Bessemer, AL Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Appendix A (Subdivisions), Section 10 of the Bessemer Code of Ordinances sets the city's erosion and sedimentation regulations for subdivision development. 1 states the provisions impose requirements on persons engaged in land-disturbing activities to plan and implement effective sedimentation controls, and exempts silviculture, agriculture and horticulture activities. 6, the mandatory standards, bars land-disturbing activity near a lake, natural watercourse or adjacent property unless a buffer zone of sufficient width confines siltation and prevents erosion, caps graded slopes at an angle no greater than what vegetative cover or erosion-control devices can retain, and requires that on any tract exceeding one contiguous acre, ground cover sufficient to restrain erosion be planted or otherwise provided within 30 days on any portion where active construction has stopped.

7 requires control measures designed to handle the calculated peak runoff of a ten-year frequency storm, using USDA Soil Conservation Service methodology or another accepted calculation procedure with National Weather Service rainfall data. 8 requires storage and controlled release of runoff for highway construction, one-acre-plus commercial, industrial, educational or institutional projects, five-acre-plus multifamily development, or ten-acre-plus single-family development, unless the developer demonstrates the release will not accelerate downstream erosion. 15 is the filing trigger: whenever a disturbed area exceeds one acre, a copy of the erosion and sediment control plan must be filed with the building inspector at least 30 days before any land-disturbing activity begins, with a copy kept on the job site, and the building inspector may require a revised plan and suspend work if a significant risk of off-site sedimentation is found.

Ongoing maintenance responsibility falls on the person conducting the activity during development and on the landowner after completion, until adequate vegetative cover is achieved, per Sec. 12.