Salt Lake County Grading Permits & Drainage Plans: What to Prepare

Start with the exact address and jurisdiction

Salt Lake County is not one permitting counter for every property. Salt Lake City, incorporated municipalities, and unincorporated areas can have different review paths. Begin with the street address, parcel information, a plain-language project description, and an early call to the authority that serves that property.

Describe what will change on the ground: the area of disturbance, anticipated cuts and fills, the intended finish grade, drainage direction, any retaining feature, and whether a driveway, street, sidewalk, easement, or utility connection is involved. That lets the local authority tell you whether the work belongs under a building permit, grading review, land-disturbance process, right-of-way permit, or a combination of those steps.

• Street address, parcel number, and property boundaries
• A sketch of the work area and proposed access
• Existing and planned elevations or the intended direction of drainage
• Any utility, public-street, easement, or retaining-wall involvement

Build the grading and drainage plan around the full water path

A workable grading plan shows more than a final contour. It explains how water moves from roofs, driveways, yards, uphill ground, and disturbed soil through the site without collecting against a structure or creating a new problem at an adjoining property. Existing elevations, proposed elevations, major grade breaks, slope direction, drainage features, and the intended outlet all matter.

The Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District describes a grading and drainage plan as a document that shows existing and proposed elevations, slope direction, grade breaks, drainage away from structures, and features such as swales or berms when needed. Treat that published checklist as a planning reference for the locations it serves, not a universal rule for every Salt Lake County address. The authority for the specific property controls.

Include erosion and sediment control while the site is open

Bare soil, stockpiles, construction entrances, and exposed slopes can move sediment when rain, snowmelt, or irrigation reaches them. Erosion and sediment control should be planned before earthwork starts, then adjusted as site conditions and the construction sequence change.

For larger or regulated projects, the reviewer may require a stormwater pollution prevention plan, a sediment and erosion control sheet, inspections, or additional state documentation. Even on a smaller property project, it is practical to identify where soil will be staged, how runoff is kept out of an excavation, and how sediment stays on the site instead of washing into a gutter, street, or neighboring lot.

• Locate material stockpiles away from drainage paths when possible
• Keep a stabilized entrance and plan for mud management where required
• Protect inlets, swales, and downhill edges during active work
• Restore exposed soil and repair erosion before the next storm or irrigation cycle

Treat slopes, retaining work, and soil as design questions

A steep lot, substantial fill, a cut near an existing building, or a proposed retaining wall needs more than a generic grading assumption. The project may need a design professional, soils information, shoring details, or specific wall documentation depending on the site and governing requirements.

Salt Lake City’s site-development checklist, for example, calls for project-specific information such as drainage details, utility plans when utilities are installed, erosion controls, and soils or shoring information in circumstances where those items apply. Do not treat any city checklist as a substitute for the requirements at another address; use it to ask better questions early.

Separate private-site grading from right-of-way excavation

A grading plan for a private yard is different from work that reaches a public street, sidewalk, or utility easement. In the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District member communities and unincorporated areas it serves, excavation in a right-of-way requires an excavation permit and may involve bonding, insurance, traffic control, notice, and pavement-restoration requirements.

That distinction matters early because the scope, schedule, and documentation can change once work touches public infrastructure. Confirm the right-of-way boundary and the applicable agency before assuming that a driveway edge, utility trench, curb, sidewalk, or roadway cut is part of ordinary private-site work.

Complete utility locates before the grading crew arrives

Before excavation or grading begins, use Blue Stakes of Utah 811 to request utility markings and follow the current timing instructions. Blue Stakes says to submit a locate request no later than three business days before excavation and no more than 14 calendar days before work starts, then wait for the legal date and time, inspect the responses, protect markings, and dig with care.

A locate request does not mark every line on private property. Water and sewer laterals, irrigation, propane, septic, detached-building power, and other privately owned lines may need separate investigation. Share known site history, prior improvements, and planned work limits before the excavation route or grade is finalized.