What to Know Before Clearing Land Around Winder and Barrow County
Two offices set the permit path. Barrow County Planning and Community
Development, at 30 North Broad Street in Winder, takes land disturbance permit
applications through its online portal, and its fees follow the disturbed acreage as well
as the size of the whole property. Georgia's construction stormwater permit starts at a
land disturbance of one acre or more, and the state keeps a 25-foot undisturbed buffer
along State waters that require one. A parcel inside a city limit may answer to that city's
office instead. Requirements vary by parcel, scope and jurisdiction, and the governing
authority makes the determination.
Red clay washes once its cover is gone. The clay beneath Piedmont woods
erodes easily when trees and roots come off a slope, so on a grade we leave a layer of
chips on the soil rather than scraping it bare. Privet is thickest in the creek bottoms,
which also stay wet longest, so those strips are walked first, worked in dry spells and
priced up front.
No brush fires in summer. Georgia bars the burning of yard and
land-clearing debris from May 1 through September 30 in 54 counties, and Barrow, Clarke,
Hall, Gwinnett, DeKalb and Fulton are among them. In the cooler months a clearing fire
needs a Georgia Forestry Commission permit that is good on the day issued only. A mulcher
leaves chips on the ground, so there is nothing to burn.