Florida
The stormwater permit for construction in Florida
Florida runs its own NPDES programme, so a state issued construction general permit governs. Below is what our engine can say about it, and where we have not read that permit, what it will not say.
Governing permit
NPDES Generic Permit for Stormwater Discharge from Large and Small Construction Activities (Construction Generic Permit, CGP)
- Issued by
- Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)
- Version determined against
- as published by the state agency
- Effective
- 2015-02-10
Who may prepare the plan
No preparer credential foundNo preparer credential was found for Florida. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted by the operator without a credentialed signature. Local ordinances can still be stricter than state law.
No preparer credential found in the reviewed sources. Not exhaustively verified; confirm with the state agency and any local ordinance.
No permit section cited. Confirm this with your permitting authority.
Does a site in Florida need coverage
Worked for a one acre site as a reference point. Change the acreage in the tool below and the answer, and its reasoning, change with it.
Coverage
Permit coverage required
The project disturbs 1 acres, at or above the 1 acre threshold, so it needs permit coverage.
Determined against dataset version 2026-07-19.
Read these before you act on the answer
- Requirements below are what we have read and cited directly from NPDES Generic Permit for Stormwater Discharge from Large and Small Construction Activities (Construction Generic Permit, CGP), not the federal CGP. A category we have not yet transcribed from this permit is omitted here rather than assumed to match EPA's rule.
- Florida's construction stormwater program is administered as an incorporated-by-reference permit DOCUMENT (DEP Document No. 62-621.300(4)(a), F.A.C.) rather than a standalone PDF issued the way TCEQ issues TXR150000 — the operative text is the plain-English Q&A document fetched here, dated 'Effective Date: 02/2015' on its cover page (Cornell Law's codification of the rule independently cites this same incorporated form as 'effective February 10, 2015', giving the precise day used in permit.effectiveDate). DEP is actively drafting amendments to this Construction Generic Permit (a public workshop was held 11/19/2025, comments closed 12/30/2025, and DEP posted a revised draft on 7/22/2026 per floridadep.gov/water/stormwater/content/construction-generic-permit-rulemaking-drafts), but as of the retrieval date above no new rule/form had been adopted, so the 2015-dated document remains the current, currently-effective permit and is what this record describes. No numeric buffer/setback distance (in feet) from surface waters was found anywhere in the permit body — it lists 'vegetative buffer strips' only as one of several optional stabilization measures (Part 5.4) and separately requires structural BMPs to be placed on upland soils (Part 5.5.4), without ever stating a specific footage, so bufferRequirements is omitted rather than guessed. No numeric effluent limits or benchmark table (e.g., for concrete batch plants, as in Texas's permit) appears anywhere in this construction-specific generic permit, so numericLimitsAndBenchmarks is omitted. Florida's permit has no 'increased frequency near sensitive/outstanding waters' provision and no arid/semi-arid/drought reduced-frequency provision comparable to federal's — both are genuinely absent from this document, not merely unverified. Permit application/renewal fee amounts (Part 2.1.2, $400 large / $250 small) were located but not modeled since no schema slot was requested for fees. The rule 62-621.300 as a whole has a longer amendment history (footer citations found via secondary sources list amendments through 2-16-21, and a separate active 2025-2026 rulemaking effort was found for other CGP-related material), but the specific incorporated CGP document (4)(a) that this record is based on has not changed since 2-10-2015.
- No preparer credential was found for Florida. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted by the operator without a credentialed signature. Local ordinances can still be stricter than state law.
- Basinwise does not perform the physical site inspections the permit requires. Those must be carried out on site by a qualified person.
How this answer was reached, step by step
- 1
Coverage threshold
The project disturbs 1 acres, at or above the 1 acre threshold, so it needs permit coverage.
- 2
Permitting authority
Florida. The state runs its own programme, issued as an unnumbered or rule-based general permit rather than under a discrete permit number.
- 3
Preparer credential
No preparer credential was found for Florida. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted by the operator without a credentialed signature. Local ordinances can still be stricter than state law.
What to do next
- 1. Confirm the governing permit. Read NPDES Generic Permit for Stormwater Discharge from Large and Small Construction Activities (Construction Generic Permit, CGP) directly. It is linked above, and it is the document an inspector will hold you to. Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)
- 2. Settle the preparer question before you draft. Getting this wrong costs a redraft at best. The detail is on the credential page for this state. Preparer credential in Florida
- 3. Screen the site. Run the real acreage and receiving water facts through the tool below. You get the inspection frequency, the stabilisation deadlines and the filing path with the permit section behind each.
- 4. Read the requirements in full. SWPPP requirements in Florida
Screen a Florida site now
Runs in your browser. Nothing about the site is transmitted.
What people ask about the Florida construction stormwater permit
Do I need a stormwater permit for a construction site in Florida?
Permit coverage is triggered at one acre of land disturbance, and below one acre if the project is part of a larger common plan of development or sale that will ultimately disturb an acre or more. The project disturbs 1 acres, at or above the 1 acre threshold, so it needs permit coverage.
Who issues the construction stormwater permit in Florida?
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) issues NPDES Generic Permit for Stormwater Discharge from Large and Small Construction Activities (Construction Generic Permit, CGP).
Does Florida require a qualified preparer for the plan?
No preparer credential was found for Florida. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted by the operator without a credentialed signature. Local ordinances can still be stricter than state law.
Keep the record Florida will ask you for
The screening is free. Holding the written plan and the retained inspection log is what the permit actually demands.