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

The requirement sits in the Watershed Protection article of the county code, which governs the WS-IV critical area and protected area around Pender County's public water supply. Under Code § 14-164(a), a subdivision outside the mapped watershed skips this article entirely, but a project inside a WS-IV watershed is pulled into it whenever state law requires an erosion and sedimentation plan for the site. Section 14-165(d) then makes that plan a recording condition: the subdivision application must be accompanied by a written statement that a sedimentation and erosion control plan has been submitted to, and approved by, the state Division of Land Quality.

The watershed administrator reviews subdivision applications and forwards recommendations to the watershed review board, which must act within 60 days of first taking up the application, and no building permit or watershed protection permit can issue until the plan requirement, along with the county's other watershed protection permit standards under § 14-194, is satisfied. Because the article also regulates built-upon area and density in the WS-IV-CA and WS-IV-PA zones, an erosion plan failure can stall an entire plat, not just a single lot. The board of commissioners enforces the article as a whole under § 14-130, and the watershed administrator can additionally seek civil remedies under § 14-131 if grading proceeds without the required approval.