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CITY OF MOORPARK
AGENDA REPORT
Honorable City Council
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ITEM too • �C. •
Wayne Loftus, Director of Community Development
December 29, 1999 (CC Meeting of 1/5/2000)
Consider The Status Of Grading And Soil Export For Tract
4976 And Tract 4977 - Lennar Communities
BACKGROUND:
On October 6, 1999, the City Council authorized Lennar Homes to
begin _grading for the model home complex on Tract 4976 under an
early grading agreement. Additionally, prior to the early grading
agreement for Tract 4976, City Council on June 6, 1998, approved an
early grading agreement for Tract 4977. The conditions of approval
for both tracts approved on October 2, 1996, allowed the pad
elevations shown on the tentative map to vary by a maximum of two
(2) feet.
In addition to the early noted grading agreements, the City Council
authorized soil to be transported between the tracts, including a
maximum of 13,000 cubic yards to be transported from Tract 4977 to
Tract 4976. Subsequently, it was discovered by the Engineering
Department that more than 13,000 cubic yards of soil was transported
from Tract 4977 to Tract 4976. The initial approved quantities were
properly permitted, however, the second non - approved soils quantity
of approximately 6,600 cubic yards transported from Tract 4977 to
Tract 4976 did not have valid permits. Minor quantities of soil from
Tract 4977 may remain to be transported off -site as a result of
infrastructure installation and fine grading of lots and brow
ditches etc.
DISCUSSION:
The soil transported from Tract 4977 to
Council authorization and was performed
Development of a project of the size a
n
co- 000105 Grading & Sal Export TR4977 and 4976 doc- 12/2999 -11:06 AM
Tract 4976 exceeded City
without valid permits.
d grading quantities as
000:120
Honorable City Council
December 29, 1999
Page 2
represented by Tract 4977 will frequently result in some excess
soils that are required to be transported, often off -site. In the
situation of Tract 4977, the on -site grading was adjusted to attempt
to utilize as much soil as possible, which in this instance resulted
in pad elevation increases up to and exceeding the two (2) foot
authorization under City Council conditions of approval. A separate
item on this agenda requests that the elevation of pads be further
changed to avoid further soil export from the site.
Although, at this time there is not consistent on -site monitoring by
the Engineering Department when soil transportation is authorized
the increased transport from Tract 4977 was detected and an effort
made to achieve compliance with the Council established limit. In a
letter attached to this report from Lennar Communities dated
December 28, 1999, the circumstance of increased soil transport is
explained and the developer acknowledges that the City's process was
not followed. A representative of Lennar Communities will be present
at the Council meeting to further explain why the City's procedure
was not followed, why more soil needed to be exported than that
requested and why the pad elevations needed to be raised beyond the
elevations established as part of the approved tentative tract.
The soil amounting to approximately 19,600 cubic yards has now been
transported from Tract 4977 to Tract 4976 and according to Lennar
Communities the additional soil (approximately 6,600 cubic yards)
can be utilized on Tract 4976 without causing changes to tentative
map pad elevations beyond the approved pad elevation modification of
two (2) feet. Staff would suggest at this time that the transported
soil remain on the site of Tract 4976, that City Council consider
the explanation presented by Lennar Communities and that an
appropriate fine be levied on Lennar Communities for transporting
6,600 cubic yards of soil without appropriate permits.
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the transport of the additional 6,600 cubic yards of soil
from Tract 4977 to Tract 4976 subject to the following conditions:
1. A grading permit shall be requested and the payment of
appropriate grading permit fees for the added yardage
S:lCorrununity DevelopmentlEveryonelCity Council Agenda Repodslc M105 Grading & Sal Export TR4977 and 4976.doc 1212919911:06 AM
Honorable City Council
December 29, 1999
Page 3
transported shall be paid to the City; 100% of which shall
be retained by the City.
2. Payment of a penalty fee equal to twice the amount of the
grading fee required for the increased yardage of soil
transported without appropriate permits 100% of which
shall be retained by the City.
