Butte County, CA Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Grading is 'any earth movement, including excavation and filling, or any combination thereof,' and the article exists because uncontrolled grading threatens the county's creeks, vernal pools and water supplies through erosion and siltation (Secs. 13-1, 13-2). A grading permit is required for any grading job over fifty cubic yards (Sec. 13-3), though the code exempts grading already covered by a building permit under Appendix J of the California Building Code, agricultural maintenance grading, firebreak and road maintenance, and emergency work after a landslide or flood, among other listed categories, provided a driveway longer than one hundred fifty feet still triggers a director's exemption determination first (Sec.

13-5). Grading that exceeds fifty cubic yards but stays under specific thresholds, an excavation no deeper than ten feet or one thousand cubic yards, a fill on a twenty-percent-or-flatter slope no higher than ten feet or one thousand cubic yards, or an exploratory dig under one thousand cubic yards, can get a determination of exemption from the Director instead of a full permit, but the site still must comply with the Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan or Chapter 50 Best Management Practices requirements (Sec. 1).

Every permit application needs an Erosion and Sediment Control Plan (ESCP) describing the site-specific temporary and permanent BMPs for protecting vegetation, controlling sediment, stabilizing cut and fill slopes, and managing dust and stockpiles, plus proof of any Clean Water Act or Streambed Alteration permits already obtained (Sec. 13-10). The standards then cap cut slopes at one-to-one and fill slopes at one-and-one-half-to-one unless engineering justifies steeper grades, and require minimum setbacks from the top of a cut or toe of a fill of five feet for slopes up to ten feet high, half the slope height for slopes between ten and thirty feet, and fifteen feet for anything taller (Sec.

13-11(d)). Applications involving more than ten thousand cubic yards of combined cut and fill, or cuts and fills over fifteen feet, or existing slopes over twenty percent, must include engineering plans and a soils report signed by a licensed civil engineer (Sec. 13-6(b)(10)).