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City of San Mateo Municipal Code.

7.39.130 WATERCOURSE PROTECTION.

(a) Every person owning property through which a watercourse passes, or such person's lessee or tenant, shall keep and maintain that part of the watercourse within the property reasonably free of trash, debris, excessive vegetation, and other obstacles which would pollute, contaminate, or significantly retard the flow of water through the watercourse; shall maintain existing privately owned structures within or adjacent to a watercourse, so that such structures will not become a hazard to the use, function, or physical integrity of the watercourse; and shall not remove healthy bank vegetation beyond that actually necessary for said maintenance, nor remove said vegetation in such a manner as to increase the vulnerability of the watercourse to erosion.

(b) No person shall commit or cause to be committed any of the following acts, unless a written permit has first been obtained from the Director of Public Works:

(1) Discharge into or connect any pipe or channel to a watercourse;

(2) Modify the natural flow of water in a watercourse;

(3) Carry out development within 30 feet of the center line of any creek or 20 feet of the top of a bank;

(4) Deposit in, plant in, or remove any material from a watercourse including its banks, except as required for necessary maintenance;

(5) Construct, alter, enlarge, connect to, change, or remove any structure in a watercourse; or

(6) Place any loose or unconsolidated material along the side of or within a watercourse or so close to the side as to cause a diversion of the flow, or to cause a probability of such material being carried away by stormwaters passing through such watercourse.