Effective: March 24, 2021
Latest Legislation: House Bill 340 - 133rd General Assembly
After a vote of the board of supervisors of a soil and water conservation district to proceed with a project survey and design for a proposed improvement, the board or its designee shall conduct all necessary surveys for the proposed improvement. In addition, the board or its designee shall prepare plans for constructing the improvement. The plans shall include all of the following:
(A) Specifications for construction of the improvement;
(B) Dimensions of any temporary easement that is necessary for construction purposes;
(C) In the case of an improvement that is a ditch or similar structure for the disposal of water, provisions for all of the following:
(1) Spreading and leveling of spoil banks;
(2) Erosion and sediment control through the establishment of a sod or seeded strip or other such controls if suitable vegetative cover is not present. With regard to sod or seeded strips, the board shall ensure that the plan provides that such strips will be not fewer than ten feet nor more than fifteen feet wide, measured at right angles to the top of the ditch bank on both sides of the ditch. Sod or seeded strips or other such controls are considered part of the permanent improvement. The board or its designee shall report to the county auditor the total acreage of sod or seeded strips or other such controls that are established and maintained in accordance with this chapter. The county auditor shall remove the total acreage of sod or seeded strips or other such controls from the taxable valuation of the property of which they are a part.
(D) An analysis of all fences, floodgates, culverts, bridges, and other structures that will be removed or adjusted in constructing the improvement;
(E) An analysis of any gates that need to be installed in existing fences in order to provide access to the improvement for maintenance purposes. The plan shall require gates to be locked when requested by the owner of the fence. Gates are part of the original improvement and subject to maintenance along with the improvement.