Fills.
San José Municipal Code § 17.04.400
in effect17.04.400 - Fills.
A. General. Unless otherwise recommended in the approved soil engineering report, fills shall conform to the provisions of this section.
Exceptions from standards established by this Code may be permitted by the director. Each such exception requested shall be listed by the engineer on the plans and/or in the specifications. In the absence of an approved soil engineering report these provisions may be waived for minor fills not intended to support structures.
B. Fill Location. Fill slopes shall not be constructed on natural slopes steeper than two to one or where the fill slope terminates above a planned or existing cut slope, within a horizontal distance equal to one-third of the vertical height of the fill.
C. Preparation of Ground. The ground surface shall be prepared to receive fill by removing vegetation, noncomplying fill, topsoil and other materials as determined unsuitable by the soil engineer. Where the slopes are five to one or steeper, fills shall be benched into sound earth material.
D. Fill Material. Only earth materials which have no more than minor amounts of organic substances and have no rock or similar irreducible material with a maximum dimension greater than eight inches shall be used, except as permitted by the director.
E. Compaction. All fills shall be compacted according to the recommendations of the soils report. If a soils report has not been made, then the compaction test method and the required relative compaction shall be indicated on the plans and/or in the specifications.
F. Slope. The slope of fill surfaces shall be no steeper than is safe for the intended use and, in no event, steeper than two to one, except as permitted by the director.
G. Drainage and terracing. The area above fill slopes and the surfaces of terraces shall be graded and paved as required by Section 17.04.420.
(Prior code § 8127; 17.04.280; Ord. 21719.)
Source: City of San José, Municipal Code (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/ca/san_jose/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT17BUCO_CH17.04BUCO_PT6EXGR_17.04.400FIFetched: 11/1/2026