Part of my lot is wet most of the year. Can it be cleared?

Low, wet ground around Brunswick is often jurisdictional wetland or sits inside the state's buffer along a creek or marsh, and clearing it can be a federal or state issue. We flag anything that looks like wetland during the estimate and recommend a delineation before touching it. Clearing the upland part of the lot is usually straightforward.

Can we just burn the brush pile?

Inside the city limits, generally no. In unincorporated Glynn County, open burning of vegetative debris needs a burn permit from the Georgia Forestry Commission and is restricted during the spring burn ban. Most of our Brunswick clients have us haul or mulch the debris instead.

Does Brunswick protect trees on private lots?

Glynn County's tree protection ordinance applies to mature specimen trees, especially live oaks, and the city has its own rules in the historic district. We walk the lot with you first, flag the trees worth keeping, and plan the clearing around them. A big live oak adds more value to a Brunswick lot than the open ground under it.

Should the stumps come out or be cut flush?

If you are building, fencing or laying a driveway, out. A stump cut flush in Brunswick's damp soil rots into a soft pocket that will swallow a fence post or crack a slab. We pull the root ball with an excavator and backfill with compacted fill.

What happens to the low spots once the lot is open?

Clearing exposes them. Once the canopy is gone you can see where water will sit, and that is when we grade. Most Brunswick clearing jobs end with a rough grade that moves water toward the street or a ditch, so you are not starting a fence or a slab on ground that floods.

Land clearing in Brunswick, GA: opening up lots without running into the wetlands

Brunswick lots are overgrown, wet at the edges and often closer to a creek than they look. Clearing them well starts with knowing where to stop.

There is a lot of unused ground in and around Brunswick. Infill lots in Old Town and Windsor Park that have grown up in wax myrtle and volunteer pines. Half-acre parcels off Altama Avenue and along the US 17 corridor choked with palmetto and vines. Larger tracts toward Sterling, Blythe Island and the county line with a thirty-year stand of pine on them. Golden Isles Fencing and Excavation clears all of it, and because we are a fencing and grading company as well, we clear it with the next step in mind: a fence line that needs to be straight, a pad that needs to drain, a driveway that needs a base.

We are a family-owned, Christian-based company based in Brunswick. The one thing we will not do is put a machine into ground we should not be in, and around Brunswick that mostly means the wet edges.

Wetlands, creeks and the marsh buffer

Brunswick is laced with tidal creeks, drainage ditches and marsh. Terry Creek, Academy Creek, the ditches that drain Windsor Park and Dock Junction, the marsh along the Marshes of Glynn and behind Blythe Island: a surprising number of city lots touch one of them. Ground that stays wet most of the year may be jurisdictional wetland under federal rules, and Georgia's buffer along creeks and marsh restricts ground disturbance near the edge. Clearing into either without the right approvals is a serious problem. During the estimate we walk the lot, flag anything that looks like wetland or buffer, and recommend a delineation before we touch it. The upland part of the lot is usually straightforward, and that is where the value is anyway.

Permits: city or county

Brushing a small residential lot often needs no permit. Grubbing stumps and rough grading across a larger area triggers a land disturbance permit, from the City of Brunswick inside the limits or Glynn County Community Development outside them, and silt fence and erosion control come with it. We tell you which applies before we quote, because a lot with a Brunswick address on Blythe Island or in Sterling is in the county, not the city, and the two offices do not run the same process.

Trees worth keeping

Glynn County's tree protection ordinance covers mature specimen trees, and the city has its own review in the Old Town historic district. Beyond the rules, a large live oak adds more value to a Brunswick lot than the open ground under it, and it is the only shade that will matter in August. We walk the lot with you first, flag the trees to keep, and plan the clearing so the machine works around their root zones. Volunteer pines, sweetgum, Chinese tallow and privet go; the oaks stay.

Stumps and the soft-pocket problem

A stump cut flush and left in Brunswick's damp, sandy soil rots into a soft pocket within a few years, and that pocket will swallow a fence post, sink a corner of a shed or crack a slab. If anything is going to be built on the lot, the stumps come out. We pull the root ball with an excavator, backfill the hole with clean fill and compact it, so the ground is as firm where the tree was as everywhere else.

Debris: burn, haul or mulch

Open burning of vegetative debris is generally not allowed inside the Brunswick city limits. In unincorporated Glynn County it needs a permit from the Georgia Forestry Commission and is restricted during the spring burn ban, and a smoky pile a hundred feet from the neighbors is rarely welcome anyway. Most of our Brunswick clients have us haul the debris to a disposal site or mulch it on the lot, where it can be spread as ground cover or left in a pile to break down. We price all three so you can choose.

How a Brunswick clearing job runs

Walk the lot. Mark property pins, flag trees to keep, flag anything that looks like wetland or buffer, and confirm which permit office applies.
Utilities located. We call in the locate before any bucket goes in the ground.
Clear. Brush, small trees and understory removed with a mulcher or excavator, working around the keeper trees.
Grub and backfill. Stumps pulled, holes filled and compacted.
Rough grade. Water directed toward the street or a ditch so the next step starts on dry ground.
Debris out. Hauled or mulched, site left clean.

What clearing reveals

Once the canopy and the brush are gone, the low spots show themselves. That is the moment to grade, because a fence or a slab started on ground that floods every June will fail the same way the old fence did. Most of our clearing jobs in Brunswick end with a rough grade that moves water where it should go. Estimates are free, and if the lot is going to get a fence, we will quote that at the same visit.

Land clearing elsewhere in the Golden Isles

Island lots come with tree ordinances and marsh buffers of their own. Read about land clearing on St. Simons Island, land clearing on Jekyll Island, and everything we do as a fence and excavation company in Brunswick.

What usually follows clearing in Brunswick

Once the lot is open, most owners need our land grading in Brunswick, wood fencing in Brunswick, excavation and site prep, and land clearing service overview.

Questions and answers

Common questions about land clearing in Brunswick

What lot owners in and around Brunswick ask before we bring in the machine.

It depends on how much ground you disturb and where the lot is. Clearing brush by itself on a small residential lot often does not need one, but grubbing stumps and grading across a larger area triggers a land disturbance permit from the City of Brunswick or Glynn County, and anything near a creek, ditch or marsh brings state buffer rules in. We look at the lot and tell you before we quote.
Low, wet ground around Brunswick is often jurisdictional wetland or sits inside the state's buffer along a creek or marsh, and clearing it can be a federal or state issue. We flag anything that looks like wetland during the estimate and recommend a delineation before touching it. Clearing the upland part of the lot is usually straightforward.
Inside the city limits, generally no. In unincorporated Glynn County, open burning of vegetative debris needs a burn permit from the Georgia Forestry Commission and is restricted during the spring burn ban. Most of our Brunswick clients have us haul or mulch the debris instead.

Glynn County's tree protection ordinance applies to mature specimen trees, especially live oaks, and the city has its own rules in the historic district. We walk the lot with you first, flag the trees worth keeping, and plan the clearing around them. A big live oak adds more value to a Brunswick lot than the open ground under it.
If you are building, fencing or laying a driveway, out. A stump cut flush in Brunswick's damp soil rots into a soft pocket that will swallow a fence post or crack a slab. We pull the root ball with an excavator and backfill with compacted fill.
Clearing exposes them. Once the canopy is gone you can see where water will sit, and that is when we grade. Most Brunswick clearing jobs end with a rough grade that moves water toward the street or a ditch, so you are not starting a fence or a slab on ground that floods.