Carteret County, NC Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Section 4-6.6 of the Carteret County Subdivision Regulations requires every proposed subdivision to provide an adequate surface water drainage system, including open ditches, pipes, culverts, intersectional drains, drop inlets, and bridges as needed to properly drain the tract. The Planning and Development Department reviews the plan against the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act, the North Carolina Stormwater Run-off Regulations, the Handbook for the Design of Highway Surface Drainage Structures, and NCDOT specifications before any utility construction plans are approved. The drainage system must follow existing topography as closely as practical, divert stormwater away from surface waters, and incorporate stormwater best management practices to limit water-quality impacts; ditch banks must be seeded immediately after grading and utility installation and kept in vegetative cover to control erosion.

No surface water may be channeled into a sanitary sewer under any circumstance. Where an existing storm drainage system serves the area, the developer must connect to it if feasible; otherwise a new system must be designed to protect the development from water damage, using ten-year storm drainage data as the minimum design standard. The county also requires drainage easements under Section 4-6.5(C) wherever a subdivision is crossed by a water course, drainageway, channel or stream. As-built drawings of the completed drainage system are due to the county within 30 days of completion under Section 4-6.3(C), and final plat approval is withheld until the county receives them.