CRMC 



CRMC should have authority to undertake restoration work at the 

 violator's expense, but the authority should be established in such a way as 

 to assign the violator liability, rather than CRMC. Liability considerations and 

 administrative complexity have proven an obstacle to DEM's use of restoration authority. 

 (See discussion of DEM's authority under Freshwater Wetlands in Chapter 2.3.) 



Recommendations 



**Establish a local enforcement and review fee to be required of all permit 

 applicants. The fee required should be commensurate with the size of the project and 

 with potential watershed impact The funds collected should be passed through to the town 

 in question to suppon hiring of local officials responsible for review of CRMC and other 

 environmental permit requirements. Pass-through of funds would be contingent on CRMC 

 and Wetiands Section spot-checks of permit compliance consistency among town land 

 evidence records, state permit requirements, and evidence in the field. 



***In permits, ensure that responsibility for maintenance of permit 

 conditions is established, along with a clear mechanism for transfer of 

 responsibility at the time of a change in ownership. 



***In cooperation with the State Building Commissioner, develop an 

 administrative mechanism to ensure that building inspectors or other town 

 officials (such as environmental officers) obtain the land evidence records 

 on all relevant properties to verify that wetlands permit application data is 

 fully recorded. Develop a permit bonding fee or other legal mechanism to make the 

 inspector or the town in question liable for assuring compliance with stipulations before a 

 building en* occupancy permit is issued. Because severe non-point source pollutant impacts 

 are associated with project construction, this program linkage is crucial 



STAFFING 



Although CRMC staff operate efficiently, staff limitations are such that 

 insufficient resources are available for follow-up to ensure that permit 

 conditions are met, and that applicants comply with permit conditions in the 

 long term. Given the maintenance requirements of non-point source controls, lack of 

 enfofcement capability will create increasing program vulnerability as requirements for 

 BMP installation are attached to wedands permits. The Executive Director acknowledges 

 that enforcement capability is inadequate to meet current needs. 



Trained enforcement officers on the CRMC staff need to be available to 

 undertake inspections and other Held enforcement duties. Use of technical 

 personnel in this capacity without the support of officers has long been a subject of debate 

 with DEM wedands enforcement, and reliance on technical personnel should be avoided. 

 Increased "capture" of applicable development activities wiU increase the need for technical 

 staff devoted to review and conditioning of permits. 



Recommendations 



***Fuil implementation of non-point source control practices will require 

 more than doubling the present engineering staff of CRMC, because of the 

 need to undertake site-specific design and inspection surveys to ensure 



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