Complying with the Notice Of Intent (NOI)

The Notice of Intent to disturb ground surface is an obligation for all construction sites of residential and commercial buildings. Starting April 1st, 2007, there are new procedures and filing requirements in place for complying with these obligations on construction projects. I encourage you to read the full explanation of the process and the new changes in a recent post I made on this site called "Soil & Sediment Control and Stormwater Changes".

For projects that will disturb a TOTAL area that is less than 1 acre in size, the control practices are required to be used, including
- Some form of perimeter control (silt fence, as an example)
- Means of keeping soil from leaving site on vehicle tires
- Onsite inlet protection
- Stockpile Protection

For projects that will disturb 1 acre or more throughout the life of the project, there are additional requirements including the filing of a Notice Of Intent (NOI). A plan summary is required to be submitted along with the NOI submittal for all commercial buildings.

At this time, I am recommending all of our builder clients become familiar with this process and involve the Owner's directly in this process on new projects and NOT rely on Halberg Engineering to complete this obligation. The reason is that the Owner / Owner's Agent is going to be required to "monitor and maintain the erosion control measures on the site as per the plan. This includes documenting in a log book, a record of the owner/owner's agent site inspections and maintenance events."

This obligation for site erosion control lies with the Owner and, if delegated to others, needs to be delegated to someone with frequent access to the site and adequate responsibility to control the conditions on the site. The builder seems to be in the obvious situation to best provide this service for the Owner.

Is it something that we could consider just one more legislative hoop to jump through?
Yes.
Is it something that could provide some real benefit to the owner and to our natural resources?
I really believe so.

Most of us might agree that it is difficult to legislate reason and responsibility, but the motives for this legislation appear to be necessary due to many violations of reason in this area in many past projects.

Halberg Engineering can provide assistance in understanding and complying with these requirements. If you have questions after reviewing the information available here, please let us know how we can help!