Developers no longer will have to remove topsoil from home building sites, store it and return it to the finished lot under a rule adopted Tuesday by the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission, Iowa Public Radio reported.

Land developers and homebuilders had fought the old rule, which they claimed added several thousand dollars to their costs.

The state had required developers to dress their finished lots with 4 inches of topsoil to control stormwater runoff.

The state now will follow less stringent federal guidelines, if the legislative review committee signs off on the new rule before it goes into effect in August.

Read a 2013 story about the topsoil rule on BusinessRecord.com.