Bartow County, GA Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Bartow County's Soil Erosion and Sedimentation and Pollution Control Ordinance, Chapter 34, Article IV, requires anyone disturbing an acre or more of land, or land within a larger common plan of development, to obtain a land disturbance permit from the county engineer before work begins. 00 per acre disturbed. Best management practices must follow the state's Manual for Erosion and Sediment Control in Georgia: exposed critical areas must be vegetated or otherwise stabilized within seven days of disturbance, temporary vegetation cannot substitute for permanent cover, and cut-fill operations, grading and drainage must be designed to minimize erosion and keep sediment off adjoining property.

A 25-foot undisturbed buffer runs along the banks of all state waters, measured from the point vegetation has been wrested by normal stream flow, widening to 50 feet along designated trout streams; the director can grant a narrower variance only where a roadway drainage structure must cross or for limited utility line crossings. Every land-disturbing site must maintain a stabilized construction exit to keep mud off public roads, and tracking soil onto pavement is itself a separate violation. Even completed, non-permitted properties have a continuing duty under section 34-268 to keep vegetation in place and prevent visible sediment from washing onto a neighbor's land or into county ditches.