Walton County, GA Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Section 11-3-150 of the Walton County Land Development Ordinance requires anyone conducting a land-disturbing activity in the county, unless specifically exempted, to first obtain a permit from the Planning and Development Department by submitting an erosion, sedimentation, and pollution control plan reviewed by the Walton County Soil and Water Conservation District. Local permitting fees apply, plus a state-mandated fee capped at eighty dollars per acre of disturbance. Section 11-3-140 requires best management practices consistent with the state's Manual for Erosion and Sediment Control in Georgia, and establishes a 25-foot buffer along the banks of state waters, measured from the point where vegetation has been wrested by normal stream flow, within which no land-disturbing activity may occur except for narrow exceptions such as perpendicular utility line crossings under fifty feet wide.

Trout streams get an even wider 50-foot buffer. Exemptions from the permit requirement include single-family home construction disturbing under one acre outside a larger common plan of development, agricultural operations, and forestry management, among others listed in Section 11-3-130. Enforcement under Section 11-3-170 escalates from a written warning on a first or second violation, with five days to correct, to an immediate stop-work order for a third violation or any violation posing an imminent threat to public health or state waters. D reach up to $2,500 per day for each violation, with each day of continued non-compliance counted as a separate offense.