Carroll County, MD Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Chapter 152 of the Carroll County Code of Ordinances, effective December 31, 2012 and applicable to plans submitted after January 9, 2013, sets the county's grading and sediment control standards. 003 requires a person to have a soil erosion and sediment control plan approved by the Carroll County Soil Conservation District (the District) and to obtain a grading permit from the county before clearing, grading, grubbing, excavating, filling, creating borrow pits, or conducting mineral resource recovery operations, unless exempted. 003(B). Even activity outside those categories that disturbs land or stockpiles soil must control erosion and sediment transport so it does not affect adjacent property or watercourses, and the site must be stabilized and maintained afterward; agricultural land management practices are excluded from that catch-all duty.

004 exempts an individual residential lot grading job authorized by a valid building permit using the standard erosion and sediment control plan for disturbances of 5,000 to 30,000 square feet, utility trenching within an approved plan's limits, agricultural practices covered by an approved Soil Conservation Water Quality Plan, grading that disturbs less than 5,000 square feet and less than 100 cubic yards of earth, and grading subject exclusively to state approval. 006 requires a grading plan showing existing and proposed contours with the building permit application for any lot of one acre or less.

024 lets the County Commissioners set a fee schedule to fund the chapter's administration, though capital improvement projects with a District-approved plan get the permit fee waived. 035 lets the county attach conditions to a permit to prevent a nuisance or unreasonable hazard, or deny it outright where the work would endanger public safety.