Stoimwater and Sediment 



non-point source pollutant impacts are associated with project construction, this program 

 weakness is critical. 



The issue of early pre-design conferences has been under discussion for some time, and 

 was deliberated by the Task Force. Although formalization of the procedure could increase 

 the adequacy of application design and reduce the overall time and cost per application for 

 applicants and section staff, a number of important concerns remain. Increased staff 

 involvement in pre-design discussion can tend to place inappropriate technical burdens on 

 staff, rather than on applicants, who should bear design costs, including those involved in 

 permitting. Internal documents have reiterated concerns that staff were being asked to 

 become involved in the redesign of projects so as to enable applicants to avoid the full 

 formal application process. Staff limitations would also tend to concentrate pre-design 

 assistance efforts toward major projects, inevitably lessening resources available to review 

 incremental effects of minor alterations. Finally, there is concern among staff that pre- 

 design burdens tend to escalate as precedents of involvement arc set. 



On the other hand, several task force members were of the opinion that an applicant 

 should be entided to access regulatory opinions and input Further, regulatory input must 

 necessarily be distinct from any input provided by a professional consultant. The Wedands 

 Section now requires that applicants dehneate wedands on site maps, but the level of input 

 which consulting wedands biologists have in project design may be very limited. A 

 separate avenue of recourse to technical assistance may be necessary. 



Given the small size of the Wedands Section staff and the fact that most permit 

 appUcations are based on individual field investigations, the Section is very efficient in 

 processing applications. The Wedands Task Force reiterated that the staff has done an 

 "outstanding job with the dollars available. "However, the Task Force and other observers 

 close to the program have identified a number of areas in which staff has felt pressure: 



• overweening emphasis on processing permits within die 30 day time limit 

 (amounting to 20 working days) in spite of potential data limitations regarding 

 evaluation of impact and determination of necessary permit conditions; 



• emphasis on permit processing as taking priority over enforcement activity; 



• emphasis on streamlining of permit applications (including movement toward office 

 review, reliance on set decision criteria, standardization of analysis, and use of 

 computer-generated permit conditions); 



• emphasis on mapping as taking priority over enforcement activities; and 



• enforcement of permit language as an alternative to stringent permit conditioning. 



The inclusion of ephemeral wedands and floodplain areas in the Freshwater Wedands 

 Act definition of wedands, and the multi-faceted character of wedands and wedand permits 

 demands that staff time and resources be sufficient to exercise professional judgement 

 regarding the complex dynamics of specific wedands systems. Use of linear models is 

 inappropriate in judging individual wedand character, interaction among related systems, 

 and potential impacts of non-point source and other pollutants. The quality of the 

 wetlands program is a function of the quality of enforcement, and 

 enforcement can only be as effective as the language of the original permit 



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