Land and Lot Clearing in Cherokee County, GA

Clearing is regulated as land disturbance

Cherokee County Development Services defines land disturbance activity as any activity that may result in soil erosion from water or wind and the movement of sediment into state waters or onto lands within the state. Its land disturbance permit, or LDP, regulates clearing and grading of land of one acre or more; removal or destruction of trees or other vegetation; excavation and filling; deposition of debris; and any disturbance of soil within two hundred feet of state waters.

Clearing and grading of less than one acre is regulated through an erosion control permit, or ECP, according to the same page. That distinction matters for anyone clearing a homesite, pasture or driveway corridor. A small clearing job may need only an ECP, but the two-hundred-foot rule for state waters can pull even a small job into the LDP process. Ask the county before machines arrive.

How plans are submitted

The county says it accepts plans electronically through its CityView portal, using a BlueBeam-based review tool, and does not accept paper plans. It publishes a plan approval customer guide, a digital review user's guide, its fee schedule and a list of commonly missed items for plan review. The upload is for county reviewers only; the water authority and environmental health have their own processes.

If the property is on a septic system, the county requires approval from the Environmental Health Department before it grants its own approval. For rural lots, that sequencing can affect when clearing can legally start, so ask the provider or your engineer to map out the order of approvals before scheduling equipment.

Tree replacement and site density

On sites that require an LDP, Article 27 calls for an approved Tree Protection and Replacement Plan as a condition of the permit. The ordinance measures tree cover in density units. Its Table A converts each existing tree's diameter to a unit value: trees of 1 to 4 inches need not be counted, 5 to 8 inches count 0.3 units, 9 to 12 inches 0.6, 13 to 16 inches 1.2, and so on up to 8.1 units for a 37 to 40-inch tree; larger trees use the formula diameter squared times 0.7854 divided by 144.

The site density factor is the minimum number of units per acre a property must reach at completion. The ordinance lists 20 units per acre for many residential districts, including R-40 and R-80, with lower figures for denser and commercial districts. Its own example: a 10-acre wooded site zoned R-40 needs 200 units. Our calculator shows the unit value of any single tree.

Exemptions that may apply

Not every clearing job triggers Article 27. The ordinance exempts construction of a single-family or two-family home that is not part of a Major Subdivision, additions and accessory structures on an existing residence, tree removal by existing single-family homeowners except Heritage Trees, installation of on-site sewage systems, and land disturbance permits of 5,000 square feet or less where no trees are removed.

Exemption from the tree ordinance is not exemption from erosion control. A homeowner clearing for a barn may be exempt from tree replacement but still need an ECP or LDP if the disturbance is large enough or close enough to a stream. See the tree ordinance guide and the stream buffer guide.

Timber harvests are their own track

If the trees are sold as timber, Article 27's timber harvesting section applies. Following state law, anyone harvesting standing timber in unincorporated Cherokee County for delivery as pulpwood, logs, poles, posts or chips must notify the county arborist before entering the property if possible, and in no event later than 24 hours after entering, and must give notice of cessation within 24 hours after the job is done. The notice includes a map of the tract and the truck entry and exit points.

The ordinance says no fee is charged for that notice and, consistent with state law, no permit, including a driveway permit, is required of the harvester. It also notes that timber harvests or sales must be reported on Georgia Department of Revenue form PT-283T. Ask any provider whether the job is a clearing job or a timber harvest; the paperwork differs.

Debris and burning on cleared land

Land-clearing burns need a permit from the Georgia Forestry Commission, by phone at 1-800-GA-TREES or online, and burning debris generated by machine clearing or with an air curtain destructor requires a call for a permit. From May 1 through September 30, Georgia EPD's summer burn ban prohibits land clearing, construction and right-of-way burns in Cherokee County.

Plan the schedule around that window, or plan to chip and haul. Stump removal during clearing is excavation under Georgia's 811 law, so locate requests come before grubbing. For smaller jobs, see tree removal in Ball Ground and burning tree debris.