Georgetown County, SC Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Georgetown County's Stormwater Management Ordinance 2014, codified as Appendix C, Part I of the County Code, is the county's erosion and sediment control law for unincorporated construction sites. Article I, Section C bars land disturbance outright unless the applicant has provided for appropriate stormwater management measures that control or manage stormwater runoff, and Section E backs that up with a permitting requirement: all land disturbance activities are required to obtain a Georgetown County Land Disturbance Permit unless otherwise exempt. The ordinance carves out a narrow acreage exemption rather than a topic-based one: a project that disturbs less than one acre, is not part of a larger common plan of development, and sits more than half a mile from a receiving water body does not need a permit, though even exempt work still may not divert sediment onto a neighbor's land.

Everything else must go through the County Stormwater Division with an approved Stormwater Management and Sediment Control Plan built to the county's Stormwater Design Criteria Manual before construction plans are submitted. Violations run through Article VI: the Division can issue correction notices and stop-work orders, with a minimum $250 fee to lift a stop-work order, suspend or revoke the Land Disturbance Permit, and, under Section E, assess a civil violation fee for any breach of the ordinance. A person who negligently, willfully, or intentionally violates the ordinance is also charged with a misdemeanor before the Georgetown County Magistrate's Court, on top of the civil fee.

The County Attorney can additionally seek an injunction or other court order to force compliance, and where the county itself is fined by the state or federal government for a permit violation traced to a specific developer, the county can pass that fine through to the responsible party.