of Deficiencies. Site owner shall correct all violations within the time limit specified in the issuance of a written notice to correct. Action to correct violations which required immediate action shall be taken upon oral notification to the site owner by the City. All persons failing to comply with such notice shall be deemed in violation of this Section. Any usage of the site owner's guarantee amount shall be followed by a written explanation by the Building Commissioner of his/her designee describing the condition corrected and the funds required to complete the corrective action. Nothing in this Subsection shall prevent prosecution of violations of this Section in the absence of, or in addition to, the issuance of a notice of violation.

The City reserves the right to waive any and all requirements under this Section when deemed to be in the public interest.