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

Codified at Section 3.02.00 of the UDC's Article III, the Soil Erosion, Sedimentation and Pollution Control Ordinance applies to virtually any land-disturbing activity, defined broadly to include clearing, dredging, grading and filling. Section 3.02.03 carves out narrow exemptions: home gardens and routine landscaping, single-family construction that disturbs less than an acre outside a larger development, agricultural operations, forestry management, and projects under one acre that are not part of a larger common plan of development. Everyone else must apply to the Stormwater Management Office under Section 3.02.05.B before starting work, submitting five copies of an erosion, sedimentation and pollution control plan built to the state's Manual for Erosion and Sediment Control in Georgia.

The Catoosa County Soil and Water Conservation District has 35 days to review the plan, and the Local Issuing Authority can require a bond of up to $3,000 per acre before issuing the permit. State-mandated buffers apply along the way: a 25-foot buffer along ordinary state waters and a 50-foot buffer along designated trout streams, both measured from the point vegetation has been wrested by normal stream flow. Section 3.02.06 empowers the Stormwater Department to inspect active sites and issue a written notice to comply when a plan or permit condition is not being met, with a compliance deadline written into the notice.

Section 3.02.07 escalates from there: a first or second violation draws a written warning with five days to fix it, a third violation triggers an immediate stop-work order, and Section 3.02.07.D layers on civil penalties of up to $2,500 per day, per violation, on top of any bond forfeiture.