Tempe, AZ Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Section 12-128(a), part of Chapter 12, Article VI's storm water pollution control program, requires any person performing construction to use all temporary or permanent best management practices and control measures needed to minimize pollutants and sediment leaving the construction site. That duty is layered on top of § 19-50's separate rules for hauling waste fill or excavation material. At minimum, a builder must avoid causing or contributing to a § 12-125 violation, the article's general ban on discharging anything but storm water to the public right-of-way or storm drain system, and must comply with any written BMP guidelines the Public Works Director or Community Development Director issues for general use.

If either director requires a specific practicable best management practice on a job site, § 12-128(b) lets the person receiving that notice petition for reconsideration; the written petition, including the reasons and any proposed alternative, must reach the director within ten working days, and the director must act on it within thirty days. The related § 12-127 requires an owner or developer who must provide BMPs under § 12-73(d) to submit a BMP plan alongside the drainage plan required under § 12-73(b), which the Community Development Director reviews for whether it will reduce pollutants to the maximum extent practicable.

Because § 12-128 sits inside the storm water article, violations are enforced the same way as other Division 5 storm water offenses: notice of violation, a ten-working-day correction plan, cease-and-desist authority, and civil citations of up to $2,500 per violation per day in Tempe Municipal Court, or misdemeanor prosecution for willful or negligent noncompliance.