Jackson, TN Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Jackson adopted its erosion and stormwater control chapter to address soil erosion and runoff from construction sites, which the code says impairs the flood plain, raises street maintenance costs, clogs storm sewers, degrades land and streams, and creates dusty conditions, under § 14-501. To address that, § 14-502 requires a grading permit from the city engineer before any land is disturbed by clearing, grading, or other earth-moving activity, or before an activity that increases stormwater runoff by reducing soil permeability. The city engineer collects a fee for each permit, set on a fee schedule the environmental advisory/appeals board establishes, and the proceeds go to the city's general fund.

The only exemption from the grading permit is a farm operation as defined under the Tennessee Right to Farm Act, per § 14-503. Within 90 days of the chapter's adoption, the city engineer had to write detailed rules and regulations governing permit issuance, submit them to the Jackson-Madison County Regional Planning Commission for approval, and make them publicly available at the engineering office, under § 14-504; those rules also let the engineer revoke a permit or issue a stop-work order. A denied or revoked grading permit can be appealed to the environmental advisory/appeals board within 30 days under § 14-505, and the board may grant a variance where strict enforcement would work a manifest injustice under § 14-506.