Residential lot grading

[Dexman PE PMP]

As many of you know, I bought a new house about a month ago. One of the HOA conditions of purchase in the neighborhood is that the backyards are landscaped within 1 year of purchase. The current grading is not very condusive towards having a nice, clean, usable backyard for either myself or my neighbor and we want to fix the grading before we start in on the sprinklers/sod/etc. I want to be able to import some fill to flatten out my lot (fill-in the swale to reduce the slopes to ~2% from the current ~10%). We have also been working together to come up with a plan to install a small (~2' high max) block wall on my side of the property line so that his lot can be flattened out (raise his lot). The grade along the property line is about where I want it, so I would only be filling in the swale as well as backfilling the retaining wall.

The question that has come-up is whether it's allowable to have my lot be responsible for the conveyance of the rainwater runoff for both my lot and my neighbor's lot. There is one downspout on the neighbors house that dumps onto the space that sheet-flows across the property line to the swale that sits almost centered across my back yard (swale runs parallel to the property line). I don't want to fill-in my swale (reduce capacity) if I'm stuck taking on the water from both backyards, simply because I don't want to deal with any flooding into the house, but I also don't want all of his yard washing down into mine.

The picture below looks down the property line between my house (green on the left) and my neighbor to the west. The property marker is the silver pin inside the green spraypaint circle on the curb/sidewalk and property line extends to about the middle of the left pine tree. The 2x4's to the right of the red dumpster sit approximately where the swale is located. I have also attached a plan view to show the property lines (black lines) and the swale/drainage (blue arrows).

Thoughts?

 

[DVINNY]

If the original grade of the ground has his elevation higher than yours, then run-off can go towards you. (in its natural direction). If he filled his lot that high to have his house up there, then he may be responsible for picking up run-off if you would want to pursue that.

here in :wv: we have that everywhere. if there is a slash pad on the downspout, and water sheet flows across their yard on natural contours from there, its toughsky shitsky for the downhill guy.

your state may be different though

 

[Road Guy]

yeah I try and tell people that its not really "your neighbors water" as much as it is "Gods Water".. unless you do something that changes the drainage patterns (i.e. the builder may have when he built the lots)

based on the picture your diagram looks like a typical fix

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

The neighbor's house was built-up about a foot, maybe 1.5 ft.

I talked with the city stormwater department, and instead of saying anything specific on the phone, set-up a meeting to come out and look at things on Friday morning. They say these situations are reviewed on a case by case basis, where sometimes there is an actual oversight in the plan review/approval process, and othertimes it's just a suck it up and deal with it. Either case, I will at least have someone familiar with the area looking at it, as well as someone I can bounce ideas off of to possibly get it fixed if I do have to deal with it.

 

[Road Guy]

From my Government Experience, they will come meet with you to tell you face to face that its basically a private issue between two property owners that they dont have any jurisdiction (aside from plan review), they will use this time to review what they approved during the plan review process (CYA)

 

[jeb6294]

That's the way it is/was here when I worked in the County office and then later in teh City office...their water is their problem, God's water, you're on your own. Had a neighbor complain about it at my old house because the natural drainage from my backyard flowed into his backyard. When he started threatening to call the city I told him he was too late they were already here. Turns out this was the way things always were and he was just too stupid and/or lazy to clean out the yard drain that was in his backyard all along.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Met with the local stormwater inspector and he said that although the grades are steep, they are per the city code. The code allows for one lot to be responsible for the runoff collection of up to two full lots. When I asked about grade minimums and maximums, he said the only rule was that open grade (dirt, grass, gravel, etc) had to be a minimum of 10% slope for the first 10 feet away from the house. After that, I can basically do whatever I want as long as I follow the "original intent" of the certified grading plan and maintain a minimum 2% slope, especially if I am willing to re-certify the lot (which would require my stamp/signature).

It would be funny if the first thing I actually use my pe-ness for would be the grading plan for my backyard...