Iowa Admin. Code r. 567-71.4 - Exempted activities

Notwithstanding 567-70.3 (17A,455B,481A) and 567-71.1 (455B), the following activities do not require approval pursuant to this title by the department to construct in a floodplain:

(1) Rural bridges/culverts/road embankments and associated work. Construction, maintenance, or use of bridges, culverts, temporary stream crossings, or road embankments in a rural area floodplain with a drainage area less than 100 square miles including associated channel changes not on protected streams with up to 500 feet in length and maximum of 25 percent reduction in length, and associated excavations within 500 feet of the project.

(2) Federally regulated railroad crossing. Construction, maintenance, or use of federally regulated railroad crossings having a drainage area of any size.

(3) Buildings.

a. Building additions that, when considered in aggregate with all additions constructed after July 4, 1965, increase the original floor area of a building by less than 25 percent.

b. Reconstruction of any portion of a building if the cost of reconstruction, including equivalent professional labor and material costs for proposed or actual volunteer labor and donated materials, and as would be determined by a qualified contractor, does not exceed 50 percent of the market value of the existing building or if reconstruction will not increase the market value by more than 50 percent.

(4) Pipeline and underground linear utility crossings. The construction, operation and maintenance of buried pipeline, conduit and linear utility crossings if the natural contours of the channel and floodplain are maintained and no bank stabilization is required.

(5) Excavations.

a. Excavations where the channel cross section is increased by 10 percent or less, as determined based on current survey, original engineering plans if being performed by a drainage district, if available.

b. Excavations for the repair and maintenance of a drainage district ditch with less than 100 square mile drainage area.

c. Excavations outside the channel and not impacting streambanks on any floodplain of any river or stream draining more than ten square miles where excess spoil is removed from the floodplain, the project does not reduce capacity of the floodplain, and surface waters are not diverted into a sinkhole or quarry excavated in carbonate rock.

(6) Boat docks. Construction, maintenance, or use of floating boat docks on lakes, and those recreational nonfloating style boat docks located on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, located on reservoirs within state parks, and the conservation pools of the Coralville, Rathbun, Red Rock, and Saylorville reservoirs.

(7) Small projects. For developments in rural areas for any low damage potential project where such works obstruct less than 3 percent of the cross-sectional area of the stream channel at bankfull stage or where such works obstruct less than 15 percent of the cross-sectional area of that side of the stream's floodplain at any stage.

Notes

Iowa Admin. Code r. 567-71.4

Adopted by IAB May 14, 2025/Volume XLVII, Number 23, effective 6/18/2025