Yorba Linda, CA Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Section 15.40.090 of the Yorba Linda Municipal Code, part of the City's grading chapter, sets the erosion-control rules that apply to every cut or fill slope regulated under a grading permit. Subsection B requires the faces of cut and fill slopes to be prepared and maintained to control against erosion, and specifies that effective planting can satisfy that duty; the protection has to go in as soon as practicable and before the applicant calls for final approval. The City Official can waive the planting requirement only where the cut material itself resists erosion.

Subsection C adds a second layer for the rainy season, October 15th through April 15th, when the City Official may require desilting basins, check dams, cribbing, riprap or other approved devices to control erosion and protect the site. These requirements sit inside a broader slope-protection scheme: Section 15.40.100 requires permanent, full-coverage irrigation on any slope over seven feet in height, plant material sized to prevent soil slippage, and a landscape architect's certification to the City Official before the project can get a certificate of occupancy.

Section 15.40.090 also sets numeric drainage-terrace standards: a minimum six-percent grade, three-inch reinforced concrete paving, and a thirteen-thousand-five-hundred-square-foot limit on the area a single terrace drain can serve before it must discharge into a downdrain. Community Development inspects at the pregrading, toe, excavation, fill, drainage-device, rough-grading and final stages under Section 15.40.160, and Section 15.40.170 lets the City Official halt all work immediately if erosion or drainage conditions do not match the approved plan, barring resumption until a revised grading plan is approved.