Who may prepare a stormwater plan in Vermont

Vermont requires a credentialed preparer only in some cases. Plan scope rather than acreage: Moderate risk projects only, per Appendix A's Risk Evaluation questionnaire: Overall Risk Score 1 or less = Low Risk (Site Drawing under the Low Risk Site Handbook, no stated preparer credential); Overall Risk Score 2 to 4 = Moderate Risk (site-specific EPSC Plan, Subpart 3.2 credential applies); Overall Risk Score 5 or higher, or 5+ acres concurrent earth disturbance, or a 14+ day stabilization schedule = ineligible for the general permit, requires an Individual Discharge Permit.

What triggers it: Plan scope rather than acreage: Moderate risk projects only, per Appendix A's Risk Evaluation questionnaire: Overall Risk Score 1 or less = Low Risk (Site Drawing under the Low Risk Site Handbook, no stated preparer credential); Overall Risk Score 2 to 4 = Moderate Risk (site-specific EPSC Plan, Subpart 3.2 credential applies); Overall Risk Score 5 or higher, or 5+ acres concurrent earth disturbance, or a 14+ day stabilization schedule = ineligible for the general permit, requires an Individual Discharge Permit.

Confirmed by direct read of the permit. Subpart 3.2 verbatim: 'This Subpart, applicable to moderate risk construction activities, describes the required EPSC Plan that is to be prepared by a certified engineer and meet all requirements of the APPENDIX B.' Risk tiering is not acreage-based alone; it runs through Appendix A's questionnaire (eligibility screening, then a Basic and Detailed Risk Evaluation combining into an Overall Risk Score). 'Certified engineer' is genuinely undefined: the phrase appears exactly once in the 77-page permit, does not recur in Appendix C Definitions, and the terms 'professional engineer,' 'PE,' 'stamp,' 'seal' and 'licensed' do not appear anywhere. Vermont's engineering licensure statute (26 V.S.A. Chapter 20) only formally recognizes 'Professional Engineer' and 'Engineer Intern' — 'certified engineer' is not a defined credential under Vermont law either, so the ambiguity cannot be resolved by cross-referencing state licensure statute. Because the permit itself never invokes a stamp, seal or PE license, peStamp is left null rather than inferred as true.