5 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in York County, South Carolina.
Verified from official government sources
Disturbing one acre or more anywhere in unincorporated York County requires a state stormwater and sediment control permit before ground breaks. The Department of Environmental Services administers it under the 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 disturbance in unincorporated York County that changes the natural cover and can cause erosion is a land disturbing activity requiring an approved sediment control plan at one acre or more.
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 development rules do not apply in York County. It sits in the inland Piedmont on the North Carolina border in the Charlotte metro, so South Carolina's Coastal Zone Management Act reaches nothing here.
York County administers its own Flood Damage Prevention ordinance, Chapter 151, to keep the county in the National Flood Insurance Program. A floodplain development permit is required before any development in a mapped area of special flood hazard.
York County, S.C. Code of Ordinances § 151.23
Application for a development permit shall be made to the local administrator on forms furnished by him or her prior to any development activities.
South Carolina has no statewide grading permit. In unincorporated York County, earthwork disturbing one acre or more needs the state stormwater permit, while smaller grading is controlled by county drainage review and the rule against diverting runoff onto neighbors.
1 cities in York County have their own environmental rules rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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