Wake County Watershed Management

Erosion & Sedimentation Control and Commercial Stormwater Permit

This is the one Wake County development programme whose reach is not confined to the unincorporated area, and it should not be lumped in with the building, zoning and septic records. The Watershed Management fee schedule itself prices a row for commercial projects and subdivisions outside unincorporated Wake County at $250 per acre for plan review, separately from the $275 subdivision plan review inside the unincorporated area, so a ground-disturbing commercial project can owe the county a watershed charge in places where it owes the county no building or zoning fee at all. Any business doing ground-disturbing commercial development — a new restaurant pad, a retail building, a childcare centre, a veterinary hospital, a fitness club with parking — should budget the per-acre charges at two points: $250 per acre for erosion control plan review on application, and $250 per acre for the land disturbance permit before the preconstruction meeting, with the commercial stormwater plan review and stormwater permit charged the same way on the same acreage. Resubmissions cost $250 each from the second resubmission onward, and both the certificate of compliance or completion re-inspection and an enforcement re-inspection are $250. Plans expire on a two-year cycle and must be renewed at $250 per acre for two years or $125 per acre for one. The page states that updated fees apply to project activities, including re-inspections, completed on or after July 1, 2025. Contact: 919-856-7436, watershedmanagement@wake.gov.