5 rules for unincorporated Dorchester County, South Carolina.
Verified from official government sources
Disturbing one acre or more in Dorchester County requires state stormwater and sediment control permit coverage before ground breaks, administered under South Carolina's Stormwater Management and Sediment Reduction Act.
S.C. Code § 48-14-30(A)
Unless exempted, no person may engage in a land disturbing activity without first submitting a stormwater management and sediment control plan to the appropriate implementing agency and obtaining a permit to proceed.
South Carolina treats erosion and sediment as regulated pollution. Any land-disturbing activity in Dorchester County that changes natural cover and can cause erosion needs an approved sediment control plan once one acre or more is disturbed.
S.C. Code § 48-14-20
"Land disturbing activity" means any use of the land by any person that results in a change in the natural cover or topography that may cause erosion and contribute to sediment and alter the quality and quantity of stormwater runoff.
Coastal rules genuinely apply here. Dorchester is one of South Carolina's eight coastal-zone counties, so the state's Ocean and Coastal Resource Management office regulates work in tidal critical areas even though the county has no ocean beach.
S.C. Code § 48-39-130(C)
no person shall fill, remove, dredge, drain or erect any structure on or in any way alter any critical area without first obtaining a permit from the department.
Dorchester County administers its own Flood Prevention ordinance, Chapter 18, to stay in the National Flood Insurance Program. A development permit is required before any construction in a mapped special flood hazard area.
South Carolina has no statewide grading permit. In Dorchester County, earthwork disturbing one acre or more needs state stormwater coverage, while smaller grading is governed by county drainage review and the rule against pushing runoff onto neighbors.
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