ATTACHMENT:
Letter - Lennar Communities dated 12/28/99
S:1Commun4 DevelopmentEveryonelCity Council Agenda Reporistc -OW105 Grading & Soil Export TR4977 and 4976.doc 1212919911:06 AM
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PAGE 2/3
IN Iff 1 MA�
December 28, 1999
Mr. Wayne Loftus
Director of Community Development
City of Moorpark
799 Moorpark Avenue
Moorpark, California 93021
Re: Tract 4977 ( Pad Elevation and Stockpile discrepancies
Dear Mr. Loftus:
RECEIVED'
`DEC 28 ti
Cjy of Mocxparx
r'O=Unhy'DavelRP "rW
We regret that you have had to recently bring a couple of regulation violations to our attention.
The purpose of this letter is to address the issues as discussed in our telephone conversation of
December 20, 1999. More specifically, we would like to explain the circumstances that led to
both the pad elevation discrepancy within Tract No. 4977 and the excessive soil export to the
stockpile location within Tract No. 4976.
Pad Elevation Discrepancy
You recently brought to our attention the fact that many of the pads in Tract 4977 have been
graded to elevations that exceed those previously approved by the City. After reviewing this
information with our civil engineer, Ramseyer & Associates, we learned that the situation is a
result of an error that they made when calculating maximum pad height allowances. More
specifically, our engineer failed to recognize that approved elevations shown on the approved
grading plan deviate from those shown on the approved tentative map. They used the grading
plan elevations, instead of those on the tentative map, as a baseline for applying tolerance
limitations when endeavoring to balance grading, during, the site development process. Applying
the allowed maximum of two feet elevation differential to the grading plan resulted in pad
elevations that exceed those allowed by the tentative map by as much as 1.2 feet in some extreme
cases.
We are currently preparing a plan to depict exactly which pad elevations are impacted and the
elevation variances from the tentative reap.
Excess Soil Export
With regard to the stockpile, Lennar Communities obtained approval to export 13,000 cubic
yards of material from Tract No. 4977 to Tract No_ 4976 to achieve a balanced site. Lennar
performed the export and the site was balanced. Subsequent to the export, however, one of our
guest homebuilders, Richmond American Homes, exported an additional 6,000 cubic yards of
material to the stockpile. At the time, Richmond American believed the export, generated when
they undercut their streets, was Iegally performed under the stockpile permit.
ATTACHMENT
00012.3
'>r,i *>o Tha Old Road. Suite 316. Stevenson Ranch, California 91381 — (661) 799 -1185
DEC 28 '99 11:19 3235127512 PAGE.02
Lennar Communities must take full responsibility for this regrettable situation. Our field
personnel was not aware that limitations of the stockpile permit had been reached when giving
Richmond American permission to move dirt to the stockpile. The correct procedure should
have been to advise Richmond American that a new or modified permit would be needed to
accommodate the additional dirt. The resulting violation was brought to our attention by City
inspectors monitoring the progress of development_
Both of the above situations are embarrassing to Lennar Communities and our development
team. While both violations are the result of innocent errors made by competent and
conscientious people, we are aware that the violations are no less significant in the eyes of the
City of Moorpark.
We will make every effort to insure that any such situations are avoided in the future. As an
example, in an effort to prevent future misunderstanding and improve overall communications,
we have taken steps to hold regularly scheduled bi- monthly coordination meetings involving our
west homebuilders, appropriate city staff members and Lennar representatives. Emphasis will
be placed on both clearly understanding City regulations and closely monitoring related areas of
responsibility. We believe that such meetings will avert the type of mishaps that have occurred.
We hope the above will help address concerns expressed by both the Council Members and City
Staff, Lennar representatives will be present at the January 5, 2000 City Council meeting to
further respond to these matters.
Sincerely,
Project Manager
CC: Bob Santos, Division President, Lennar Communities
Tom Banks, Senior Vice President, Lennar Communities
Eddie Ramseyer, Ramseyer and Associates, Inc.
Randy Toedter, Ramseyer and Associates, Inc.
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DEC 28 '99 11 =20
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