Filing the Notice of Termination

Published September 7, 2026. Last reviewed September 7, 2026. Technical review: Jim Price, CISEC, CESSWI. Founder, Stormwater Compliant LLC.

A Notice of Termination must be filed within 30 days after final stabilization is achieved, operational control is transferred, or alternative authorization is obtained. Final stabilization generally means uniform perennial vegetative cover at 70% of native background density. Permit coverage continues until TCEQ approves the NOT.

Demobilizing is not terminating. That distinction costs Texas contractors more money than any single violation in this permit.

---

Coverage Does Not End When You Leave

Here is the sentence that matters, from Part II.F of the 2023 Construction General Permit:

Compliance with the conditions and requirements of this permit is required until the NOT is submitted and approved by TCEQ.

Not until the crew leaves. Not until the certificate of occupancy issues. Not until the owner takes possession. Until TCEQ approves the termination.

Everything that follows from that is uncomfortable. An open permit means the inspection schedule still applies, the SWP3 still has to be maintained, the site notice still has to be posted, and you are still the party a regulator contacts about a discharge from that property. On a site you have not visited in two years.

We find these regularly. Someone is doing due diligence on a commercial property, pulls the regulatory history, and discovers an authorization from 2019 that was never closed. It is not usually a crisis. It is always a mess, and it is entirely preventable by one filing.

---

The Three Conditions That Start the 30-Day Clock

The NOT is due within 30 days after any of these:

1. Final stabilization has been achieved on all portions of the site that are your responsibility.
2. A transfer of operational control has occurred. If you hand the site to another operator, your clock starts then. See multi-operator sites and who holds the liability.
3. You have obtained alternative authorization under an individual TPDES permit or a different general permit.

Most people only know about the first one, which means contractors who transfer a site mid-project routinely leave their own coverage open while a different operator runs the job.

Note the phrase "portions of the site that are the responsibility of the operator." On a multi-operator site your obligation attaches to your areas, not the whole plat.

Small construction sites, 1 to under 5 acres, do not file a NOT at all, because they never filed an NOI. They still have to reach final stabilization. See the 1-acre vs 5-acre rule.

---

What Final Stabilization Actually Requires

This is the substantive part, and it is where close-out schedules break.

From the Part I.B definition:

All soil disturbing activities at the site have been completed and a uniform (that is, evenly distributed, without large bare areas) perennial vegetative cover with a density of at least 70% of the native background vegetative cover for the area has been established on all unpaved areas and areas not covered by permanent structures, or equivalent permanent stabilization measures (such as the use of riprap, or gabions) have been employed.

Three parts worth pulling out.

"70% of the native background vegetative cover." Not 70% ground coverage in the abstract. Seventy percent of what grows naturally in that area, undisturbed. In parts of the Hill Country the native background is itself sparse, which means the target is lower than a landscaper would assume. Establishing the reference condition matters, and photographing an adjacent undisturbed area is a cheap way to document it.

"Uniform." The permit defines it: evenly distributed, without large bare areas. A site averaging 75% coverage with a bare quarter-acre on the back slope does not meet the standard. Averages do not satisfy this. Distribution does.

"Perennial." Annual cover that will not return next season is temporary stabilization, not final. This catches people who seed with a fast annual to get through inspection season.

The equivalent-measures alternative. Riprap, gabions, and similar permanent measures satisfy the standard without vegetation. On steep slopes and channel sections that is frequently the faster and more durable route.

---

The Three Alternate Paths

Most readers do not know these exist. Each is written into the definition.

Residential Lots

For individual lots in a residential construction site, the homebuilder can satisfy final stabilization by either:

• completing final stabilization as normal, or
• establishing temporary stabilization before transferring ownership of the home to the buyer, after informing the homeowner of the need for and benefits of final stabilization.

If temporary stabilization is not feasible, the builder may instead retain perimeter controls or BMPs and inform the homeowner of the need to remove those temporary controls and establish final stabilization.

Either way, fulfillment must be documented in the SWP3. That documentation requirement is the part builders miss. Telling the buyer verbally at closing satisfies nothing.

Agricultural Land

For construction on land used for agricultural purposes, such as a pipeline crossing crop or range land, final stabilization can be accomplished by returning the disturbed land to its preconstruction agricultural use.

