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Effective July 1, 2008 subject to the different grandfathering dates.
Amends the Critical Areas and Coastal Bay laws to provide the Critical Areas Commission (Commission) with greater regulatory oversight for more uniform enforcement/protection of critical areas and coastal bays. The legislation was significantly scaled back by the General Assembly. As passed, it would give the Commission greater regulatory authority over the standards used to regulate activity in the Critical Areas, including management of the buffer, mapping, growth allocations, and variances. However, the local county commissions would still enforce the program as under current law.
The legislation makes contractors liable for violations of the critical areas and coastal bays law based on the actions of the contractor. Under the old law, the home improvement commission had difficulty taking action against a contractor for such a violation. The new law gives the Home Improvement Commission clear authority to act on such violations. Additionally, the legislation adopted more uniform enforcement measures. While some counties already adopted such enforcement measures, others had not. The legislation makes clear that the current maximum penalties apply daily. It also makes clear that some alleged violators face additional fine limits for after-the-fact variances if the person challenges the Commission’s action and loses.
The legislation sets a more uniform definition of what constitutes unpermitted lot coverage. Though the new definition will not affect how some counties determine lot coverage, it will likely limit some other counties where items such as permeable pavers, shell and gravel were considered permitted, impervious surfaces. As for the definition of lot coverage, the legislation grandfathers existing lots as of July 1, 2008, and applies the current, local calculation of lot coverage to building permits applied for before July 1, 2008 which commence construction and have an inspection before July 1, 2009.
The legislation changes the 100 foot buffer for new subdivisions in a Resource Conservation Areas (RCAs are the most restrictive land classification under the law) to 200 feet unless the increase in the buffer area would reduce the overall density of 1 per 20 acreas permitted in an RCA. The legislation grandfathers projects from the increased buffer requirement if the projects apply for a subdivision approval before July 1, 2008 and are legally recorded before July 2010. The legislation also grandfathers intra-family transfers from the new buffer requirements as long as the transfer complies with existing requirements for intra-family transfers. Existing lots are not subject to the increased buffer requirement, nor are future lots in either Intensely Developed Areas (IDAs) or Limited Development Areas (LDAs).
Finally, the legislation creates a presumption that a landowner can construct a soft shoreline, unless the landowner and their contractor show that a soft shoreline is not feasible. The legislation makes clear that the presumption would not apply to areas mapped as inappropriate for soft shorelines. |