? @ getting a pond permit

[ugabulldog]

This sub-forum looked as good as any to post this, so here goes..... I will be building a pond next year and am looking into permit issues. I called the army corp of engineers and they said if it might be in a wetland, they would need to come out and take a look to determine if permit was needed. I guess this is the route I will take but I have already cleared land, built house etc.... I am worried there maybe retroactive problems having done this??? I did have DHEC do a perk test before I built house. Am I being paranoid worrying about the land clearing and I should proceed with the corp of engineers? Thanks

[sharp_shepherd]

What made you call the corp of engineers instead of your country? You'd think that the higher you go UP in the government the harder it is going to be for you to get a permit....not to mention probably more money..you know we have a couple of banks to bail out.

[ugabulldog]

You are right @ the banks!!! I went to the county first, they directed me to DNR who directed me to Army Corp. I'm sure some people don't get pond permits but I am paranoid by nature...

[blutfort]

...I don't know where it came from...It just sort of appeared last time we had a bunch of rain.

[MountainDreams]

My dog did it......he sure is a diggin' fool...... ;)

[sharp_shepherd]

Great excuses are you sure we aren't related. Funny thing is i built a huge pond and the only comments i get are wow, that's huge or man, that's nice you got any fish in there.

My response is no fish....what a liar i am.

[MountainDreams]

Not to be flip....but, we've put in 4 ponds (in three different states) over the years and have never gotten a permit. The last one was here in South Carolina, about 15 years ago. Our neighbor on the hill behind us came over with his backhoe and dug it for us. Nice spring in the hill kept our bottom land boggy, so......seemed like the thing to do. ;D
New neighbors moved in about 5 years ago....from New Jersey... ::)
They decided, after seeing ours, that a pond would be just great. Of course they went into town to get a permit and find a "qualified" contractor to dig it for them. It ended up costing them 10 times what we paid....lol
The couple further down the road said they were standing at the fence watching when the inspector came out. He ask them if they knew when our pond was put in.....they told him it had been there as long as they could remember.... ::)
I've found it's better and cheaper to fly under the radar....if you can. I suppose it just depends on how close to the main road (or the inspectors house) that you live.

Sharon

[walls0stone]

DEP & the like around here, hate ponds, one guy moves in, builds one..then won't let people play on it so they report the newcomer... DEP says you need this permit, so drain it.. big head pains. *

you now have NO place on Earth that Google Earth can't see...don't presume that they don't look. *If I did somthing like that and got away with it, I'd walk the line big time.

[MountainDreams]

"sigh" The noose tightens a bit more every day doesn't it?

[crafty2002]

Yea, but you have to keep exscapeing it. :)

[MountainDreams]

Or.....and this is just a wild idea, mind you.......stopped being so damned scared of OUR government??? STOP electing the ones who seem he** bent on making our lives miserable.
It's a hole in the ground....sheesh!!

[jott]

The first thing I would do is look up what your states definition is for a wet land, some go by amount of water, others by what plants grow there. That way you can find out what was there just for you to know. Most go by what is there now not what was at one time.


A warning for all of you saying just stay under the radar, many locale governments now subscribe to a service that provides high resolution photos and marks changes over time, it will be very hard to argue something was “always there” when the photo from 5 years ago shows it was not.

[walls0stone]

What creeps me out is that office is full of people who are hired by other old hippies. *Sorry, but yesterdays flower children are todays blooming morons. They have more big reciding hair lines w/ponytails in the gov office than a greatful Dead show. the yare not elected, but they govern us.

In many cases they have to much to do. It's like a broken tail light, don't do something stupid or tick someone off, and your will be put to the back of the pile...

In my area, if you have cattails, you have wetland. yes that includes a ditch....I don't wright the rules.

why do they send people around to warn you to keep water out of tires to prevent wesnile (sp?), then tell you to leave the land swampy, rather than build a pond were fish can spawn and eat bugs.

yea, that program is Google Earth. The more we marvel over our cool stuff..the less we see what it's realy for. *the Day I saw a picture of myself *taken from space, I knew it was over. *Look up Kingdom Inc in Mansfield Pa on Lambs creek road. You can see me working. I drive a white truck and I think my yellow job trailer is on sight. *The pic was taken on a sunday 4 years ago.

[ugabulldog]

I looked at the Fish and Wildlife online map which has the whole nation and wetland map. Mine is not in wetlands. Not sure if this is the "be all end all" map, probaly not.... printed off my land, will probaly do a little more research such as talking to my pond builder, who does alot of them and go from there. Thanks

[DavidOH]

We have had a discussion on this some time last year.
What state are you in?
The laws varry..... http://codes.ohio.gov/

Here's our discussion from the Backwoods Home Forum:
http://tinyurl.com/468mva

[Mike]

I was also on the fence when it comes to stupid laws about digging. However, in the county's defense, I was digging a basement (with a permit) in the middle of an old corn field and hit a gas line. The reason (or one of the reasons) the county wants you to get a permit is so that they know where all the holes are and what is in them. They had no record of the line that I hit and fortunately, it wasn't live.


Side note: please don't use windows explorer. Firefox is 100% free, its less prone to allowing viruses to access your computer and it has a built in spell checker.

"West Nile" btw wallsostone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Nile_virus

[RobJob]

I think I saw you are in S.C.? You need to contact Steve Bradley w/DHEC, 803 898-4027 or bradleysm@dhec.sc.gov

Depending on the size of the pond you might need a permit, probably not unless it is fairly large and a failure would cause downstream problems. You might also need to contact the local office US Conservation Service office. They all basically want to know you are not causing an erosion problem during construction, etc. They may ask you to locate the site on a topo map and there is a question of how much wetlands are involved. I think an acre or less is no problem. An acre now an acre later??

You may even qualify for a SC tax credit. I'm not sure about new construction but if you are improving a dam, removing trees, enlarging a pond for recreation or irrigation, spillway improvement,etc. Look it up under SC Tax Credit. I was really surprised what all qualified for tax credits. Wildlife habitat improvement, no-till planting. A long list of things that will actually pay 25% credit.

Where are you exactly? I have a property near the Aiken-Lexington Co. line. I know a real good equipment man that can do nearly anything. But much more than fifty miles away is probably not cost effective.