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County of Spartanburg

The County of Spartanburg has enacted a Storm Water Management Ordinance in order to protect, maintain, and enhance the public health, safety, and general welfare by establishing minimum requirements and procedures to control the adverse of increased stormwater runoff associated with both future land development and existing developed land. Spartanburg County is the permitting authority for all land disturbing activities and requires the land owner to maintain all on-site stormwater control facilities and all open space areas (e.g. parks or “green” areas) required by the approved stormwater control plan. Spartanburg County will only provide construction permits to projects that establish a plan to manage stormwater runoff occurring during the construction process. Post-construction stormwater regulations will also be enforced and applicable fees collected. Spartanburg County, under the NPDES program, also has the authority to inspect properties for noncompliance and can issue a notice of violation (NOV) for any deficiency or infraction onsite.

Sec. 3.6 Ownership and Spartanburg County Participation

a) All permanent storm water management facilities shall be privately owned and maintained unless Spartanburg County accepts the facility for shared County maintenance. Spartanburg County shall accept ownership and maintenance of all or part of a storm water system that meets County construction and maintenance standards upon dedication to Spartanburg County of said improvements in accordance with land development policies.

b) Spartanburg County shall have the right of entry to private property for the purpose of determining if a land disturbing activity is being conducted without an approved storm water sediment and control plan, conducting inspections and taking enforcement actions. Right of entry shall be with probable cause.

c) Storm water quantity and quality control facilities shall be located so that required easements can be effectively used and ownership and maintenance responsibility can be clearly defined in deeds and plats.

d) The Storm Water Management Facility Ownership and Maintenance Agreement shall specify minimum maintenance requirements to be performed at necessary intervals by the property owner or lessee, as the case may be.

e) If a facility or any portion of the storm water system is not being maintained as required, the County Engineer or his designee will notify the property owner or Lessee, as the case may be, in writing. If property owner or Lessee, as the case may be, fails to repair or maintain the facility within the allotted time, the Engineering Division may authorize the work to be performed by the County or others. In such cases, the property owner or Lessee, as the case may be, shall reimburse the County for its direct and related expenses. If the property owner or Lessee, as the case may be, fails to reimburse the County, the County is authorized to file a lien for said costs against the property or the Lessee’s leasehold interest, as the case may be, and to enforce the lien by judicial foreclosure proceedings.

f) A property owner or lessee may hire or contract others to perform necessary maintenance actions, but Spartanburg County will hold the person named in the Storm Water Management Facility Ownership and Maintenance Agreement as the responsible party should legal actions described in e) be necessary.

g) When the County Engineer or his designee determines that additional storage capacity or pollution reduction beyond that required by the applicant for on-site storm water management is necessary in order to enhance or provide for the public health, safety and general welfare, to correct unacceptable or undesirable existing conditions or to provide protection in a more desirable fashion for future development, Spartanburg County may require additional storm water controls required to prevent degradation of water quality or increase downstream flooding.

Sec. 3.9 Notification of Spills

Notwithstanding other requirements of law, as soon as any person responsible for a facility or operation and maintenance, or responsible for emergency response for a facility or operation has information of any known or suspected release of materials which are resulting or may result in illegal discharges or pollutants discharging into storm water, the storm drain system, or waters of the State, said person shall take all necessary steps to ensure the discovery, containment, and cleanup of such release. The person shall also take immediate steps to ensure no recurrence of the discharge. In the event of such a release of hazardous materials, including but not limited to oils, greases, engine fluids and fuels, chemicals, herbicides and pesticides, and fertilizers, said person shall immediately notify all necessary agencies of the occurrence via emergency dispatch services. This shall include the Spartanburg County Public Safety Department and Engineering Division. Notifications shall be confirmed by written notice addressed and mailed to the Engineering Division within five (5) business days of the spill event. In the event of a release of non-hazardous materials, said person shall record an on-site written record of the spill. The owner or operator of such establishment shall retain an onsite written record of any and all spills that will include information on cleanup measures taken and the actions to prevent its recurrence. Such records shall be retained for at least five (5) years. Failure to provide notification of a release as provided above is a violation of this ordinance.

