Land clearing and site preparation
Parksville Excavating strips brush, stumps and topsoil, opens the building envelope and compacts the pad on lots across Oceanside. In the Regional District of Nanaimo a development permit can trigger on the disturbance of soils, including grubbing and scraping, and before we move fill within the Agricultural Land Reserve the Agricultural Land Commission needs 60 days' notice.
Clearing comes first, and we plan the sequence carefully, because it sets the drainage pattern, access route and pad position for everything after it.
What comes off, and in what order
We clear brush and small stems first, so we can read the ground properly. Stumps follow — we pull them rather than cut them where the root plate would otherwise sit under a footing or a driveway. We strip topsoil separately and stockpile it if it's going back on the finished grade, because mixing it with subsoil turns two usable materials into one that has to be hauled away.
We then cut the building envelope to the elevation on the drawings and compact it in layers. On the sand and gravel that covers most of Oceanside that pad holds well; where fractured shale sits close to surface the cut changes from digging to breaking, and the machine class changes with it.
The permit position, before anything moves
The Regional District won't let any stage of the project start until the building permit is in hand, and that includes our part. Its development permit areas cover freshwater and fish habitat, sensitive ecosystems, eagle and heron nesting trees, marine coast, hazard lands and farmland protection, and the trigger wording includes the disturbance of soils, including grubbing, scraping and the removal of top soils. Farmland protection applies in Electoral Areas A, E and G on lots over 5,000 square metres.
Trees have their own rule and it changes at the boundary. In Parksville a protected tree is 50 centimetres in diameter or greater under Tree Management Bylaw 1484, and cutting one needs a permit. In Qualicum Beach the Town has its own tree bylaw with a fee and replacement rules, and we check it before we clear.
Where the material goes
Clearing produces three separate piles, and they don't all go to the same place. Wood waste is taken at the Regional District's Church Road Transfer Station at $275 per tonne, and yard and garden waste at $60. Clean soil and land-clearing debris are not accepted at either regional facility, so those loads go to private soil-receiving sites, and we price the haul distance as its own line rather than folding it into machine time.
Where fill is coming onto a parcel inside the Agricultural Land Reserve, the Agricultural Land Commission needs notice before we place fill, and we handle it. About a fifth of Electoral Area F is in the ALR, so this comes up regularly around Coombs and Errington.
The site prep process
Walk and mark — We mark boundaries, keepers, the drip line of anything protected, and where the material can be stockpiled without blocking the dig.
Permit check — We check the building permit, any development permit area, tree thresholds and, on ALR land, the Notice of Intent.
Clear and strip — We clear brush, then stumps, then strip topsoil separately and keep it apart from subsoil.
Cut and compact — We cut the envelope to the drawing elevation and compact it in layers, ready for layout.
In practice
- Situation
- A two-hectare acreage south of Errington, cleared for a shop and a new drive, with second-growth fir along the north boundary and an old skid trail running through the middle of the proposed pad.
- Complication
- Haslam shale bedrock came up under the trail at roughly 600 millimetres, shallower than the rest of the lot, which put the pad elevation and the drive grade in conflict.
- Resolution
- We shifted the pad nine metres east onto deeper till rather than breaking rock, and reused the trail as the base of the drive, since it had already been compacted by decades of use.
People also ask
Does clearing need its own permit?
We normally cover clearing under the building permit for the project, though a development permit can apply in its own right where the lot falls inside one of the Regional District's development permit areas, and protected trees still need a tree permit from the municipality.
Can the topsoil be kept?
Yes, where we strip it on its own and stockpile it clear of traffic. Topsoil mixed with subsoil loses most of its value and usually ends up hauled off with the rest.
What happens to the stumps?
We haul stumps out as wood waste rather than bury them on site. Buried wood rots and settles, and anything sitting under a footing, a slab or a driveway will show up as a low spot later.
Related: Foundation digs and backfill · Drainage and perimeter drains · Driveways and parking pads · What site work costs · Qualicum Beach · Coombs and Errington · French Creek · Nanoose Bay