People who start a project on a Del Mar slope or bluff top are often surprised by how many names end up on the drawings. A surveyor, a civil engineer, a geologist, perhaps a geotechnical or structural engineer, an architect or designer, City staff, the Design Review Board, and eventually a contractor. Each has a defined part.
This entry sorts that cast by the documents the City asks for. It does not cover every project type, and the City’s current requirements always govern. It is meant as a map, so the paperwork feels less like a maze.
Start with the titles
California regulates several of these titles by statute.
The Professional Engineers Act says no one may call themselves a “structural engineer” unless they are a licensed civil engineer the Board has found qualified for that title. The same law applies the same rule to “soil engineer,” “soils engineer” and “geotechnical engineer.” In other words, both of those titles sit on top of a civil engineering license.
The Geologist and Geophysicist Act directs the same Board to provide a specialty certificate for those qualified in engineering geology. An engineering geologist is a licensed geologist with that additional certification.
The Board keeps a public license lookup. Checking a name there before hiring is simple and worthwhile.
The slope map
For projects in the Bluff, Slope and Canyon Overlay Zone, Chapter 30.52 of the municipal code asks for a slope analysis prepared by a licensed civil engineer. It shows the site’s topography in contours no wider than two feet apart and marks the areas where slopes reach 25 percent or steeper, with the gradient calculated between individual contour lines rather than averaged.
That map is the foundation for everything after it. It tells the design team where the steep ground is, and therefore where the setback rules begin.
The setback certification
The same chapter sets setbacks from the top and bottom of substantial steep slopes and requires that setback certification for new construction and overhangs be performed by a licensed surveyor or engineer as part of development review. A surveyor is often the first professional on site, because so much depends on where the lines actually fall.
The geology report
Chapter 30.52 also asks for a geological reconnaissance survey and a preliminary engineering geology report. The ordinance says the report must include findings of a subsurface investigation where development is proposed, identify the nature and size of any unstable conditions, address projected soil stability over a 75-year life for the proposed structures, and include alternatives or mitigation measures for any hazards.
That is the geology side of the work, and it frames what the structural design must respond to. Our post on Torrey Sandstone describes one of the formations those reports often discuss.
The bluff-top geotechnical report
On properties with coastal bluffs, Chapter 30.55 asks for a geotechnical report with new construction. The ordinance lists what it must cover, including existing conditions, the site’s suitability, the project’s potential effect on bluff stability over a 70-year life, the potential future need for shoreline protection, bluff retreat, rising sea levels, El Niño effects, and whether that stretch of coast is retreating. If the report recommends a larger setback than the code minimum, the larger one applies.
The 75-year figure in the slope overlay and the 70-year figure in the bluff overlay are not a typo here; they come from two different chapters written for two different settings.
The drainage plans
Water is the thread through both chapters. Under 30.52, runoff from new impervious surfaces is to discharge into public drainage systems, and private drainage systems are subject to review by the City Engineer. Under 30.55, drainage designs for graded projects are to be prepared by a licensed civil engineer and reviewed and approved by the City Engineer, and the plan must carry water away from the bluff face.
So the civil engineer appears twice: once for the slope map and once for where the water goes. Our bluff and hillside homes page explains why drainage gets so much attention.
The story poles
When a project goes before the Design Review Board, the City’s Resident Handbook explains that certain projects must install story poles to show the siting and massing of the new structure or addition. The handbook says the poles go up fifteen calendar days before the hearing, and their placement must be certified by a licensed land surveyor or civil engineer ten calendar days before it.
The Board
The Design Review Board is described in the handbook as seven Del Mar residents plus a non-voting ex-officio architectural design professional, appointed by the City Council. When it acts on a project, it can also act on related permits, including the Land Conservation Permit for grading, the Coastal Development Permit and the Tree Removal Permit.
The handbook describes the Board’s task as examining a project’s placement and size, its materials and colors, and, for new structures, its landscaping. The geology, geotechnical and drainage documents above are the technical record that staff and the City Engineer work from. Our design review page and the post on design review for structural repair go into when a structural project reaches the Board at all.
The structural design
Footings, retaining walls, caissons and connections are designed by a licensed engineer, typically working from the geology and geotechnical findings. On a bluff or slope, that design is rarely generic; it is shaped by the reports above.
The builder
The contractor turns the approved plans into work in the ground. That includes excavation within the limits set, footings and walls as drawn, temporary protection, coordinating inspections, and calling the right professional back when the ground looks different from what the reports predicted. A good contractor will coordinate with licensed engineers as needed throughout, not just at the start.
A rough order of appearance
- Surveyor: boundaries, topography, and setback lines
- Civil engineer: slope analysis
- Geologist or engineering geologist: reconnaissance and geology report
- Geotechnical engineer: bluff and foundation recommendations
- Designer or architect, with the structural engineer
- Civil engineer: drainage and grading plans
- Surveyor or civil engineer: story pole certification
- City staff, the City Engineer and, where it applies, the Design Review Board
- Contractor: construction, with the design team on call
Real projects overlap these steps. Some smaller repairs need far fewer of them. What the City actually requires for a given address is a question for Planning early on, and nothing in this entry predicts how any review will turn out.
What shapes the size of the team
- Whether the lot is in the slope overlay, the bluff overlay, or neither
- Extent of grading and new impervious surface
- Whether the work is repair or new construction
- Existing reports that remain current
- Design review triggers
If you’re weighing work on a Del Mar slope or bluff top and want a foundation inspection to understand current conditions first, request a Free Quote.