§ 19-9. Permit revocation or suspension; stop work order.  


Latest version.
  • (a) The Director may suspend or revoke any permit issued under this Chapter, after notice, for:
    (1) violation of the plan or any condition of the permit;
    (2) violation of this Chapter or any other applicable law or regulation relating to the work;
    (3) any condition or act creating a nuisance or hazard, or endangering human life or the property of others; or
    (4) failure of the approved erosion and sediment control plan to achieve required erosion and sediment control objectives due to site characteristics or conditions.
    (b) In addition to the Director’s authority under subsection (a), the Director may post a site with a stop work order directing that all land-disturbing activity stop immediately, if:
    (1) the land-disturbing activity violates a condition or requirement of a County or Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission sediment control permit, application or approved plan or this Chapter or applicable regulations;
    (2) the Department has given written warning notice to the permittee or its representative that lists any corrective measures required and the time by which the corrections must be made; and
    (3) the permittee does not comply with the warning notice within the specified time.
    (c) The Director may issue a stop work order without a warning notice where:
    (1) land disturbance is taking place that requires a permit under this Chapter and a permit has not been issued;
    (2) required sediment control measures are not installed, inspected, and approved before the land disturbance;
    (3) the limits of disturbance are being violated; or
    (4) inspection reveals the existence of any condition or act that endangers human life, property of others, or water quality.
    (d) The Department must provide written notice to the permittee or its representative when a stop work order is issued. That notice must specify the extent to which work is stopped and the conditions under which work may resume. The permittee is responsible for the actions of its agents and must notify those agents when a stop work order is issued that will affect an area within which the agents are to work. In this context, “agent” includes any person who acts at the instruction, with the permission, or to the benefit of the permittee.
    (e) A person must not continue or permit the continuance of work in an area covered by a stop work order, except any work required to correct a sediment control violation.
    (f) This Section does not restrict the Department from proceeding directly with any available alternative enforcement procedure under Section 19-69.
    (g) If trees have been cut in violation of this Chapter, the Department may require as a corrective measure that the violator comply with a reforestation plan approved by the Planning Director. (1976 L.M.C., ch. 14, § 1; 1986 L.M.C., ch. 45, § 1; 1992 L.M.C., ch. 6, § 1; , § 1; , § 1.)
    Editor’s note—2011 L.M.C., ch. 17, §§ 2 and 3, state:
    Sec. 2. Transition. This Act does not apply to any appeal to the Board of Appeals that was filed before this Act took effect.
    Sec. 3. Regulations. Regulations 6-06AM and 7-06AM remain in effect, notwithstanding any amendment to the County Code in Section 1 of this Act, except for any provision of the National Fire Code that authorizes or refers to an appeal to the Board of Appeals.