5 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in Orange County, North Carolina.
Verified from official government sources
Orange County enforces post-construction stormwater controls inside its water-supply watersheds. New development draining to University Lake, Cane Creek, or the Jordan Lake watershed must limit impervious surface, control runoff, and reduce nitrogen and phosphorus.
Any land-disturbing activity over one acre in Orange County needs an approved erosion and sedimentation control plan under the North Carolina Sedimentation Pollution Control Act. Silt fences, sediment basins, and prompt stabilization are required.
N.C.G.S. § 113A-57(4)
No person shall initiate any land-disturbing activity that will disturb more than one acre on a tract unless, 30 or more days prior to initiating the activity, an erosion and sedimentation control plan for the activity is filed with the agency having jurisdiction and approved by the agency
Orange County has no coast. Its coastal equivalent is strict water-supply-watershed protection: development near University Lake, Cane Creek, and the Jordan Lake watershed faces riparian buffers, impervious-surface caps, and nutrient controls.
Orange County participates in the National Flood Insurance Program and enforces floodplain standards along the Eno River, New Hope Creek, Morgan Creek, and Cane Creek. New buildings in flood hazard areas must sit above base flood elevation with freeboard.
Orange County requires erosion-control approval for significant grading and protects watershed buffers. Drainage cannot be redirected onto neighboring property, and land disturbance over one acre triggers Sedimentation Pollution Control Act review.
1 cities in Orange County have their own environmental rules rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
See every category we cover for Orange County — parking, noise, fences, fires, animals, pools, and more.
Orange County Ordinance Hub →