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 Friday, October 23, 2015 at 8:30am at the offices of the CRMC, Stedman Government Center, 4808 Tower Hill Road, Wakefield, RI.

MEMBERS PRESENT
Anne Livingston, Chair
Paul E. Lemont, Vice Chair
Donald Gomez
Joy Montanaro
Angelo Liberti, DEM

STAFF PRESENT
Grover Fugate, CRMC Executive Director
Jeff Willis, Deputy Director
James Boyd, Coastal Policy Analyst
Brian Goldman, Legal Counsel

Call to Order. Ms. Livingston called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.

Ms. Livingston called for a motion to approve the minutes of the August 18, 2015 subcommittee meeting.

Item 3.A – Energy Facilities Siting Board. B. Goldman gave a brief overview of the EFSB, which was a request of the subcommittee from its last meeting. He explained that the EFSB has statewide authority over the siting of major energy facility activities, which is defined as 40MW or greater, with specific carve-outs for CRMC and DEM. He explained that the board membership is comprised of the PUC Chair, the DEM Director and the Assistant Director of Administration for Planning. B. Goldman and G. Fugate also noted how the EFSB and CRMC regulations and processes are implemented.

No action was needed on this item.

Item 4.A – Management Procedures Section 5.9 Presentation of Expert and Lay Testimony. J. Willis explained that the proposed revisions are to clarify that not only is the applicant required to alert the council of any expert witnesses five days in advance of a hearing, but to also include written materials for same, subject to delays in any decisions should the section not be followed. Mr. Gomez asked if the term ‘material’ was too broad and should be more specific. Mr. Lemont and Mr. Liberti had concerns with the last sentence and if it should be deleted. Ms. Livingston disagreed. Ms. Montanaro felt that the substance of any such new information would give the council the ability to make a decision as whether it could be introduced and discussed at the hearing. Subcommittee members directed staff to modify the proposal such that ‘materials’ becomes evidence, reports or data” and that the last sentence be revised to state “[F]ailure to comply with the section may result in a delay ....”

Item 4.B – Section 145 Climate Change and Sea Level Rise. J. Boyd explained the revisions as primarily updates of science since the last revision. J. Boyd and G. Fugate explained that in policy C.4 proposed additions address SLR scenarios over shorter time periods to better reflect what could happen in more tangible timeframes and during a structures design life. J. Boyd and G. Fugate also explained the proposal to cite NOAA and ACOE websites and data that are regularly monitored and updated as to SLR projections and confidences such that RICRMP regulations would point to these data for applicable SLR policies and not have to revise the regulations each time new such data is known. J. Boyd noted that the State of Connecticut has similarly done this through statute. Mr. Gomez suggested adding language that discusses the range of scenarios and that these ranges and their implications can also be found in other Council products such as StormTools. G. Fugate noted that current state building code requires one foot of freeboard but that in 20+ years that one extra foot could be eliminated due to SLR. Mr. Gomez asked if the RICRMP could go beyond the SBC and FEMA requirements. G. Fugate said yes and further added that the program might need to consider making developers address SLR in their development projects as a performance based requirement such that the design life of the development will be prepared for future SLR projections and scenarios. Additionally G. Fugate stated that any federally funded project will have federal requirements that require projects address two feet of freeboard. Mr. Gomez wondered about adding a discussion on the multiplier effect of storms. G. Fugate and J. Boyd noted that that will be addressed in the Beach SAMP. Mr. Gomez asked similarly about more a detailed discussion on greenhouse gases. J. Boyd stated that this issue is being better understood and maybe it would be better to wait until a future revision to address that issue. Ms. Livingston and the subcommittee directed staff to reword Finding #8 to state that the sea levels are rising and the rise “... is projected to...” continue to accelerate.

Item 5.A – Fortified Building Standards. G. Fugate presented that in his discussion with RI Builders Association he has asked their Vice President to come to a future P&P Subcommittee meeting to discuss the Fortified program from a builders perspective and how possibly the agency could incentivize the CRMC process such that builders could market the Fortified program to all potential markets. G. Fugate was directed to invite RIBA to a future meeting.

ADJOURNMENT. Mr. Lemont, seconded by Mr. Gomez, moved to adjourn the subcommittee meeting. All voted in favor of the motion and the meeting was adjourned at 9:57 a.m.

Respectfully submitted by

Jeffrey M Willis, Deputy Director

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