Vermont
The stormwater permit for construction in Vermont
Vermont 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
General Permit 3-9020 for Stormwater Runoff from Construction Sites
- Issued by
- Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Watershed Management Division
- Permit number
- 3-9020
- Version determined against
- as published by the state agency
- Effective
- 2025-06-20
- Expires
- 2030-06-20
Who may prepare the plan
Conditional, depends on the siteVermont gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by 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. Confirm which case applies to your plan before relying on a generated document.
Qualifying routes
- Certified engineer (required for moderate risk projects; the term 'certified engineer' is not defined anywhere in the permit, including its Appendix C definitions)
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.
Does a site in Vermont 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 General Permit 3-9020 for Stormwater Runoff from Construction Sites, 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.
- The DEC's general landing page still links to the superseded 2020-02-19 permit PDF, but the actual current, legally effective permit is the 2025 reissuance (effective 2025-06-20, expires 2030-06-20), used and verified by the prior Workstream A3 credential entry for VT. Vermont's stabilization requirement is a single undifferentiated 14-day deadline applying identically regardless of disturbed acreage (the general permit itself caps concurrent earth disturbance at 5 acres; larger triggers mandatory Individual Permit coverage), so facts were not forced into stabilization.complete.fiveAcresOrLess/moreThanFiveAcres. Vermont has no distinct increased-inspection-near-sensitive-waters rule -- proximity to a Class A Water/Outstanding Resource Water instead raises the project's risk-category score. Vermont's permit contains no arid/semi-arid/drought provisions anywhere -- omitted entirely rather than fabricated. No explicit numeric deadline for submitting a Notice of Termination after final stabilization was found. deadline.noi.newSite has no fixed lead-time-in-days structure; Vermont instead flatly bars construction from commencing until DEC issues written authorization.
- Vermont gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by 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. Confirm which case applies to your plan before relying on a generated document.
- 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
Vermont. The state runs its own programme under 3-9020.
- 3
Preparer credential
Vermont gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by 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. Confirm which case applies to your plan before relying on a generated document.
VerifiedGeneral Permit 3-9020 (2025), Subpart 3.2 (Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control (EPSC) Plan)Source
What to do next
- 1. Confirm the governing permit. Read General Permit 3-9020 for Stormwater Runoff from Construction Sites directly. It is linked above, and it is the document an inspector will hold you to. Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Watershed Management Division
- 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 Vermont
- 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 Vermont
Screen a Vermont site now
Runs in your browser. Nothing about the site is transmitted.
What people ask about the Vermont construction stormwater permit
Do I need a stormwater permit for a construction site in Vermont?
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 Vermont?
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Watershed Management Division issues General Permit 3-9020 for Stormwater Runoff from Construction Sites.
Does Vermont require a qualified preparer for the plan?
Vermont gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by 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. Confirm which case applies to your plan before relying on a generated document.
Keep the record Vermont will ask you for
The screening is free. Holding the written plan and the retained inspection log is what the permit actually demands.