Atlantic County, NJ Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Under § 86-406(H) of the Land Development chapter, major subdivision plans reviewed by the Atlantic County Development Review Committee (DRC) must address soil erosion whenever land disturbance exceeds 5,000 square feet, or whenever a ditch, stream, brook or watercourse is proposed to be altered, developed or relocated. The applicant must show the method of stabilizing slopes and the measures that will control erosion and siltation before the County Engineer and Regional Planning staff will recommend approval. Erosion control methods themselves are not left to the applicant's discretion: § 86-406(H)(1) ties them to the Standards for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control in New Jersey as adopted by the Cape-Atlantic Soil Conservation District, the same technical standard New Jersey's other soil conservation districts use for construction-phase controls.

The rule also assigns financial responsibility for failure: § 86-406(H)(2) makes the applicant liable for all costs the County incurs cleaning a County drainage facility that a project impacts because it did not provide adequate soil erosion protection. That is a direct county cost-recovery mechanism, not a general civil penalty, and it attaches even after a project is built if a downstream drainage facility silts up from inadequate controls. Where the disturbance reaches an intermittent or major stream, § 86-406(H)(3) adds a state coordination step: the applicant must show evidence that it has applied, or intends to apply, to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection before the County will process the land development application.

Because Atlantic County has no zoning power of its own, this erosion standard only reaches subdivisions and site plans that come before the County Planning Board or DRC, typically because the tract touches a County road or drainage facility; erosion control for purely local, non-County-road development is a municipal matter.