Taunton, MA Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Article III of Chapter 381 governs stormwater management systems on private property and reaches any land-disturbing construction activity, including clearing, grading and excavation, once it crosses the one-acre threshold, whether that acre is disturbed at once or accumulates across a common plan of development or sale. A handful of activities are carved out: maintenance of existing lawns and gardens at a single-family home, fencing that will not alter drainage patterns, non-drainage utility work, ordinary farming, and land already regulated under a Conservation Commission order of conditions consistent with the state Stormwater Management Policy.

The Department of Public Works administers the permit program and, together with its rulemaking Committee, is directed to write the actual performance standards, meaning the specific erosion-control criteria, such as sediment fencing, stabilization timelines or slope limits, live in regulations adopted under Section 381-15 rather than spelled out in the ordinance text itself. What the ordinance itself makes clear is the consequence of noncompliance: failing to follow the permit, the erosion and sedimentation control plan, or the operations and maintenance plan tied to it is a violation of the City's ordinances, separate from any state Wetlands Protection Act review a wetland-adjacent site may also need.

Residential property owners were given a 180-day grace period from the article's 2014 effective date to come into compliance, provided they could show good cause for the delay.