Lot and brush clearing around Rome

Clearing a lot in Floyd County can mean a few days of brush cutting on a half acre, or a wooded parcel taken down to dirt for a house pad. Once soil is disturbed for development, the county's permit process comes into play.

Published prices

Angi separately prices groups of trees by the acre at $500 to $6,000. Steep ground, dense growth, demolition, grading and erosion control all push toward the top of these ranges.

The land disturbance permit

Rome-Floyd County Building Inspection handles land disturbance permits for both the city and the county. Its checklist says work can't start until the Chief Building Inspector issues a development permit, and the plans have to include a buffer, landscaping and tree conservation plan that marks tree protection areas and river corridor buffers. Fees listed on the checklist:

Sites with more than 1 acre disturbed also file a Notice of Intent for state stormwater coverage. Land within 200 feet of the Etowah, Oostanaula or Coosa River banks needs River Overlay District Committee approval. Whether clearing alone, with no development plan, triggers the permit isn't spelled out on the checklist: ask Building Inspection at 706-236-4480.

Creeks and branches

Georgia law sets a 25-foot buffer along the banks of state waters, measured from where normal stream flow has wrested away the vegetation, and bars land-disturbing activity inside it with limited exceptions. Someone building a single-family home for their own occupancy may thin or trim vegetation in the buffer, but must leave protective cover.

The brush pile

The Georgia Forestry Commission requires a permit or notification for land-clearing burns. Machine-piled clearing debris falls under the state EPD's land-clearing rules and, depending on the county, may need an air curtain destructor. The other route is the landfill: Walker Mountain accepts land clearing debris as inert waste at $21 a ton for loads over 2,001 pounds.