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Why Do You Need
to Know About Permits? |
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As a property
owner, you may already know that making use of
your property can be complex. Zoning
requirements have become accepted and routine,
but more recent restrictions aimed at protecting
natural resources are less familiar. |
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Wetlands have
important functions in preserving environmental
quality. |
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Congress has
recognized that wetlands (also called swamps,
bogs, marshes, and quagmires), long thought to
be economic wastelands, have important functions
in preserving environmental quality. |
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To address the
problem of wetlands destruction, Congress
authorized a permitting process that restricts
activities with the potential to do irrevocable
harm to wetlands. As a result, anyone who is
considering a change in the use of land must
determine whether that property includes
regulated wetlands, either tidal or nontidal,
and whether a permit is required before any
changes are made. |
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Are There
Wetlands On Your Property? |
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Not all wetlands
subject to regulation have enough water for
ducks to land in, and some wetlands don't always
look wet, but still may require a permit before
they can be disturbed. How can you determine
whether you have property that may be protected
by federal or state regulations? |
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Do any of these
characteristics describe parts of your property? |
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Is
there an area that doesn't usually look wet, but
that squishes underfoot during some periods of
the year?
Are
there areas where rainwater stands on the
surface for days or weeks during some seasons?
Is
there a river, stream, or creek with soggy land
on either side?
Are
there water marks on trees or buildings,
indication where water covered the area to that
depth in the past?
Are
there lines of debris washed onto the land, or
layers of sediments left in trees or shrubs by
past flooding? |
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A "yes" to any of
these questions may mean that parts of your
property could be subject to state and federal
regulations. Identifying wetlands areas that are
regulated can be a complex process, involving
the presence of certain plants and special soil
types, as well as standing water or saturated
soil. However, you can get help in finding out
whether there are regulated wetlands on your
property from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. |
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Where Can You
Get Help? |
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The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers is the principal agency that
administers the wetlands permit program and
makes the final decision on permit applications. |
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You can ask the
Corps to determine the presence of wetlands on
your land. |
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If you aren't sure
whether a damp area on your property is a
wetlands, you can request a site visit from the
local field-office scientist of the Corps of
Engineers, who will make a preliminary
determination about the presence of absence of
regulated wetlands on the site. |
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Even if you are
not submitting a permit application, you an ask
the Corps to determine the presence or wetlands
on your land. When wetlands identification is
not part of a permit process, it may be some
time before a site visit can occur, since the
Corps' first priority is to identify wetlands on
property for which permits are pending. |
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If you are
planning a construction project, the local
field-office scientist also can help you
identify alternative ways of carrying out the
project without affecting wetlands, so that your
work need not be delayed by the permit process.
In fact, although few permits are actually
denied (less than three percent of all
applications), about one-third are significantly
modified to reduce wetlands impact. |
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The precise
boundaries of the land subject to regulation is
crucial information in applications for wetlands
permits. Determining the actual extent of the
wetlands, and identifying the line where it
meets uplands, usually is done by the Corps
after an application has been filed,
particularly for minor projects with little
wetlands impact. However, an independent
assessment of wetlands boundaries may be
necessary when several acres are involved, and
will speed the permit process. The Corps' field
offices maintain a list of wetlands consultants
in your area. |
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Who Needs Permits? |
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Generally, a
permit is required any time material is placed
in a water body, or its adjacent wetlands, for
any purpose. Permits also are required for
activities in other kinds of wetlands that may
not be next to open water; the placement of
dredged or fill materials in wetlands is the
triggering activity that makes a permit
necessary. |
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If you plan to
carry out any of these activities on your
property, you should contact the Corps of
Engineers: |
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● building
a structure, or paving an area for roads or
parking, on property that
includes regulated wetlands |
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●
erecting a
bulkhead or using stone riprap to protect a
river edge or shoreline
from
erosion, especially where wetlands will be
filled in behind the shoreline
protection |
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●
dredging or
damming a stream or wetlands to create a pond or
lake |
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●
building a
boat-dock, pier, or mooring piles on a shoreline
or river bank |
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●
clearing
undisturbed wetlands to grow crops |
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Conditions That
May Require a Permit |
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1. The water
body is tidal and you are: |
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dredging channelward of mean high water, |
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filling channelward of mean high water, |
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building a structure channelward of mean high
water, |
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filling channelward of the high tide line
(extreme high water) but landward of mean high
water, or |
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discharging fill into adjacent wetlands |
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2. The water
body is nontidal, a traditionally
navigable stream, and you are: |
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dredging channelward of the ordinary high water
elevation,
building a structure channelward of ordinary
high water elevation, |
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filling
channelward of the ordinary high water
elevation, or |
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filling
landward of ordinary high water, but into
adjacent wetlands. |
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3. The
waterbody is nontidal, is
not a traditionally navigable stream,
and the stream has a normal flow
greater than five cubic feet per second, and you
are: |
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filling
channelward of the ordinary high water
elevation, |
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filling
into adjacent wetlands, |
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filling
completely across the stream (a dam), or |
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channelizing the steam channelward of the
ordinary high water elevation. |
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4. The
waterbody is nontidal, and is a
lake, impoundment, isolated wetlands, or
headwaters, and you are: |
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filling
or dredging |
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Aren't There
Exemptions? |
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Established
agriculture, timbering, and ranching operations
are exempted from the Corps' jurisdiction, as
long as these activities are ongoing and do not
convert wetlands to a new use. |
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Examples of
exempted activities include plowing,
cultivation, farm-pond and irrigation-ditch
maintenance, construction of farming or forestry
roads, and soil conservation practices. |
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What Type of
Permit Will You Need? |
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There are three
kinds of permits for activities that alter
wetlands: nationwide, regional and individual
permits. |
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Both the
nationwide and regional permits are
general authorization. To avoid the burdensome
and time consuming paperwork that would result
if each project were considered individually,
the Corps recognizes that certain types of
activities receive a streamlined review. |
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In a few cases, no
notification or permit application is required
to conduct a proposed activity. However, you may
wish to receive confirmation from the Corps that
your proposed project is covered by these
general permits. |
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Whatever the
project, general permits always are subject
to certain conditions, for example,
minimizing or avoiding discharges into wetlands,
avoiding impact on aquatic species, and proper
maintenance of structures. |
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Applications for
activities with minimal environmental impacts
receive a streamlined review. |
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If these
conditions are not met, then the property owner
may be subject to enforcement action and fines.
