Brunswick County, NC Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Brunswick County Code Sec. 1-13-206(b) lists when a stormwater management plan, and by extension a sediment and erosion control permit, is required for development: all commercial, industrial, and non-residential development and any major subdivision; any activity disturbing land within 30 feet of the banks of a stream or other natural waterway (unless exempted in the county's Stormwater Management Manual); any filling or excavation changing the land surface by 4 inches or more, except grading approved and inspected by the Brunswick County Department of Health for an on-site sewage system; and any activity or development disturbing a total of one acre or more, with exemptions for bona fide farm activity and forestland timber production.

Sec. 1-13-206(d) then ties the two permits together directly: where a sediment and erosion control permit is required, the county's stormwater permit is conditioned on the owner actually obtaining that erosion permit and filing a copy of the approved sediment and erosion control plan, along with the associated permit, with the stormwater administrator. This means a qualifying construction project cannot get its stormwater permit, and therefore cannot lawfully begin land-disturbing work, until the separate erosion and sediment control plan has been approved. The stormwater administrator, housed in the county's engineering department, reviews and enforces both halves of this requirement.