Greenville, NC Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

S. Chapter 113A and Article 7, 9 and 11 of Chapter 160D, applies inside the Greenville city limits and its extraterritorial jurisdiction. Section 9-8-5(A) sets three permit triggers: no one may start land-disturbing activity that uncovers more than one acre without an approved erosion control plan and land-disturbing permit; no one may start land-disturbing activity greater than 5,000 square feet without a land-disturbing permit; and no one may disturb land of any size inside a special flood hazard area without both a land-disturbing permit and an approved sedimentation and erosion control plan meeting Chapter 6, Flood Damage Prevention, as well as Chapter 8.

Section 9-8-5(B) also requires anyone conducting land-disturbing activity to take all reasonable measures to protect public and private property from damage the activity causes, and Section 9-8-5(D) requires every control measure to be designed and built to the NC Erosion and Sediment Control Planning and Design Manual. Section 9-8-6 lets the city disapprove a plan under Section 9-8-17 if it fails to identify critical erosion areas, limit the time and size of exposed ground, control surface water and sedimentation, or manage stormwater runoff. Farming, forestry conducted under state Forest Practice Guidelines, mining permitted under the Mining Act of 1971, and emergency life-safety work are excluded under Section 9-8-4.

Vegetative or other ground cover must be established within 21 calendar days of finishing any phase of grading on exposed slopes, and within 90 calendar days of completing construction, per the violations listed in Section 9-8-20(B).