Nash County, NC Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Section 12-4 of the Unified Development Ordinance (Appendix A) ties Nash County's own permitting directly to the state erosion control process. Where a development would cause 'land disturbing activity' requiring prior approval of an erosion and sedimentation control plan by the NC Sedimentation Control Commission under NCGS 113A-57(4), the county cannot issue a zoning permit, special use permit or conditional use permit, and cannot give preliminary plat approval for a subdivision, unless the Commission has certified one of two things: that a plan has been submitted and approved, or that it has reviewed the preliminary plans and reasonably expects a plan can be approved once the developer submits more detailed construction or design drawings. In that second, provisional case, construction cannot begin and no building permit can be issued until the Commission actually approves the erosion control plan.

Section 12-4(B) defines 'land disturbing activity' broadly: any use of land in residential, industrial, educational, institutional or commercial development, or in highway and road construction and maintenance, that changes the natural cover or topography and may cause or contribute to sedimentation, except activities exempted under NCGS 113A-52(6). Sedimentation itself is defined as solid particulate matter, mineral or organic, moved by water, air, gravity or ice from its point of origin. A companion rule at Section 12-5 requires developers working in or near a lake, stream, creek or adjacent wetlands to seek federal Section 404 authorization from the US Army Corps of Engineers before starting earth-disturbing work.