In accordance with notice to members of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council’s Planning and Procedures subcommittee, a meeting of the subcommittee was held on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at CRMC, Stedman Government Center, Wakefield, RI.

MEMBERS PRESENT
Paul Lemont, Vice Chair
Russ Chateauneuf, DEM

STAFF PRESENT
Grover Fugate, Executive Director
Jeff Willis, Deputy Director
James Boyd, Coastal Policy Analyst
Laura Ricketson Dwyer, Public Ed/Outreach Coord
Janet Freedman, Coastal Geologist

OTHERS PRESENT
Wendy Waller, Save the Bay
Doug Groff

Call to Order. Mr. Lemont called the meeting to order at 8:45 a.m.

Mr. Lemont asked for a motion to approve the previous meeting minutes of the subcommittee for December 1, 2009.

Item 4.A. – Section 210.3 Coastal Wetlands. J. Willis and G. Fugate explained that the purpose of the revisions was to remove the allowance for fringe marsh to be altered under certain conditions. Mr. Fugate noted that fringe marsh is more than ever important to protect given sea level rise and its predictive levels of the near and long term.

Item 4.B. – Section 33 Protection and Enhancement of Public Access to the Shore. J. Willis explained that while the section contains various statements that note that on-site access is the first consideration for meeting this program requirement, the policy section does not contain a reciprocal statement. Therefore, J. Willis stated that the proposed language addresses this.

Item 4.C. – Section 300.1 Maintenance of Structures. J. Willis explained that within the section at Table 4a current language includes the phrase “not allowed” which is not consistent with commonly used program language. J. Willis stated that the proposal replaces this phrase with the word “prohibited” for consistency. Mr. Chateauneuf suggested that formatting be revised to provide additional clarity of the regulation and offered some details on meeting this. Staff agreed. Mr. Lemont suggested that a motion to revise the table as proposed by staff and re-formatted to meet Mr. Chateauneuf’s suggestions could be entertained.

Item 4.D. – Revisions to Maps of Water Type Designations. J. Willis explained that the proposed revisions are more accurately only a technical change to the existing water type designation regulations in that the main purpose of the revisions are to better present the water type designation regulations in a geographical town-by-town map presentation rather than a USGS Quadrangle map presentation. Also, the revised presentation will show more geographically the features of the town by using GIS technology to layer orthographic photos to the water type designations, while also including the barrier designations and wetlands designated for preservation. Also, J. Willis noted that the new presentation will graphically show previously-approved water type changes that did not have graphical representation on the USGS topographic maps. Lastly, he noted that where water type designation transition lines carry the same label due the marrying of two USGS topographic maps into one town map, the labeling system has been changed to chronological numbers from the originally used alphabetical ordering. J. Willis noted that due the magnitude of this water type designation presentation effort, staff felt – and is asking the subcommittee to agree – that the technical changes as proposed should be advertised through rule-making to ensure that interested parties get a chance to understand how the council is revising its presentation of the water type designation regulations. J. Willis noted that this effort has been primarily undertaking by Janet Freedman and Jim Boyd and that their diligence to details has resulted in a very good product. Mr. Lemont agreed and noted that this technical revision of the regulations will be a better regulatory product for the program that parties will better understand.

Item 6.A. – Section 300.11 Aquaculture. G. Fugate and D. Beutel stated that the RI Shellfishermen had approached them to ask the council to consider a residency requirement for aquaculturists. G. Fugate and D. Beutel stated that this issue will be vetted with the Aquaculture Working Group and a recommendation from that group to the council via the subcommittee will be forthcoming.

Staff report. J. Boyd offered an update on the development of the revised State of Rhode Island Stormwater Manual. He noted that the manual will be completed soon and that a final draft will be released for public review within the next few weeks followed with public workshops. A summer 2010 timeline is expected for adoption.

ADJOURNMENT. Mr. Chateauneuf, seconded by Mr. Lemont, moved to adjourn the subcommittee meeting. All voted in favor of the motion and the meeting was adjourned at 9:25 a.m.

Respectfully submitted by

Jeffrey M Willis, Deputy Director

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