What is an E and S plan?

Where a full plan is required, the statute defines it by what it has to hold rather than by a form.

Under Va. Code 62.1-44.15:51 an erosion and sediment control plan is a document containing material for the conservation of soil and water resources of a unit of land, and it has to contain all the major conservation decisions for the whole unit. 9VAC25-875-550 adds that one plan is filed for a development and the buildings constructed in it, regardless of how construction is phased. Montgomery County describes what the document does and its shape: it describes the potential for erosion and sedimentation on a construction project, in a written portion known as the narrative and an illustrative portion known as the plan.

The measures in that plan answer to the state's minimum standards, 19 numbered items in 9VAC25-875-560. Carroll County's page says all applicable 19 minimum standards will be followed. Six of them are below, and several of those are about slope and grade directly:

• Sediment basins and traps, perimeter dikes and sediment barriers are built as a first step and made functional before upslope land disturbance takes place.
• Permanent or temporary soil stabilization goes on bare areas within seven days after final grade is reached on any portion of the site.
• Cut and fill slopes are designed and built to minimize erosion.
• Concentrated runoff does not flow down cut or fill slopes unless it is contained in an adequate channel, flume or slope drain.
• Where water seeps from a slope face, adequate drainage or other protection is provided.
• Properties and waterways downstream from the site are protected from sediment deposition, erosion and damage.

The law is less strict about who draws a plan than about who answers for it. Under Va. Code 62.1-44.15:55 E, when a contractor does the land disturbance under a construction contract, preparing, submitting and getting approval of the plan is the owner's responsibility, and Montgomery County says an owner may designate an engineer, architect, contractor or someone else to prepare it while keeping the ultimate responsibility. A licensed engineer is one route to qualifying as a program's certified plan reviewer, but Board certification or training qualifies a reviewer too, and that definition is about who reviews a plan, not who must draw one. How an erosion plan differs from the plan a building office may ask for is under what a site plan is and who draws it.

Not every shovel of dirt needs a plan. Va. Code 62.1-44.15:55 F lists activities that do not have to comply with the article unless federal law requires it, and several of them touch a homesite or a farm.

• Disturbance under 10,000 square feet, or under 2,500 square feet in a Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area, unless the governing body has reduced or qualified that exception.
• Minor land-disturbing activities such as home gardens and individual home landscaping, repairs and maintenance work.
• Installing, maintaining or repairing a septic tank line or drainfield, unless it is included in an overall plan for constructing the building the septic system serves.
• Clearing land specifically for bona fide agricultural purposes. That exception does not reach harvesting forest crops unless the area is reforested, artificially or naturally, under Title 10.1 Chapter 11, or converted to bona fide agricultural or improved pasture use.

Clearing or mowing a tract to show it to buyers is a related question with its own answer, under whether to clear or bush hog before listing. Where the grade pass fits in reading a parcel, and which office holds the record, is set out in how Bowman reads a parcel.