Council Bluffs, IA Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

CBMC 6.20.050 requires a landowner or developer to get a stormwater permit from the building official before any qualifying development, defined in 6.20.040 as land disturbance exceeding one acre on vacant land, or on high-density commercial, industrial, institutional or multifamily redevelopment sites. The permit application needs a stormwater management concept plan, a maintenance agreement, and a nonrefundable review fee, and the city has ten business days to approve or disapprove it under 6.20.050. A SWPPP, required alongside the stormwater management final plan under 6.20.080, is defined in 6.20.040 as the plan designed to minimize accelerated erosion and sediment runoff at a site during construction.

Once construction clears vegetation, CBMC 6.20.090 requires revegetation within ten days of substantial completion of clearing: reseeding must use an annual or perennial cover crop with straw mulch until ninety percent of the seeded area is established, and the revegetated area must show at least seventy-five percent cover crop survival through the following year, or the third year for native plantings, repeated until that survival rate is met. A landscape architect, erosion and sediment control professional, or the soil conservation district must prepare the final stabilization plan.

The city can require a performance bond covering the estimated construction cost plus twenty-five percent, and a maintenance bond covering twenty-five years of upkeep, before releasing any occupancy permit.