Wake County Land Disturbance Permit Expirations 
On August 15, Governor Cooper officially rescinded Executive Order 116 which was the trigger for automatically extending development approval/expiration timelines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please check your project expiration dates in the Wake County Portal. If your land disturbance permit has expired or was extended to January 12, 2023, you will need to renew your permit. Also check to see if any of the contacts have changed on your existing Financial Responsibility/Ownership (FRO) form and if so, a new FRO form will need to be completed and uploaded to the Portal. There will be a 30-day grace period to get these permits renewed.

Options to Extend Land Disturbance Permits
 
  1. Renew for land disturbance permit at original permitted acreage for 1 or 2-years.
  2. Submit 1-page revision ($75) completed by your engineer that shows the active land disturbance plus that to be completed compared to the land disturbance footprint completed with permanent groundcover. This revision will need to be field verified with the Environmental Consultant and possibly modified if discrepancies. Once the acreage is agreed, a new Financial Responsibility/Ownership Form will need to be completed.

The renewal fee will be invoiced. Once payment is made, a new land disturbance permit will need to be issued.

Still have questions? Visit Sediment and Erosion Control to learn more or contact your Environmental Consultant or Inspector. Please be prepared with the following information:

  • Requested Extension Option (#1 or #2 above)
  • Project Name
  • Project Number: S00XXXX or SEC-XXXXXX-XXXX,
  • Watershed Name: Falls Lake, Middle Creek, Marks Creek, etc.

Watershed Management staff are ready to help you navigate the process!
Onsite Wastewater Permitting Updates
Licensed Soil Scientist (LSS) COVID-19 Permit for Non-Engineered Systems

The Licensed Soil Scientist (LSS) COVID-19 Permit for Non-Engineered Systems will be removed from available options under the Professional Option Permit on the Wake County Permit Portal. Session Law 2022-11 amended Section 3.19.(e) of Session Law 2020-97 that allowed permitting by Licensed Soil Scientist (LSS) under the coronavirus emergency to expire on January 1, 2023. The expiration of this section shall not prevent a licensed soil scientist acting under this section’s authority from completing a wastewater system already under construction, but no additional applications of this type will be accepted as of January 1, 2023.

Wake County Permit Portal and Application Changes
Wake County Environmental Services (WCES) performed improvements to the residential wastewater permitting process through changes with the Wake County Permit Portal. The new residential application and permit portal changes will be live January 23rd, 2023. The new application name is Permit for Residential Wastewater (Septic).

Notable changes:
  1.  Site preparation, site plan and building permit information/requirements have been added to the permit application. This section provides a list of requirements that must be met prior to applying for a wastewater permit and an attestation from the applicant of lot readiness is required. Failure to complete all required items will result in a delay of application processing and may be subject to a $75.00 re-inspection fee and/or a denial of your application.
  2. Consolidation of all “Residential” Wastewater applications into a single application. This removes the need for applicants to determine the correct permit work class (Existing, Expansion, Addition, New) that is appropriate for the project. WCES will determine the correct work class based on a description provided by the applicant in the application.
  3. Checklists have been added to the customer permit portal at crucial steps of the permitting process. These checklists will be available for customers to review when an action or item is required to continue with the permitting process. These steps include:

  • WW – Site Visit, Improvement Permit - Customer Action Required,
  • Construction Authorization – Customer Action Required
  • Operation Permit – Customer Action Required.
4.Hybrid wastewater permits established in SL 2022-11 and G.S. 130A-335
will utilize the “Permit for Residential Wastewater (Septic)” application for
processing.

Please note, once the new application is live, all previously saved permit application templates will no longer be valid. New templates will need to be created for the new application type. All applications submitted prior to the implementation of the new application will not be affected by these changes.

Questions? Visit Septic and Wastewater Management for more information.
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