The exception is bounded. Areas that were not previously in agricultural use, including buffer strips immediately adjacent to surface water and any area not being returned to agricultural use, must meet the ordinary 70% standard.

Arid, Semi-Arid, and Drought-Stricken Areas

This one matters in South and West Texas. In these areas only, final stabilization is met when all soil-disturbing activity is complete and both of the following are true:

1. Temporary erosion control measures, for example a degradable rolled erosion control product, are selected, designed, and installed along with an appropriate seed base to provide erosion control for at least three years without active maintenance by the operator, and
2. Those measures are selected, designed, and installed to achieve 70% of the native background vegetative coverage within three years.

Read that carefully before relying on it. It is not "we tried to seed and it is dry." It requires a designed installation intended to function unmaintained for three years. Done properly it is a legitimate close-out path on a drought-affected site. Done casually it is a finding.

---

Filing the NOT

Work through this in order.

Before you file

• All soil-disturbing activity complete on your portions of the site
• Final stabilization achieved, or an alternate path satisfied and documented
• Photographic documentation of the stabilized condition, dated
• Temporary controls removed where permanent stabilization has taken over
• Inspection records and corrective action documentation complete and filed
• SWP3 amendments current

Filing

• Submit the NOT electronically through STEERS, within 30 days of the triggering condition
• Reference the original NOI authorization
• Provide a copy of the NOT to the operator of any MS4 receiving the discharge, with those operators listed by name and address in the SWP3

After filing

• Confirm TCEQ approval. Submission alone does not end coverage.
• Retain the SWP3 and all records per the permit's retention requirements
• Take down the site notice

That MS4 copy is skipped constantly. It is a permit condition, and on a San Antonio project it generally means the City, with SAWS as co-permittee.

---

What If You Never Filed One?

If you suspect an old project still has open coverage, this is fixable and worth fixing.

Check first. TCEQ's public records will show authorizations tied to your customer number. An authorization with no termination on a project that finished years ago is an open permit.

Assess the site's current condition. In most cases a completed project has long since achieved final stabilization in fact, even though nobody documented it. That is the easy version.

Document what exists. Photograph the current stabilized condition against the standard. If cover meets 70% of native background and is uniform, you have what you need.

File the NOT. Late is better than never. The obligation does not expire.

If the site does not meet the standard, which happens on projects with bare back slopes, failed landscaping, or eroded areas, the stabilization work has to happen before the filing is honest. You are certifying a condition.

If you are carrying several old projects and do not know which are still open, that audit is worth doing once. Send us the project list. Request a quote or call (210) 776-6515.

---

The Gap Nobody Budgets For

Here is the scheduling reality that produces most late filings.

Construction finishes. The site looks done. But vegetative cover takes a growing season to establish, and in San Antonio the establishment window is not year-round. Seed a slope in late July and you are not achieving 70% of native background until well into the next spring.

Meanwhile the crew is gone, the contract is closed, retainage is released, and the compliance obligation sits with whoever remembers it.

Three ways to close that gap:

Stabilize progressively. Areas that reach final grade early get their permanent cover early, not at the end. This also drops those areas to monthly inspection under Part III.F.8(c)ii, so it pays for itself twice. See stabilization deadlines contractors get wrong.

Use permanent non-vegetative measures where they fit. Riprap and gabions satisfy the standard on day one. On steep slopes and outfalls they are usually the better answer anyway.

Budget for the establishment period. Keep inspections and someone accountable through the growing season, then file. Treating close-out as a date rather than a condition is what leaves permits open.

---

---

Close It Out Properly

We handle close-out across San Antonio, Bexar County, Boerne, New Braunfels, and Seguin: assessing the site against the final stabilization standard, performing the stabilization work where there is a gap, documenting the condition, and filing the NOT.

If you have old projects you are not sure about, we will audit the list and tell you which are still open.

Free site walk, written scope, fixed price, typically inside 48 hours.

Request a quote or call (210) 776-6515. See BMP maintenance and repair, our SWPPP services, or the full permit walkthrough in our field guide to the TCEQ Construction General Permit.

---

Sources

• TCEQ, 2023 Construction General Permit TXR150000 (PDF), Part I.B and Part II.F
• TCEQ, Electronic Reporting for Water Quality
• TCEQ, Stormwater General Permit for Construction Activities