...to preserve, protect, develop, and restore coastal resources for all Rhode Islanders
AGENDA
Semi-Monthly Meeting – Full Council
Tuesday, November 24, 2009; 6:00 p.m.
Conference Room A, Administration Building
One Capitol Hill, Providence, RI
Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting.
Subcommittee Reports.
Staff Reports.
Presentation: Ocean Special Area Management Plan update – Grover Fugate
Applications which have been Out to Notice for 30 days and are before the Full Council for Decision:
2009-08-088 CITY OF NEWPORT – Construct “Easton Beach Ultraviolet (UV) Stormwater Treatment System.” Stormwater flow from Easton Pond drainage “moat”/breachway will be routed through UV system to reduce bacterial load, prior to discharge to Easton Beach, to reduce beach closures due to elevated bacteria levels. The application requires a “Special Exception” from the RICRMP to undertake construction on a Moderately Developed Barrier Beach and in CRMC Type 1 waters. Located at plat 15, lots 1 and 2; Plat 116 NW, lot 58; North of Memorial Boulevard, at Easton Pond breachway, Newport and Middletown, RI.
2009-06-087 CHRISTOPHER WARFEL/SUN FARM OYSTERS – Conduct a shellfish aquaculture site of 0.56 acres to grow oysters, bay scallops, and razor clams. Located in Trims Pond, New Shoreham, RI.
2006-04-062 GUNTER HAFER -- Construct and maintain a residential boating facility that is to be utilized by the current and future owners of AP 178 lots 10 & 87. The facility is to have a maximum 4 boat capacity. The facility is to consist of a 6 foot wide by 172 foot long fixed timber pier that leads to a ramp that leads to a 600 square foot terminal float, two tie-off piles are proposed on the north side of the pier. The proposed facility is to extend 141+/- feet seaward of the cited MLW mark and is variant to the RICRMP length, pier width and float size standards. Located at plat 178, lots 10 and 87; Bristol Harbor, 333 Poppasquash Road, Bristol, RI.
Enforcement Matter before the Full Council:
06-0088 MICHAEL HYCHKO -- Undertaken construction of a parking area in nonconformance with CRMC Assent A2006-05-118 within 200 feet of a coastal feature from your property located at Plat 9, Lot 51, Charlestown Beach Road, Charlestown, RI.
Public Hearing on Changes to the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Program:
3. Section 300.11 – Aquaculture
Revise Section 300.11 – Aquaculture as follows:A. Definition
B. Policies
(a) This prohibition shall not apply to activities like spat collection, or to the cultivation of scallops, or to private aquaculture operations conducted within the confines of a CRMC-approved marina perimeter limit (as set forth in 300.4), or to Council-approved projects which are designed, with Council approval, to enhance and restore the public resource.
(b) Aquaculture projects other than shellfish aquaculture proposed for not approved areas uncertified waters may be granted by the Council provided the applicant provides sufficient evidence that no harm to public health or safety will result. In the case of shellfish aquaculture, such activities shall be prohibited unless the applicant provides written statements from the directors of the Departments of Environmental Management, and Health certifying that the proposed activity is consistent with the requirements of the National Shellfish Sanitation Program.
(c) The Council may grant an aquaculture assent for growing shellfish in uncertified waters provided any and Where a private shellfish aquaculture applicant expressly releases ownership of any and all cultured shellfish stock existing in a permitted area, the Council may grant a lease in addition to a permit are directed strictly for public benefit uses only to enhance and restore the public resource.
C. Prerequisites
D. Additional Category B Requirements
E. Prohibitions
F. Standards
(a) In the event of revocation or termination of an Assent by order of the Council or expiration of any lease or Assent, the lessee or Assent holder is responsible for restoring the area to pre-existing conditions within ninety (90) days from the date of permit assent revocation, termination, or expiration. This shall include the removal of all structures, rafts, floats, markers, buoys, anchors, and other equipment brought to the site. Failure to comply with the Council’s order to restore the site may result in the forfeiture of the permit bond posted by the lessee.
(b) Any person who maliciously and willfully destroys, vandalizes, or otherwise disrupts aquaculture activities permitted by the Council shall be in violation of an order of the Council and libel to all fines and penalties under law.
(c) All permittees shall mark off the areas under permit by appropriate buoys or stakes, as determined by the CRMC, so as not to interfere unnecessarily with navigation and other traditional uses of the water surface. The requirement for the agreed upon marking will be found in the lease requirements detailed in the assent. All authorized limitations upon the use by the public of areas subject to the permit shall be posted by the permittee.
(d) The Council may require the leaseholder for an aquaculture facility to post a performance bond in order to ensure the cleanup and removal of said facility upon either the termination or expiration of the lease.
(e) The Executive Director may approve the transfer of a lease from the lessee to another party provided the aquaculture operation remains the same, including size, species, gear, and methods of culturing. The full Council must approve any transfers that involve a deviation from the existing assented aquaculture operation.
(f) Experimental permits. (1) The Executive Director may issue an experimental aquaculture permit for operations which are expressly for the purpose of developing and testing new gear or techniques for aquaculture production. Applicants may be approved for three separate sites, with up to an area of one-thousand (1,000) square feet for each site. Experimental sites shall not be within 500 feet of one another. Areas in excess of this may be approved by the full Council. Experimental aquaculture Assents shall be valid for a period not to exceed three (3) years. A lease may be required and the sale of any aquaculture product is not allowed. Report of such action by the Executive Director shall be made in writing to the full Council at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Council. (2) Experimental aquaculture operations wholly contained within the confines of a council-approved marina perimeter area excluded from the 500 foot separation standard, as contained above, any may maintain a total of 3,000 square feet in any configuration for such operations.