The owner, operator, or other designated responsible party will bear all costs of cleaning up any spills. In the event that Spartanburg County departments clean up a spill, the owner, operator, or designated responsible party will be required to reimburse the County for funds used in the clean-up.

Sec. 5.2 Inspections.

(a) The County Engineer or his designee, bearing proper credentials and identification, may enter and inspect all properties for regular inspections, periodic investigations, monitoring, observation measurement, enforcement, sampling and testing, to effectuate the provisions of this ordinance and the SWMP programs. The County Engineer or his designee shall duly notify the owner of said property or the representative on site and the inspection shall be conducted at reasonable times. Right of Entry shall be with probable cause.

(b) Upon refusal by any property owner to permit an inspector to enter or continue an inspection, the inspector shall terminate the inspection or confine the inspection to areas concerning which no objection is raised. The County Engineer or his designee shall document the refusal and the grounds for such and promptly seek appropriate compulsory process.

(c) In the event that the County Engineer or his designee reasonably believes that discharges from the property into the Spartanburg County MS4 may cause an imminent and substantial threat to human health or the environment, the inspection may take place at any time and without notice to the owner of the property or a representative on site. The inspector shall present proper credentials upon reasonable request by the owner or representative.

(d) Inspection reports shall be maintained in a permanent file located in the Engineering Division’s office.

Sec. 6.1 Enforcement

(a) When the Country Engineer or his designee determines that an owner has failed to maintain a storm water management facility, written NOV shall be provided to the owner or the person in possession, charge or control of such property stating the nature of the violation, the amount of time in which to correct deficiencies, the date on which an inspection will be made to make sure that corrective action has been performed, and the proposed penalty structure if corrective action is not taken. It shall be sufficient notification to deliver the notice to the person to whom it is addressed, or to deposit a copy of such in the United States Mail, properly stamped, certified and addressed to the address used for tax purposes. The NOV may address the entire site or a specific portion of the site so as not to unduly impede the development of areas being managed for the control of storm water runoff and associated pollutants.

(b) When the County Engineer or his designee determines that an owner of any property is causing or partially causing flooding, erosion, or non-compliance with water quality standards or this Ordinance, upon providing valid proof of such impacts, the County Engineer or his designee can require owners to remove the proven impact in a concerted, prudent manner. A written NOV shall be issued to the owner containing the information stated above. Following the issuance of the NOV and due process, the County Engineer or his designee is hereby given the authority to levy fines as described in this section.

(c) The County Attorney is hereby directed to take all legal actions necessary to correct situations described in the preceding sections, including actions that are necessary to remove from the property such objectionable conditions constituting non-compliance with this Ordinance.

(d) Nothing contained in this Ordinance shall impair the right or ability of the County Attorney to exercise any and all other remedies available, of law or in equity, including without limitation, the pursuit of injunctive relief, in order to address any non-compliance with the terms and provisions of this ordinance.

Sec. 6.2 Civil Penalties.

(a) Any person violating any provision of this ordinance shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation. No penalty may be assessed until the person alleged to be in violation has been notified of the violation. Each separate day of a violation, constitutes a new and separate violation.

(b) The County shall determine the amount of the civil penalty to be assessed under this section for violations of this ordinance. It shall make a written demand for payment upon the person responsible for the violation and set forth in detail the violation for which the penalty has been invoked. If payment is not received or equitable settlement reached within thirty (30) days after demand for payment if made, a civil action may be filed by the County Attorney in the Spartanburg County Circuit Court to recover the amount of the penalty.

Sec. 6.4 Criminal Penalties

In addition to any applicable civil penalties, any person who negligently, willfully or intentionally violates any provisions of this Ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished within the jurisdictional limits of the magistrate court. Each day of a violation shall constitute a new and separate offense.