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

1 creates the Keowee/Jocassee Overlay, layered on top of the base zoning district within 750 feet of the full pond contour of Lake Keowee and Lake Jocassee. 5(v) requires a properly installed, entrenched and maintained silt fence on a construction site before the county will conduct a zoning inspection, and the silt fence has to begin at or above the line of the required natural vegetative buffer. Wire-backed silt fences are highly recommended, and the county can require J-hooks, hay bales, grass mats and seeding as needed, placed at least 25 feet from the full pond contour, which the ordinance fixes at 800 feet above mean sea level for Lake Keowee and 1,100 feet above mean sea level for Lake Jocassee, separating the vegetative buffer from the area under construction until the work is finished.

If silt or debris does get into the buffer despite those measures, the county requires the responsible party to add further control measures promptly, and any silt that has entered the buffer must be removed where possible and the disturbed area re-stabilized with pine straw, mulch or planted vegetation. The requirement sits inside the broader 25-foot natural vegetative buffer standard that applies to waterfront parcels within 25 feet of the full pond contour, and the whole overlay is enforced with its own penalty clause rather than folding into the general zoning penalty.