Permits | Carver County, MN

Our permits

The Carver County Water Management Organization regulates certain projects within the Carver County Water Management Organization boundary, including construction, redevelopment, and grading projects. The organization reviews construction plans and issues water rules permits and wetland permits.

Applications and more information can be found by expanding the sections below.

Erosion control and stormwater permits

Overview

The Carver County Water Resource Management Ordinance, known as water rules, regulate construction activity within the watershed boundaries. There are two permit types under the water rules: Erosion and Sediment Control Permit and Stormwater Permit.

The Erosion and Sediment Control permit requires the protection of surface waters during construction through the use of erosion and sediment control practices, such as silt fence, erosion control blankets, and seeding. It also requires long-term protection through standards including the topsoil management and wetland protection standards.

The Stormwater Permit requires erosion and sediment control, as well as installation of practices to treat storm water runoff after construction is complete. Projects requiring stormwater treatment need to meet standards for water quality, volume reduction, and rate control.

The water rules permit ensures that runoff from development and redevelopment activities within the watershed do not harm water resources. Pollutants, such as sediment and phosphorus, wash off unprotected construction sites during rain events and into nearby lakes, rivers and wetlands. Additionally, the permit may require treatment of developed areas with hard surfaces like pavement which can create large amounts of storm water runoff that contain oil, salt, bacteria, trash and other pollutants that washed into lakes, rivers and wetlands.

The current water rules were adopted by the County Board on June 28th, 2022. They help the organization with the following.

Meet the requirements for adopted Total Maximum Daily Loads
Provide uniform requirements across the watershed management organization and in different jurisdictions
Meet the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System permit requirements
Implement the goals in the Water Management Plan
Meet the requirements of the Metropolitan Surface Water Management Act
Prevent existing water management issues from becoming more problematic
Protect residents within the Caver County Water Management Organization from potential stormwater or surface water issues.

Application

Download an application form below.

Erosion and Sediment Control and Stormwater Permit Application

Complete applications may be submitted to the staff contacts listed below. Electronic submissions are preferred. Permit applications are reviewed by department staff and comments are typically returned within 10-20 business days.

Prior to submitting an application, please contact the staff listed below to determine the type of permit needed and whether a meeting with the development review team would be beneficial. Review time for applications can be reduced if these meetings are included in the process. The development review team includes staff from the Carver County Water Management Organization, the Carver County Soil and Water Conservation District, and applicable city departments.

The next section contains a list of resources to use when preparing an application submittal for a water rules permit. A list of typical submittal requirements is listed in the Carver County Water Resource Management Ordinance.

Ordinance, calculators, guidelines

Water rules ordinance

Guidelines

The stormwater best management practices guidelines include design parameters and standard practice details to be used in stormwater permit applications.

Best management practices guidelines

Calculators

The credit calculators are tools hosted in Excel that should be used to determine whether water quality and volume reduction requirements are met and can be helpful in stormwater best management practice selection and design.

Example operation and maintenance plan

Example Best Management Practices Operation & Maintenance Plan

Maintenance notification form

Certain activities in or near waterbodies or stormwater BMPs (see list below) require only a maintenance notification form. The maintenance notification form must be provided 10 business days prior to the activity. There is no fee for submitting a maintenance notification form. Work can commence following notification from the WMO that the proposed work qualifies as a maintenance activity.

Download the Maintenance notification form

Activities needing a maintenance notification form

Stream Crossing/Culvert Replacement. Projects which involve the replacement of existing crossings and result in minor or no changes to the hydraulic profile of the waterbody in the 2-, 10-, and 100-year events and result in no adverse impacts to structures or watercourses.
Slip-lining culverts.
Chip sealing. Projects which involve chip seal pavement surface treatment in urban areas where streets or paved areas have surface inlets.
Horizontal drilling for utility work. Projects which involve horizontal drilling for utility work and are within sensitive areas (utility maintenance work and projects that part of a larger plan of development are exempt).
BMP Maintenance. Projects which maintain or restore the function of stormwater BMPs by replacing structures or filtration media, dredging, grading, or other activities beyond routine maintenance (i.e. sediment removal from inlets, trash removal, vegetation management).

Contact

Wetland Conservation Act permits

Overview

The wetland permit is implemented in townships in accordance with Minnesota's Wetland Conservation Act. The Wetland Conservation Act's purpose is to maintain and protect Minnesota’s wetlands and the benefits they provide.

The Wetland Conservation Act requires anyone proposing to drain, fill, or excavate a wetland to:

first, try to avoid disturbing the wetland;
second, try to minimize any impact on the wetland; and,
finally, replace any lost wetland acres, functions, and values.

Most activities that involve altering a wetland will need review and comment by the Carver County Water Management Organization. The extent of the review will depend on the type of alteration being proposed.

Application and resources

Contact