State coverage plus a joint four-government program, exceptional-waters rules around the Great Smoky Mountains, and steep-slope demands that make a Sevier County SWPPP different from anywhere else.
Sevier County is unlike anywhere else in Tennessee to build. It surrounds the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, its terrain is steep, and its economy runs on tourism construction in Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg. All of that shapes the stormwater rules, which are administered jointly and take water quality unusually seriously.
Answer a few questions about your site and get a field-ready SWPPP built to TDEC permit TNR100000, ready to review, sign, and submit.
Get startedAnywhere in Tennessee, a project that disturbs one acre or more (including a lot inside a larger common plan of development) needs coverage under the Construction General Permit (TNR100000): a written SWPPP, a Notice of Intent filed in MyTDEC (form CN-0940), twice-weekly inspections documented on form CN-1173, and a Notice of Termination at closeout. If that is new to you, start with Do I need a SWPPP in Tennessee? and how to file your NOI.
Sevier County, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg run their stormwater programs together as the Sevier Stormwater Group (a shared MS4 under permit TNS075655, re-issued April 1, 2024). Sevier County Stormwater Management is at 227 Cedar Street, Sevierville; the office line is 865-429-4580 and the hotline is 865-429-4882, and the county moved Land Disturbance permitting online in 2023. Because the four governments coordinate, one useful rule to know: if a county-permitted site is later annexed by a city, the county Land Disturbance permit becomes void and you obtain a new one from the city.
This is the big one for Sevier County. There are 186 high-quality protected streams in the county, 183 of them inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including Outstanding National Resource Waters like the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River above Gatlinburg. The state permit carries upgraded requirements for construction near impaired and exceptional Tennessee waters, so a site that drains toward those streams can face stricter buffers, controls, and design storms than a comparable site elsewhere. Confirm early whether your outfall reaches protected water.
Mountain terrain means erosion risk. Sites with steep slopes have to engineer runoff nonerosively around or over the slope and stabilize disturbed slopes as quickly as practicable to prevent slope failure and sediment discharge. Expect the local program to look hard at slope stabilization, water-quality riparian buffers, and, where you alter a stream, an Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit.
Your SWPPP needs to do more work here than on flat ground: real slope stabilization sequencing, buffer protection, and heightened controls if you are anywhere near exceptional or park waters. Because steep, sensitive sites can push you toward engineered controls, it is worth confirming whether your project needs an engineer's design.
SWPPP Builder generates a field-ready Tennessee SWPPP built to the state Construction General Permit in about an hour. Pricing is flat and posted up front: $349 for a standard non-engineered contractor SWPPP, $99 for a single-family homebuilder plan (built on TDEC form CN-1249), and $499 when your site needs engineered or pre-approved plans. That is a fraction of the $1,500 to $5,000 a consultant typically charges, and you keep the file in your account to reuse and update as the job changes.
Sevier County, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg run a joint program as the Sevier Stormwater Group under a shared MS4 permit. The county office is at 227 Cedar Street, Sevierville, 865-429-4580, with online land disturbance permitting.
Sevier County contains 186 high-quality protected streams, most inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including Outstanding National Resource Waters. Construction near impaired or exceptional Tennessee waters carries upgraded permit requirements.
Sites with steep slopes must route runoff nonerosively around or over the slope and stabilize disturbed slopes as fast as practicable to prevent slope failure and sediment discharge. Slope stabilization gets close attention here.
The county Land Disturbance permit becomes void on annexation, and you obtain a new permit from the annexing city, which then administers the site under the joint program.