Stormwater Management

Contact the stormwater administrator at 828-250-4854 to discuss your individual situation.

If you will be disturbing less than one acre of land (considering the home site, utilities (including septic, grading, road, etc.), a permit is not needed. If you are disturbing more than one acre, a permit is needed. If your home is in a subdivision that has a stormwater permit, there may be requirements on how your stormwater runoff can be directed to maintain compliance with the subdivision stormwater permit.

If the overall scope of your development will eventually exceed one acre you must be permitted prior to starting construction.

Yes, the plan must be sealed by a licensed Professional Engineer or Landscape Architect competent in stormwater hydrology and hydraulics.

Submit your stormwater plans, calculations, checklist, application, and permit fees to the Stormwater Administrator. Electronic submittals are accepted. Email the Stormwater Administrator at Victoria.Hoyland@buncombecounty.org to set up a cloud folder to upload your submittal files. If an erosion control permit is also needed, be sure to include your erosion control permit application documents as well and include the Erosion Control Officer on the original email at Jason.Guess@buncombecounty.org. Paper submittals are also still accepted at 46 Valley Street.

The first submittal can take up to 30 days to review, although our staff works to review plans as quickly as possible. Resubmittals and plan revisions can take up to 15 days to review.

If substantial progress has not been made on the site within six (6) months after issuance of the permit the permit becomes void.

Any use of, or operations on, the land by any person in residential, industrial, educational, institutional, or commercial development, highway and road construction and maintenance that results in a change in the natural cover or topography and that may cause or contribute to sedimentation.)

If your preliminary development plan was approved by the Buncombe County Planning Board prior to September 27, 2006 or you have a Land Disturbing Permit from the Soil Erosion and Sediment Control office you may have a vested right.

Yes, a performance surety bond is required to ensure the adequate construction of the proposed stormwater management system.

Yes, a performance surety bond is required to ensure the adequate construction of the proposed stormwater management system.

The bond must come from the owner or developer. A bond cannot be provided by a contractor, unless the property owner designates that contractor as the financially responsible party for the project.

The county can accept checks, wire transfer, irrevocable letters of credit, collateral assignment of CD, or insurance.

Submit closeout documents and the closeout checklist to the Stormwater Administrator. Ensure the site meets the site inspection requirements in the checklist. The Stormwater Administrator will conduct a site inspection and review the submittal documents. If there are outstanding items, a punch list will be provided. Once all outstanding items are addressed, the Certificate of Compliance will be issued and the bond will be released.

Our staff target processing closeout requests within 2 weeks, but it can take up to 30 days, depending on workload.

If you have an active bond for the project and are not in a Notice of Violation, your CO can be issued while the permit is still active.

Typically the homeowners association will have binding responsibility for the annual care, inspection and maintenance of the stormwater system for residential developments. For commercial developments, the property owner is responsible.