Know what you owe
The obligations that don't go away.
Most stormwater problems on Delmarva aren't engineering failures. They're calendar failures — a recurring requirement nobody was told they inherited.
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Recorded inspection & maintenance agreement Sussex County, DE — Chapter 90. Recorded in land records and binding on every subsequent owner, with right of access for the district.Perpetual
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Preventive maintenance inspection Maryland — COMAR 26.17.02.11. First year of operation, then at minimum every three years thereafter.Every 3 years
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Construction General Permit & eNOI Delaware — required for land disturbance of one acre or more. The electronic notice of intent is filed before your plan is approved.Per project
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Nutrient management plan For farms and commercial turf, not ponds. Delaware plans are valid three years; Maryland operators file an annual implementation report each spring.3-year / annual
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Routine BMP maintenance DNREC's standard guidelines set the checklists and frequencies — mowing, debris, forebay sediment, structure condition — by facility type.Seasonal
Who owes what
The obligations attached to a stormwater facility do not sit with one party. They are split between the owner, the contractor who built it and the agency that reviews it — and the split is the part that usually gets lost at turnover.
- The owner — the community association, property manager or municipality — owes the recorded maintenance agreement, the routine maintenance, and in Maryland the preventive-maintenance inspection cycle.
- The developer or site contractor owes construction-phase permit coverage and erosion and sediment control while the site is open, and the as-built certification that closes it out.
- The reviewing agency — in this market usually the Sussex or Kent conservation district, or the county in Maryland — inspects, records, notifies and enforces.
When a facility changes hands without its paperwork, the obligation does not change hands with it. It stays with the land, and the new owner inherits a requirement they were never handed a copy of.
Where this usually surfaces
- A letter arrives from the county or the district and nobody on the board knows what it refers to.
- A reserve study flags the facility and nobody can find a condition report to price against.
- A property sells or refinances and the lender asks for documentation that does not exist.
- Board turnover reveals a recorded agreement that has not been honoured for several years.
All four are normal, and none of them is an emergency. They are all the same job: establish what the facility is supposed to be, establish what it currently is, and close the gap in a documented order.
If your community was built in Sussex County, there is a recorded inspection and maintenance agreement in the county land records with your facility's name on it. It is public. Most boards have never read theirs, and it is the single document that determines what you are actually on the hook for.
Next step
Tell us what the water is doing.
The first site visit is free on any stormwater facility in Sussex, Kent, Worcester, Wicomico or Dorchester county. You get a walkthrough and a straight answer about what is actually required.