Rock Hill, SC Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

9 of the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Rock Hill sets out the grading permit as the city's primary erosion-control gate on construction. Its stated purpose is to limit negative impacts on adjacent lands from soil erosion and sedimentation and to protect existing vegetation on sites subject to land-disturbing activity. A grading permit is required before undertaking any activity that disturbs land from a vacant site or parcel, with exceptions for minor disturbance already covered by an approved site plan, sites already covered by a building permit that included civil construction plans, agricultural land-disturbing activity that does not require a building permit, activity exempted by state or federal law, right-of-way vegetation removal for public services, and land-disturbing work already regulated under another state or federal environmental permit conditioned on meeting the Ordinance's own minimum standards.

Before issuing the grading permit, the Planning & Development Director must review a Stormwater Management and Sediment Control Plan application against the standards in Chapter 7: Construction Standards for Subdivisions, Public Improvement, and Site Infrastructure. For phased residential or commercial projects, each phase's grading and design must be included in the plans and calculations, and every builder, including a separate home or commercial builder from the developer, must obtain its own land disturbance permit for each lot from DHEC. The Director may grant a case-by-case waiver of stormwater mitigation for water quality or peak-flow management, weighing the site's location in the watershed, downstream flooding history, development size, and existing or proposed offsite stormwater infrastructure.

A plan is not considered approved without the Director's signed, dated approval stamp, which only acknowledges compliance with these standards and creates no warranty about the plan's safety or effectiveness.