To be sure that these conditions are met, you
can request the Corps to review the project and
provide a letter stating that the activity as
proposed satisfies the special conditions of a
general permit. |
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Is Your Project
Covered By a Nationwide Permit? |
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If you are
considering construction in or near wetlands
areas, your work may be covered by a
nationwide permit. This type of permit
covers activities that are similar across the
nation, such as construction of road crossings,
boat ramps, or farm building. |
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Some activities
covered by nationwide permits do not require any
notification to regulating agencies.
However, in some cases, the Corps' district
office must receive a notification letter
(called a pre-discharged notification) before
construction begins and, in some of those cases,
the site's wetlands must be delineated. If it
appears that your proposed project is covered by
a nationwide permit, you can request a site
visit from the local Corps representative to
determine whether a pre-discharged notification
is required. |
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In many cases,
even if an activity is covered by a nationwide
permit, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission
or a local wetlands board (discussed later in
this guide) must approve the project, so an
application must be filed. VMRC recommends
that an application be filed for any of these
activities to ensure that your project will
not be subject to legal action. Applications for
these activities receive a speedy review. |
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Is Your Project
Covered By a Regional Permit? |
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If you are
considering an activity that may affect a
wetland, and that is not covered by a nationwide
permit, check to see whether the activity is
covered by one of the Corps' regional
permits for Virginia. These permits,
like nationwide permits, are designed to
facilitate the permitting process, but they
differ in that they are specific to the region
in which they are issued. |
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Examples in
Virginia include maintenance of existing
drainage ditches, placement of navigation buoys,
or activities of the Virginia Department of
Transportation. Applications are generally
required to obtain these permits, but like the
nationwide permits, they undergo a shorter
review than individual permits. |
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Does Your Project
Need An individual Permit? |
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If your project is
not covered by a nationwide or regional permit,
you must apply for an individual permit,
which is used for more complex projects than
those covered by the general permits. An
individual permit is issued after the Corps has
evaluated the specific project, and determined
that the proposed activity is not contrary to
the public interest. |
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Individual
Permits: What Is the Process? |
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No matter what
kind of wetlands are on your property (whether
tidal or nontidal), your application for an
individual permit must be submitted to the
Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC).
To streamline the application process for
individual permits, VMRC serves as the general
clearinghouse by sending applications to
appropriate federal, state, and local agencies
for review. |
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Generally, the
individual process involves these steps: |
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Step 1: A
permit application is sent to VMRC, where it is
assigned an application number and routed to all
reviewing agencies. |
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Step 2:
Within 15 days after an application is received,
the applicant is notified if more information is
needed. Once the application is complete, VMRC
and the Corps issue public notice of the
proposed project, and the public is invited to
comment. Public comment periods last 15 to 30
days, but may be extended. To be included on
mailing lists for public notice, contact the
Corps' district office in Norfolk. At the end of
the public comment period, objections to the
application are furnished to the applicant, who
may voluntarily attempt to resolve conflicts
with objectors. Objections often concern
obstacles to navigation, such as piers or
boathouses. Some objections, such as those
concerning the exact location of property lines,
or existing legal restrictions on deeds, will
not cause the Corps to deny a permit, but local
laws and regulations still may have to be
satisfied. |
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VMRC holds monthly
public meetings in Newport News to hear public
concerns when objections to a proposed project
have been raised during the public comment
period. |
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Step 3: The
application is reviewed at joint meetings of
state and federal review agencies, held monthly.
A public hearing may be held by the Corps,
though requests for these hearings are granted
only if information on the project can be
obtained in no other way, and very few are
granted. Thirty days advance notice is given for
public hearings. |
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Step 4: The
application is either approved or disapproved.
If the application is not approvable, the Corps
will inform the applicant of a preliminary
recommendation of denial, and allow time for the
application to be modified and resubmitted. If
modifications are substantial, the application
may need to go back through the public notice
process; otherwise, it is reviewed once again by
the state and federal agencies, and the permit
is either approved or denied. |
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How Long Does the
Permit Process Take? |
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The Corps'
policy is to approve or deny an application
within 60 days after the complete application is
received. In some cases, gathering
information to adequately review an individual
permit application can be a lengthy process. An
applicant's request for the Corps to identify
wetlands on a large site may make the review
period longer, as may public hearings on
compliance with state regulations. |
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Accomack County
does have a Wetlands Board |
