In accordance with notice to members of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council’s Planning & Procedures subcommittee, a meeting was held on Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at 8:30am at the offices of the CRMC, Stedman Government Center, 4808 Tower Hill Rd, Wakefield, RI.

MEMBERS PRESENT
Anne Livingston, Chair
Joy Montanaro
Angelo Liberti
Trisha Reynolds

STAFF PRESENT
Jeff Willis, Deputy Director
James Boyd, Coastal Policy Analyst
Anthony DeSisto, 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 July 19, 2016 subcommittee meeting.

Ms. Montanaro seconded by Mr. Liberti moved to approve the meeting minutes of July 19, 2016. All voted in favor of the motion.

Item 4.A – Revise Section 140 Setbacks & Section 150.E.3 Coastal Buffer Zones. J. Willis explained that this proposed revision was to include for consistency into Section 140 an existing requirement of Section 150, namely that of meeting setbacks under certain conditions.

Ms. Montanaro seconded by Mr. Liberti moved to approve the proposal as revised and begin rule- making. All voted in favor of the motion.

Item 6.A – Office of Regulatory Reform – Rhode Island Code of Regulations. J. Boyd explained the new state requirement recently passed into law and being implemented by the Office of Regulatory Reform. It will require that all state regulations follow a consistent sequencing format and also that such are required to be put into said format by a date certain or said regulations will become unenforceable. Given the agency’s breadth of regulations that are in a format not conducive to the new requirement – especially the Ocean SAMP – this will be a significant task for staff. J. Boyd explained the four-subsection maximum requirement and the cost-benefit requirement. He also explained that the agency’s Management Procedures will be the first to undergo these changes and offered the subcommittee a copy of the draft changes to-date to further explain the requirement. J. Boyd explained what technical changes mean under the new requirements. Ms. Reynolds asked about revisions to maps that are regulatory in nature but traditionally would be viewed as a technical change. J. Boyd explained that there shouldn’t be too much of an issue if at all given the Council’s use of GIS technology. Ms. Montanaro questioned whether these revisions will require a public hearing. J. Boyd explained the public hearing process. Ms. Livingston asked since much of the work to be done formatting, what will be the level of involvement that the subcommittee should expect? J. Boyd explained that when any revision is a Technical Revision, then there should be minimal subcommittee involvement; however when any changes to the existing regulations are not considered to be Technical Revisions, then any such change will be brought in front of the subcommittee as per rule-making requirements.

There being no action needed on this Agenda item, Chair Livingston directed staff to continue to work on this reformatting requirement and keep the subcommittee involved as necessary.

ADJOURNMENT. Mr. Gomez, seconded by Mr. Liberti, moved to adjourn the subcommittee meeting. All voted in favor of the motion and the meeting was adjourned at 9:30a.m.

Respectfully submitted by

Jeffrey M Willis, Deputy Director

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