Lake County, FL Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

01 lays out the legislative intent behind the county's Stormwater Management program: preventing loss of life and property from flooding, protecting surface and ground water quality, minimizing sediment transport, perpetuating groundwater recharge, and implementing the surface water management programs of the St. Johns River and Southwest Florida Water Management Districts. 02 applies the program countywide, though a municipality with its own equal-or-stricter stormwater ordinance regulates its own jurisdiction, and the County may accept a District permit in place of issuing its own. 03(D) covers clearing or construction that affects land drainage, replatting or developing a subdivision, changing a land use or structure size, altering the shoreline or bank of a waterbody, using a waterbody for stormwater management, and, most commonly, increasing a parcel's impervious area by five hundred square feet or more.

03(C) makes county approval contingent on any required St. Johns River Water Management District, Southwest Florida Water Management District, or Florida Department of Environmental Regulation permit. 04(A). 08 requires a written maintenance plan naming a legally responsible entity, such as the County, a water control or community development district, or a homeowners' association, since the developer alone is 'normally not acceptable' for long-term upkeep.