Anyone ever permit a 'Farm Pond' or borrow pit

[paulsharvey]

Always better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

I was hoping you would show up on this Lineman. Any experience with this?

The map attached; the yellow blob would be a likely home site; the green-teal would be a trail; and the blue circle would be kinda the preferred pond location, but the red circle (which IS upland) would also work well.

I know you do a mix of contracted work; you build an farm ponds or borrow pits? Not asking you to out yourself if you did something shady, and not looking for a bid

 

[oosik]

I'm sure that regulations will vary - state by state. Best you check on your local conditions.

 

[paulsharvey]

I found some additional info, that I will share from a neighboring county (for non Water Management ponds)
1) for all zoning not AG or AR; ponds can be the lesser of 1/3 of the property or 1/3 of an acre, whichever is less
2) must be 75 ft from any septic system
3) must have 4:1 or less slope on banks
4) not be connected to any stomr water run off, natural run off, impervious surface or wetlands
5) be located atlwast 25 ft from any easement, row, access or property line
6) can not be filled/connected in anyway to a well system
7) can not discharge to any system, wetland, ditch, neighboring property

 

[plowhog]

I'm sure that regulations will vary - state by state.

I'm in CA so keep that in mind.

My logger decided to put in a pond. Very rural remote property. His wife had the time of her life running an excavator and other equipment to build it. After completion, the county demanded it be restored back to natural condition. They do a flyover every year of the entire County and compare the photos.

 

[wolc123]

I am almost as far north of Florida as you can get (upstate NY) without entering Canada. Our kids are the 7th generation of our family to live on the 40 acre farm that my great great great grandfather homesteaded in the early 1800’s.

Our farm is on the lowest elevation road in our town and we have some minor flooding every few years. The low point here is near the center of our acreage. I thought that would be a good place for a pond, so I went up to TSC and bought a pond scoop one year, when we had a drought.

I spent about a week digging a 50 x 40 x 6 ft deep pond (did not get a permit). A creek runs thru our farm about 200 yards from the pond. Maybe that’s where the fish came from, during one of the floods, when most of our land was under water.

I dug the pond about 30 years ago, and fish got in it within 5 years. It dried up completely, during another drought, about 10 years ago. I got into it then with my 4wd loader tractor, cleaned out all the sediment, and dug it about 2 ft deeper into the clay.

Fish got in it again after a year or two. Last winter was the warmest we have ever had and it never froze over. These pictures were taken in mid February. I found some worms under a timber in our back yard and decided to go back and see if I could catch any fish. I got about a dozen in 15 minutes.

It is kind of neat how I was able to fish worms under a bobber in mid February this year, while a few years before we were ice skating on the pond at that time. Global warming is for real apparently.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, I found out more, on a StJRWMD permit if you wanted to dredge wetlands; $250 permit fee, engineer S&S plans, and requires S&S as-built survey at end. That'd just the permit fees, and it could require mitigation, or possibly be denied. So, I figure even with a simple case, that's $8k in permitting probably. Of coarse no PE is gonna stamp anything without a topo survey before design....

Wife didn't seem that excited about the property, although she didn't see it. She falls more into the camp of nicer pond/creek/ect with less property; I fall into the more property and room for improvement camp.

 

[jyoutz]

I'm don't really want this to be a should I have to or should I not; it's more of a topic on if required to permit a pond, what was your experience?

This is really a fact finding mission.

Background; we are looking for properties, 5-20 acres; either with a creek/pond/spring; or without the pond, and construction one. I do work within a permitting type job, but not with a DEP/water management organization. I did some reading on my local regulatory agency website; and it appears entirely upland 'farm ponds' and borrow pits are exempt from permitting (if 5 acres or less) but ones in wetlands, or connected to wetlands, or drainage basins require a Environmental Resource Permit.

Ideally, I would want to basically waller out an already wet, mucky hole, that stays wet, but doesn't really have surface water, into a maybe 80 ft open water pond, maybe sloping to a max of 6-8 ft depth at the deepest point.

This is FLa, so we aren't talking about constructing dams, we are talking about digging down to the water table.

Anyone every done this? How much trouble was it? The construction part is relatively 'simple'; it's the legalities that might get complex.

I wouldn't expect you would need drainage calls, or discharge points; it's not to collect rain water or anything.

To get the correct legal answer, contact your state water quality agency. To get help with technical assistance design and construction, contact the local office of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

 

[ultrarunner]

Friend had the opposite problem with his ranch and a half acre pond from the 1800’s

University Professor neighbors contacted county demanding inspection of the “Dam”

County said pond predates records but turned it over to consulting engineer.

The engineer wanted testing of the earthen dam…

Rancher friend heck with it.

He got a simple dam removal permit and hired it out for the end of summer dry season.

Professors returned from summer holiday and found no dam and all neatly restored and planted.

Furious they called the county and county came out and said all work permitted and signed off.

Professors then sued for property value loss because pond was their focal point…

Semi Retired Berkeley professors with too much time on their hands pushing all the right regulatory agency buttons.

Professors lost…

 

[tractortroof]

To get the correct legal answer, contact your state water quality agency. To get help with technical assistance design and construction, contact the local office of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

This is exactly what I would not do. Keep asking questions and every regulatory agency in the free world will have their hand in it. Why not ask NATO or WEF also lol.

 

[bdhsfz6]

What I don't get is, in my state, beaver can make a pond without a permit. Once built, they are protected and can't be removed.

If I build a pond without a permit, I go to jail and the pond is immediately removed.

Go figure.