Stream Protection Buffer

Streams in the Mulholland Specific Plan area are designated on the Mulholland Topographic / Lot-line map series and may include water courses with surface or subsurface flow that supports or has supported riparian vegetation. The Plan establishes a 100-foot construction and earth-movement buffer measured from either bank.

No project may be constructed within 100 feet of either bank of an identified stream, and no more than 100 cubic yards of earth may be moved within that buffer, without prior Director approval. Approval is conditioned on a biologist’s report and a recorded covenant binding the project to the biologist’s recommendations.

• 100-foot construction buffer measured from either stream bank.
• 100-cubic-yard earth movement cap within the buffer absent Director approval.
• Biologist’s report assessing project impacts on the stream and surrounding wildlife.
• Recorded covenant with the County Recorder, in a form satisfactory to the City Attorney, binding the project to the biologist’s recommendations.
• Administrative Review ineligibility — stream proximity within 100 feet is one of the three Plan disqualifiers.

• Identification of any stream within 100 feet of project elements, using the Mulholland map series and the topographic survey.
• A Biologist’s Stream/Riparian Report assessing impacts on the stream and surrounding wildlife.
• The recorded covenant, with form approved by the City Attorney.
• Coordination between the Grading Plan and the biologist’s mitigation measures.
• Confirmation that no project elements lie within the buffer absent Director approval.
• Project Compliance routing — stream proximity disqualifies Administrative Review.

• Map identified streams against the project at the schematic stage. The buffer is measured from either bank.
• Where a project is unavoidably within the buffer, retain a biologist early. The biologist’s report shapes mitigation, project geometry, and the recorded covenant — not the other way around.
• Track the 100-cubic-yard earth movement cap separately from the lot-wide grading cap. Both apply.
• Confirm Administrative Review ineligibility in the project description from the start.

Source: Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan, §5 B 2 (Streams). Stream identification per the Mulholland Topographic / Lot-line map series adopted as part of the Specific Plan.