161A.64 Erosion control plans required for certain projects.

1. If a political subdivision has adopted a sediment control ordinance which the commissioners and the political subdivision jointly agree is at least as equally effective as the commissioners’ rules in preventing erosion from exceeding the established soil loss limits, the commissioners and the political subdivision shall execute an agreement under chapter 28E allowing an agency authorized by the political subdivision to receive and file an affidavit from a person, prior to initiating a land disturbing activity in that subdivision, stating that the proposed activity will not exceed the established soil loss limits. A copy of the affidavit shall be mailed to the district as a part of the terms of the agreement. The affidavit shall be in a form prescribed by the department and made available by the district.

2. Prior to initiating a land disturbing activity in a political subdivision which has not adopted sediment control ordinances as described in subsection 1, a person engaged in the land disturbing activity shall file a signed affidavit with the soil and water conservation district that the project will not exceed the soil loss limits. The affidavit shall be in a form prescribed by the department and made available by the district.

3. For the purposes of this section, “land disturbing activity” means a land change such as the tilling, clearing, grading, excavating, transporting or filling of land which may result in soil erosion from water or wind and the movement of sediment and sediment related pollutants into the waters of the state or onto lands in the state but does not include the following:

a. Tilling, planting or harvesting of agricultural, horticultural or forest crops.

b. Preparation for single-family residences separately built unless in conjunction with multiple construction in subdivision development.

c. Minor activities such as home gardens, landscaping, repairs and maintenance work.

d. Surface or deep mining.

e. Installation of public utility lines and connections, fence posts, sign posts, telephone poles, electric poles and other kinds of posts or poles.

f. Septic tanks and drainage fields unless they are to serve a building whose construction is a land disturbing activity.

g. Construction and repair of the tracks, right-of-way, bridges, communication facilities and other related structures of a railroad.

h. Emergency work to protect life or property.

i. Disturbed land areas of less than twenty-five thousand square feet unless a political subdivision by ordinance establishes a smaller exception or establishes conditions for this exception.

j. The construction, relocation, alteration or maintenance of public roads by a public body.

4. If the agency authorized under subsection 1 determines that a land disturbing activity is not being conducted in compliance with the soil loss limits, it shall file a written and signed complaint with the soil and water conservation district commissioners. The complaint shall have the same effect and validity as a complaint filed by an owner or occupant of land being damaged by sediment pursuant to section 161A.47. If the affidavit is filed with the district or the political subdivision, the commissioners may proceed on their own complaint. The soil and water conservation district commissioners may issue an administrative order as provided in that section to the person conducting the land disturbing activity.

[C81, §467A.64; 81 Acts, ch 154, §1, 2]

87 Acts, ch 23, §41

C93, §161A.64