(g) Commercial viability permit. (1) The Executive Director may issue a commercial viability aquaculture permit for operations which are expressly for the purpose of determining if a particular site is suitable for commercial aquaculture. The applicant may have one site, limited to a thousand (1000) square feet. Commercial viability permits shall be valid for a period not to exceed three (3) years. Permits for a commercial viability shall be subject to a two step process: (1) Issuance of a one-time administrative permit for the period of eighteen (18) months; followed by a one-time council-approved permit for an additional eighteen (18) months. A lease may be required. Report of such action by the Executive Director shall be made in writing to the full Council at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Council. (2) Any continuation of the operation by the applicant beyond this permit length shall require a separate application which will be considered and reviewed by the Council as a Category B application and is subject to all applicable aquaculture policies and regulations. (3) The permittee may, on a one time basis, sell those products approved within the permit. Upon termination of the operation, or at the end of the three (3) year permit period, whichever comes first, the permittee must terminate the operation. (4) The permittee must show that, in case of successful trial, there is potential area to expand to a commercial aquaculture lease in the same area that the commercial viability permit was granted. The Executive Director may require the permittee to post a performance bond in order to ensure the cleanup and removal of said facility. Detailed economic reports shall be required for all commercial viability permittees.
(h) Education/research permit. The Executive Director may issue a education/research aquaculture permit for operations which expressly for the purpose of using aquaculture for education or research. A lease may be required. Applicants may be approved for three separate sites, with up to an area of one-thousand (1,000) square feet for each site. Education/research sites shall not be within 500 feet of one another. Areas in excess of this may only be approved by the full Council. Educational/research aquaculture assents shall be valid for a period not to exceed three (3) years. A lease may be required and sale of any aquacultured product is not allowed, report of such action by the Executive Director shall be made in writing to the full Council at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Council. The Executive Director may grant extensions to these permits. Each extension shall not exceed three (3) years. Educational/research aquaculture operations wholly contained within the confines of a council-approved marina perimeter are excluded from the 500-foot separation standard, as contained above, and may maintain a total of 3,000 square feet in any configuration for such operations.
(i) All transient aquaculture gear shall be operated within defined areas as established by the tidal water aquaculture management plan. Transient gear lease fees shall be based on the minimum area necessary to operate the proposed number of cages.
(j) Aquaculture operations shall be located at sites and operated in such a manner as to not obstruct public access to and from tidal waters.
(k) Any new lease in a coastal salt pond shall be limited in size as follows:
(1) maximum three (3) acres for traditional rack and bag or cage methods; or
(2) maximum six (6) acres for bottom planting
(l) Leaseholders may not apply for any lease expansion until such time that the leaseholder can demonstrate to the CRMC a need for additional area.
(m) Recreational Permits. The Executive Director may grant permits for recreational culture of shellfish by littoral landowners as follows:
(1) Recreational permits shall be limited to one culture enclosure limited to a volume of 48 cubic feet; and
(2) This cage shall be hung from an existing CRMC approved dock in a manner that it will not interfere with traditional navigation; and
(3) Recreational permit holders will follow all existing seed importation regulations; and
(4) Recreational permit holders will be required to complete a CRMC approved educational program.
(5) Recreational permits will be exempt from prohibition #6.
(6) All gear used under an education permit will be legibly marked with the letters “CRMC” and the CRMC permit number.
(n) The maximum area occupied by aquaculture leases in the coastal salt ponds is 5% of the total open water surface area of the salt pond below MLW. This limit is established based upon the current knowledge of ecological carrying capacity models See: Salt Pond SAMP Section 100.B.1 and Figure 1-1 for salt pond areas.
(a) The Council shall require a permit for all freshwater and land-based aquaculture operations located within the coastal zone or in inland locations throughout the state.
(b) Permits for land-based aquaculture operations shall be granted by the CRMC for a term not to exceed 50 years.
(c) When required, all species utilized for culture within land-based aquaculture operations must be approved by the DEM director or his or her designee. The aforementioned approval must be obtained prior to the Council issuing its assent, however, it may be concurrently processed with the Council’s review.G. Guidelines for Marine Aquaculture within Tidal Waters
In addition to the policies, prerequisites, additional requirements for Category B assents, prohibitions and standards above, the Council also suggests that applicants take the following items into consideration for any proposed aquaculture application.
1. Marine aquaculture lease size in Narragansett Bay.
(a) For the area known as upper Narragansett Bay, defined as the area north of a line across the bay at the latitude of 41 degrees 35 minutes, proposed aquaculture farms should be limited to three acres.
(b) Three (3)-acre leases will be granted by giving an initial two (2)-acre lease. Subsequently the third acre will be granted when the permittee shows that the initial 2-acre lease is being utilized.
(c) These guidelines may be adjusted for variations in water depth, species cultured, culture method, etc.
2. Guidelines for Marine Aquaculture in the Salt Ponds.
(a) Aquaculture leases will be discouraged in historically fished areas and encouraged in areas that have not been historically utilized in the wild harvest fishery.
(b) Buffer zones between aquaculture leases may be required when considering new leases.
Enforcement Report – October, 2009
Category “A” List Executive Session pursuant to R.I.G.L. 42-46-5(a)1 Personnel