Read your city's drainage code

Steps

1. Find the document. Search “[your city] stormwater code” or “drainage ordinance.” Municipal codes are public; most cities publish them online with the current adoption date. County and HOA documents sit in a second and third pile — pull them later, don't ignore them.
2. Open the stormwater chapter. Look for titles like “Stormwater Management,” “Drainage,” or “Site Grading.” Note the chapter number and adopt date. A 2019 chapter with 2024 amendments matters: read the amendments.
3. Pull clause one: setback. The minimum distance between any drainage feature and a foundation. Ten feet is the common residential number on this desk's pages; your city's may differ, and your city's wins.
4. Pull clause two: discharge. Where water may legally go — to the street, to a storm drain, across a property line. This is the clause that turns a neighbor dispute into a citation. Copy it out.
5. Pull clause three: permit triggers. What makes a project need a permit — usually disturbed area, added impervious surface, or discharge volume. Your catchment number is the test.
6. Save the citations. Chapter, section, adopt date, link, and the sentence in your own words. When the inspector calls, you will not be quoting a blog.

Where people stop

• Reading a summary instead of the code. Contractor blogs paraphrase, and paraphrase ages. The citation is the thing that does not age — until it does, and the adopt date tells you when.
• Skipping the HOA pile. A covenant can be stricter than the city. Not law, still binding on you.
• Stopping at “it's my yard.” Your yard is a drainage district's smallest member. The discharge clause exists because someone upstream of you thought the same thing once.