Tallahassee, FL Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Section 5-88 requires a sediment and erosion control plan as part of every environmental management permit application, detailing the best management practices a site will use to minimize erosion and keep sediment from leaving the property. The plan has to sequence construction so best management practices go in immediately, followed by the stormwater master facility or temporary sediment traps before the site is cleared in phases, and it must show how existing vegetation will be retained and denuded areas revegetated. Subsection (4) requires benches at least five feet wide on cut or fill slopes at intervals no greater than 15 vertical feet to control drainage and debris, and subsection (6) requires sediment basins or silt fences, with all silt fence meeting Florida Department of Transportation Type IV standards, placed below denuded areas and above sensitive water resources.

Subsection (8) sets a hard deadline: any site or portion of a site where work has stopped and that has stayed cleared for more than 14 days must be stabilized with appropriate vegetative ground cover, and all disturbed areas must be permanently stabilized once development activity finishes. Properties with severe grades (over 20 percent slope) need a heavy-duty silt barrier under subsection (8) item 8: a double row of Type IV silt fence, one row at the toe of the slope and a second row ten feet beyond it, backed by hogwire fencing on six-foot wooden posts set eight feet on center.