How do I ask for free dirt?

[Algeria Horan]

Not really. There is a dry creek at the bottom, which is only wet during a rain, and then, maybe a day or two after the rain.

[Ed Pawlowski]

And it may well qualify as a stream or something to do with floods, or lack thereof. Just like some of the rivers out west that have no water in them. Until it rains and then they are raging.

[gfretwell]

That is quite easily a wetland. In some places that could get you a huge fine from the EPA, people talking about Army Corps of Engineers permits and god knows what. Other places will not care. How are your neighbors. One phone call could turn your life into a living hell.

[TomR]

I get that you don't want to pay for the dirt or the delivery. Makes sense to me.

But, as far as the cost anyway, I don't know. It is easy to find out just by checking your local Craigslist ads and contacting some of them.

I assume that you know that, in most places, there are State and/or Local regulations about doing land fill. And, at least in my State, it is not legal to bury large rocks, concrete, etc. as well as organic material such as tree limbs and tree trucks etc. As someone else mentioned, if you bury organic material such as tree limbs and trucks etc., it slowly decays and can cause sink holes etc.

My guess is that where you are locate no one is going to care if you dump clean fill dirt along the side of the dirt road that you said is along the hollow. And, even if someone did complain or some governmental agency got involved, if it was just clean fill dirt they would probably just tell you to stop and not ask you to remove it. However, if you dump large rocks, concrete, organic tree stuff, etc. you could end up getting gigged for it and being told to remove it.

There is also the question about how stable the dirt road is that you said is along the side of the hollow. I just wonder if it may not be suitable for heavy trucks to drive on. But, one way to find out is just wait and see what happens, and what they say when the trucks show up, if you do find some free fill dirt and free delivery options and ask them to deliver it.

[TomR]

Oops, I meant tre limbs and tree TRUNKS, not tree limbs and tree TRUCKS!

[Stormin' Norman]

It reads as if you are in California, is that correct?

[Scott Lurndal]

They just hauled thousands of yards of quality topsoil from the newest apple campus (across from the end of the SJC runway).

Don't know where they took it, but it took two scrapers (637G) and five days of constant double-bottom trucks to move it all and that was only for 1/3 of the acreage apple is developing.

[Algeria Horan]

One neighbor works for the county planning department.

There's no way she wouldn't notice since she lives right above it, geometrically.

I'm on good terms will all the neighbors, about a dozen of which would know for sure whatever I do (if from nothing else, but the rumble of the trucks).

Plus I let people hike it, so, any hiker would notice also, which could potentially be hundreds of people I don't know.

The filling would take many years before it reached the dry creek.

[Algeria Horan]

You are entirely correct in *everything* you said.

The neighbors would know, but they would welcome the effort. One even works for the county in the planning office, so, if she wanted to complain, they'd be all over me like stink.

I don't forsee anyone complaining and I don't plan on using anything but the penultimate quality, which is "clean fill" or "Inorganic Clean Fill Dirt" according to that one listing provided.

Trucks travel the road when they need to, so, I'm not worried about its stability either. Really, I'm just trying to make a wasteland more useful to pedestrians, which would walk on the side of the road instead of in the middle rutted part.

It would be great, in my fantasies, to fill the entire hollow, but that's never gonna happen, at least not in this million years, so that's why I can safely say I can take anything they've got. My biggest problem is that I have to level the humps by hand, so that's my limiting factor.

[gfretwell]

Yup and those people who "fixed up" the Everglades were just trying to turn useless swamp land into productive use. I think I would start by seeing what kind of permits are necessary (and you might be surprised). I am not a big fan of government telling people what to do but the fact is they do and you might end up being bankrupted over this little project when some eco group, in conjunction with the EPA, sues you because you disturbed the habitat of some kind if rare lizard. It will not be "telling you to stop". It will be telling you to restore it to the way it was. You do not have to look long to find some of these horror stories.

[Stormin' Norman]

I agree, especially if he is in California. To make the kind of changes to the landscape which he is describing, in California, without a permit, is a recipe for financial ruin.

[hubops]

Good luck with that ... Some folks would rent a machine. John T.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Good intentions and no matter how much your neighbors will welcome the change, check with the proper government agencies or it can be big trouble. The DEP and the like have lots more money to spend on lawyers than you do.

Just in our small town if someone wants to fill a few feet on some lands there is a big uproar from the tree huggers.

[Algeria Horan]

I called the SCC county planning office. [phone]x0

The operator said to call "land development", Jess, but he wasn't in when I called earlier today. So I left a message.

When he gets back to me, I'll let you know what they say.

[Algeria Horan]

Santa Clara County. Unincorporated.

[Algeria Horan]

There's a new Apple campus in San Jose, at the end of the SJC runway? Not on the 880 side it can't be, unless you mean the buildings across the street on Coleman (which is where I stopped to look for the foreman).

I'll look at the other end of the runway, near Guadalupe. Thanks.

[TomR]

If it were me, and all I was going to do was gradually add clean fill dirt along the pedestrian side of the roadway to make it wider and safer for pedestrians, I don't think that I would call anyone and ask for permission first. I do know that I should, and presumably that would be the safest approach.

But, I would be concerned that I would be asking a question that I do not want to know the answer to. I would be concerned that simply by asking I would then end up being subjected to a whole big permit and approval process, and constant oversight of the process by regulators over the years as I gradually had people dumping the clean fill dirt there. I would be more comfortable in this type of situation just doing what I want to do and waiting to see if anyone complained or had any issue with what I was doing.

I know that is not what most people here would recommend, but that's what I would do -- even in California (I live on the opposite coast).

However, if I did call and ask first (as you already did, and for good reason), I would be sure to phrase it as just adding some clean fill dirt along the side of the pedestrian side of the roadway to make it wider and safer for pedestrians. I definitely would not use any terms like "fill in or partially fill the hollow" etc. I would just keep it as widening the pedestrian roadway.

And, speaking of roadways...., do you own the roadway? Is it your own private road on only your land? Or, is it some type of common roadway on county or shared land etc? And, if you don't own the roadway outright and entirely on your own land, how wide is the roadway or roadway easement or right of way? If you put clean fill dirt along the side of the existing roadway, would part of it be going onto the existing right of way etc? I am just curious and trying to picture what you have right now.

[bob haller]

OP can do whatever he wants:) but runs the risk of it coming back to bite him:(

They could REQUIRE HIM to remove all the fill and restore the area to its original condition.

so how ill he pay for that?

if the OP EVER wants to sell the land its important its filled properly.'

I havea friend with a excavating business

[Algeria Horan]

I called the county again today, speaking to Jess at 299-5734, who told me that the limit for a "grading permit" is 150 cubic yards, but ...

He says that if it's just one or two truck loads, then they don't expect us to call them - but if it's a lot of truck loads (unspecified as to what amount that is) then we should fill out paperwork with them to let them know.

As you noted, they will come out and do an site inspection, but no "site plan" is needed. Jess says that protects me if a neighbor calls them up so they can tell the neighbor that they know all about it.

I'm not sure how much 150 cubic yards is, nor over what period, but I assumed, from the conversation, that it was 150 cubic yards at any one time.

How much does a typical truck carry?

[Scott Lurndal]

google "dump truck capacity".