In Re the Appeal From the Civil Penalty

MEYER, Justice.

This case arises from an assessment of a civil penalty against appellees Dennis W. Harris, his wife, Natalie G. Harris, and Roy J. Hall for violations of the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act of 1973, N.C.G.S. §§ 113A-50 to -66 (“the Act”) by the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Community Development (“NRCD”).

The administrative record tends to show that appellees own and have subdivided two adjacent tracts of land totalling approximately eighteen acres near Lenoir in Caldwell County. While enlarging one of the subdivisions on the property, between October…