• Welcome to The Building Code Forum

    Your premier resource for building code knowledge.

    This forum remains free to the public thanks to the generous support of our Sawhorse Members and Corporate Sponsors. Their contributions help keep this community thriving and accessible.

    Want enhanced access to expert discussions and exclusive features? Learn more about the benefits here.

    Ready to upgrade? Log in and upgrade now.

Stockpiles of dirt height limitations?

twoply

REGISTERED
Joined
Jan 6, 2016
Messages
58
Location
North America
A contractor has purchased a piece of property and is stockpiling dirt. The piles are over 75 feet high in a general industry area.
I'm looking if there are restrictions for stock piling so high.
Anyone have experience with this?
 
Zoning would not allow that here, It would be a stretch to get the building code to cover it unless you could prove a hazard to adjacent structures....Where was that pic of the Morton salt building collapse?
 
Can you say dump

You do not say how big the land is


Fenced so blocks the view?

Out in the middle of no where or in the middle of town?
 
The lot is about 3 acres in General Industry. It isn't a ravine or a fill of any kind. The grade is level with the surrounding area.

I'm already digging through our zoning and found a few passages that will apply, but still nothing about heights.

Considering the slope of the stocked material, I can enforce a setback from the adjacent residential district of 50 feet to the base of the stockpile, That would restrict the height.
 
His own dirt or letting others dump

As in a business

Long term plan??

Does he need the dirt to fill so something can be built later
 
The contractor is just taking dirt from projects all over and charging a tipping fee..

His ultimate goal is unknown.

I'm trying to pin him down in fear that he's going to stock all this soil and then bail out and abandon the site, leaving the city to deal with it.
 
We would require a grading permit....and then he would have to cover the pile.
 
I know our city limits dirt dumping and has to be leveled

Not sure how maybe zoning


So if he is charging sounds like a Bbusiness
 
$ ~ $ ~ $


Don't know if this fits, but...
From the `12 IFC, Section 110.4 - Abatement: "The owner, operator
or occupant of a building or premises deemed unsafe by the fire code

official shall abate, or cause to be abated or corrected such unsafe
conditions either by repair, rehabilitation, demolition or other
approved corrective action."


Maybe the FCO could investigate to determine if there are unsafe
conditions present.



$ ~ $ ~ $
 
What does the Municipal Attorney have to say?
Most of the above replies are good. State law or regulation may be the answer, as mentioned erosion control is an Environmental regulation generally, and in some places even stockpiling of earth could be classified as a 'landfill', again Environmental regulations are where to look.
Does your jurisdiction includes stormwater management regs? Certainly covered there.
 
And the occasional debris dump

And the occasional broken up concrete dump

And the tires
 
# # #


FWIW, there is the `15 IPMC, Section 302 - Exterior Property Areas
[ RE: Section 302.1 & 302.2 ].



# # #
 
OSHA has limits
Like 8' ht.
Could you please provide a reference to the secular motion that restricts the height can be mounded to. I've done a good bit of work with OSHA requirements in the construction field and never seen one that restricts how high dirt can be mounded. They have regulations relating to the depths of excavations that can be made without proper shoring or sloping of the trench walls but I've never seen any regulations that referred to the mounding of dirt.
 
Back
Top