North Richland Hills, TX SWPPP & Stormwater Requirements

What does North Richland Hills require for SWPPP compliance?

In North Richland Hills, a site development permit is required for land-disturbing activities that will uncover one acre or more, land disturbance may not commence before the permit is issued except where the ordinance itself allows, and no permit is granted without an erosion and sediment control plan approved by the engineering division or the public works operations manager.

Permit first, dirt second — and the erosion plan is the permit's price of admission.

The bond behind the BMPs

North Richland Hills requires a separate two-year Erosion Control Maintenance Bond in the amount of 100 percent of the installation costs of the proposed erosion control measures before any grading activities or construction of public infrastructure improvements begin. The city holds real money against the controls working for two full years — installation quality is a financial question here, not a stylistic one.

Design criteria are codified, and specific

North Richland Hills' code requires grading, erosion control practices, sediment control practices, and watercourse crossings to meet the BMP design criteria of the most recent edition of the iSWM Design Manual for Construction published through NCTCOG, and to be adequate to prevent transportation of sediment from the site to the satisfaction of the city. North Richland Hills' design manual requires silt fences to include wire mesh backing on the downstream side supported by steel posts, and a minimum of one roll width of Curlex matting or approved equal placed at the back of curb following parkway grading. The design manual names the hardware down to the wire backing and the matting at the curb.

Clocks and notices

North Richland Hills requires stabilization to be completed within five days of clearing or inactivity in construction, and soil stockpiles must be stabilized or covered at the end of each workday. In North Richland Hills, the permittee must notify the city at least two working days before each of seven listed construction milestones — from the start of construction through completion of final landscaping — and the permittee's documented control-measure inspections must be submitted to the engineering division or the public works operations manager. Seven notices across the life of the job, and a stabilization clock nine days tighter than the state standard — the calendar is part of the compliance.

A failed control starts a 24-hour timer

After written notice of erosion-control noncompliance in North Richland Hills, the responsible party has 24 hours to bring the erosion control devices into compliance, and the cure period may be extended for inclement weather or other factors at the city's discretion. Standby maintenance is not a luxury in this city; it is how the cure window gets met.

Trees have their own article

In North Richland Hills, a protected tree is any tree with a trunk caliper of four inches or more measured four and a half feet above natural grade level, excluding the nine species the code lists as not protected — among them cottonwood, hackberry, honeylocust, mesquite, and mulberry.In North Richland Hills, a protected tree is any tree with a trunk caliper of four inches or more, measured four and a half feet above natural grade level, other than the species the ordinance expressly excludes — among them cottonwood, hackberry, honeylocust, mesquite, mulberry and black willow. Within the drip line of a protected tree in North Richland Hills, construction materials and excavation waste may not be placed, no equipment may be cleaned or liquids deposited, grade changes over two inches need construction methods approved by the building official, and vehicle or equipment traffic and parking are barred except on existing pavement — with a further exception for single-incident access such as clearing underbrush, establishing the building pad and lot grading, utility maintenance or emergency restoration, and routine mowing.Within the drip line of a protected tree in North Richland Hills, construction materials and excavation waste may not be placed, equipment may not be cleaned, and grade changes over two inches require construction methods approved by the building official; vehicular and construction-equipment traffic and parking are barred other than on existing pavement, apart from the ordinance's exception for single-incident access such as clearing underbrush, establishing the building pad, utility maintenance or emergency restoration, and routine mowing. Four inches is the threshold, and the drip line is a work-exclusion zone in almost every practical sense.

The state permit still applies

The city's rules sit on top of the state's, not in place of them. A stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWP3) must be prepared and implemented before construction activities begin. TXR150000's standard schedule requires construction site inspections at least once every 14 calendar days and within 24 hours of the end of a storm event of 0.5 inches or greater. The city permit, the bond, and the state program run together for the life of the disturbance.

Inspections and the record

The operator owns the inspection record from first disturbance to final stabilization. Terradyne provides routine SWPPP inspection reports with cloud-based client access. See SWPPP Inspections for how the program works, and Silt Fence Installation for the perimeter the reviewers will look at first.

Check before you mobilize

Ordinances and city standards get revised; confirm the current documents with the city before you mobilize. For other North Texas cities, start at Local Compliance.