Do You Need a Permit for a Retaining Wall in Asheville?

Whether a retaining wall needs a permit depends on how big it is, what it holds up and where the lot is, so the answer comes from the office that covers your address. Inside Asheville city limits that is the City of Asheville's Development Services Department, and outside them it is Buncombe County Permits and Inspections.

First question: city or county?

Two different offices handle retaining walls around Asheville, so start by finding out which one covers your lot.

An Asheville mailing address does not always mean the lot is inside city limits. Plenty of properties with an Asheville address sit in unincorporated Buncombe County. The City of Asheville has an online tool to check whether an address is inside the city.

If you are inside, your permits run through the city's Development Services Department. If you are outside, they run through Buncombe County Permits and Inspections. Towns such as Weaverville, Woodfin or Black Mountain have their own zoning, so a lot there may need a call to the town as well.

Make that check first. Everything else in this guide depends on it, and asking the wrong office is the most common way to lose a week.

Inside Asheville: what the city looks at

The City of Asheville lists retaining walls alongside decks and sheds in its guides for residential projects. Applications go in through the city's online Development Portal or at its Permit Application Center.

A wall can be a zoning question as well as a building one. The city's development ordinance has a section on retaining walls. It sets limits on wall height and on how terraced walls are stepped back. It also calls for facing and planting on larger walls, especially those near a street.

That means two things for an owner. A tall wall may need to be built as two or more terraced walls. And a wall near the street may need landscaping in front of it.

Ask the Permit Application Center what your wall needs before the design is settled. It is far easier to plan for those rules than to change a wall that is half built.

When the code calls for an engineer

The North Carolina Residential Code calls for an engineered design on some retaining walls. That includes walls above a set height, walls that hold up a building or a load above them, and walls that cross a property line. Check the current rule with the office for your address, because the details matter.

In practice, a wall that holds a driveway, a parking area or a house pad can be in engineering territory, even when it is not very tall. The weight above the wall changes what it has to resist.

When a wall needs an engineer, the design comes first and the permit follows it. We build to the engineer's drawings. We will also tell you when a wall you describe is at the point where it needs one, rather than building it and hoping.

Steep slopes and grading inside the city

A retaining wall almost always comes with a cut into the bank, and that is land disturbance. Asheville's ordinance calls for a grading and stormwater permit for most development and land disturbance in the city, with a short list of exemptions. Building permits wait until it is issued.

Steep lots bring more. Asheville's steep slope and ridgetop rules can require a geotechnical analysis by a North Carolina registered professional engineer. That applies on steeper ground and in hazard areas on the county's slope stability map. The report is due before the building permit.

The city also publishes silt fence guidelines for residential work, because a fresh cut sheds soil in the first heavy rain. Ask about all of this when you ask about the wall. Our guide to building on a sloped lot covers the wider picture.

Outside city limits: Buncombe County

If the lot is in unincorporated Buncombe County, call Buncombe County Permits and Inspections. Ask whether your wall needs a building permit, and whether the code will call for an engineered design.

The county also runs its own erosion control program outside Asheville city limits. Ask whether the cut behind the wall, and any clearing to reach it, needs anything from that program.

Bring the same information you would bring to the city: where the wall goes, its rough length and height, and what sits above it. A photo of the bank helps.

If the lot is near a town line, check both. It is common for a property to sit just outside one boundary and just inside another. The answer that counts is the one for your parcel, from the office that covers it.

Floodplains, property lines and neighbors

A wall near a creek raises other questions. Asheville requires a floodplain development permit before development in a special flood hazard area. Ask whether your wall counts before any digging near water.

Walls on or near a property line need care. The code calls for engineering on walls that cross a property line, and a wall that is even slightly over the line is a dispute waiting to happen. If you are not sure where the line is, have it surveyed and marked first.

Think about your neighbor's side too. A wall changes where water goes. The drain behind it has to send water somewhere that is not the next lot.

Finally, check any HOA covenants. Many neighborhoods want to approve walls, materials and colors before work starts.

What to have ready, and how we help

Before you call any office, gather a few things. Mark where the wall would go on a plat or a sketch. Note its rough length and height. Say what sits above it: a lawn, a drive, a house. Take photos of the bank from both ends and from below.

That same information is what we need for a price. We build block and stone retaining walls with the drainage built in behind them, usually where a drive or a house pad has been cut into a hillside.

If you want to know what moves the price, see what a retaining wall costs in Asheville. Then call (828) 540-6856 or ask for a free estimate.

Quick Answers

See our retaining walls service or call (828) 540-6856.

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