Melbourne, FL Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Melbourne's stormwater management ordinance treats erosion control as a mandatory design element rather than an option. Sec. 50-49(a)(2) requires every stormwater management plan to be designed so it will not create flood, safety or health hazards or increase the net loading of nitrogen, phosphorus or sediment discharged to receiving waters, to enhance groundwater recharge while reducing pollution, and, in the ordinance's own words, concurrent control of erosion, sedimentation, water pollution and flooding shall be mandatory. The city engineer reviews and enforces those standards and can request innovative design approaches in areas designated as groundwater recharge zones.

That erosion-control duty attaches through the permit requirement in Sec. 50-47: no one may subdivide land, change a land use, construct a system or structure, or change the size of a structure, without first obtaining a permit from the city engineer, and activities that disrupt runoff patterns, including clearing or constructing ditches and swales, converting agricultural land, replatting a subdivision, or increasing a parcel's impervious area, all trigger that permit requirement unless exempted under Sec. 50-48. Sec. 50-45 defines erosion for purposes of the article as the wearing or washing away of soil by the action of wind or water, and design plans submitted under Sec. 50-49(b) must be engineered using NRCS/SCS runoff methodology with a minimum 20-year design life, so a site's grading and drainage plan has to hold up to more than a single storm event before the city engineer signs off.