20000253, 62-330.010 - Florida Administrative Rules, Law, Code, Register

Home

Florida Department of State and Division of Library and Information Services

Notice: 20000253

Notice of Proposed Rule

Department:

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Chapter:

ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE PERMITTING

Overview

RULE:

62-330.010	Purpose and Implementation
62-330.020	Regulated Activities
62-330.050	Procedures for Review and Agency Action on Exemption Requests
62-330.051	Exempt Activities
62-330.0511	No-fee Noticed Exemptions for Construction, Operation, Maintenance, Alteration, Abandonment or Removal of Minor Silvicultural Surface Water Management Systems
62-330.054	Individual Permits
62-330.055	Conceptual Approval Permits for Urban Infill or Redevelopment
62-330.056	Other Conceptual Approval Permits
62-330.060	Content of Applications for Individual and Conceptual Approval Permits
62-330.062	Water Quality Certification and Costal Zone Consistency Concurrence
62-330.071	Fees
62-330.075	Additional Requirements and Procedures for Concurrent Review of Related Applications
62-330.090	Processing of Individual and Conceptual Approval Permit Applications
62-330.201	Determinations of the Landward Extent of Wetlands and Other Surface Waters
62-330.301	Conditions for Issuance of Individual and Conceptual Approval Permits
62-330.302	Additional Conditions for Issuance of Individual and Conceptual Approval Permits
62-330.310	Operation and Maintenance
62-330.311	Inspections and Reporting
62-330.315	Modification of Permits
62-330.320	Duration of Permits
62-330.340	Transfer of Permit Upon Change in Ownership or Control
62-330.350	General Conditions for Individual Permits
62-330.351	General Conditions for Conceptual Approval Permits
62-330.360	Emergency Authorizations and Actions
62-330.395	Variances
62-330.402	Submittal and Processing of General Permits
62-330.405	General Conditions for All General Permits
62-330.407	General Permit for Geotechnical Investigations in Wetlands or Other Surface Waters (Repealed)
62-330.417	General Permit for Construction, Alteration, Operation, and Maintenance of Boat Ramp Facilities
62-330.427	General Permit for Docks, Piers and Associated Structures
62-330.431	General Permit for Installation of Riprap
62-330.437	General Permit for the Installation of Fences
62-330.443	General Permit to the Florida Department of Transportation, Counties and Municipalities for Minor Bridge Alteration, Placement, Replacement, Removal, Maintenance, and Operation
62-330.447	General Permit to the Florida Department of Transportation, Counties, and Municipalities for Minor Activities Within Existing Rights-of-Way or Easements
62-330.449	General Permit for Construction, Operation, Maintenance, Alteration, Abandonment or Removal of Airport Airside Stormwater Management Systems
62-330.450	General Permit for Construction, Alteration, and Operation of Urban Infill and Redevelopment Activities in Conformance with the Conceptual Approval Permit in Rule 62-330.055, F.A.C.
62-330.451	General Permit to Counties, Municipalities, and other Agencies to Conduct Stormwater Retrofit Activities
62-330.453	General Permit for Installation, Maintenance, Repair, and Removal of Underground Utility Lines
62-330.457	General Permit for Subaqueous Utility Crossings of Artificial Waterways
62-330.475	General Permit for Single-family Residential Activities in Isolated Wetlands
62-330.485	General Permit to the Department and Water Management Districts for Environmental Restoration or Enhancement
62-330.493	General Permit to Perform Prospecting Activities for Phosphate Minerals
62-330.496	General Permit for Dry Borrow Pits of Less than Five Acres (Repealed)
62-330.550	General Permit for Construction, Operation and Maintenance of Nonproduction-related Agricultural Facilities
62-330.630	General Permit to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Environmental Restoration or Enhancement Activities
62-330.631	General Permit to Governmental Entities for Limited Environmental Restoration or Enhancement Activities
62-330.632	General Permit for the Restoration, Establishment and Enhancement of Low Profile Oyster Habitat
62-330.635	General Permit for Soil Remediation

PURPOSE:

The Department of Environmental Protection (Department) proposes to amend Chapter 62-330, F.A.C., the Applicant’s Handbook Volume I, the Applicant’s Handbook Volume II within the Northwest Florida Water Management District, and incorporate by reference updates to Applicant’s Handbook Volume II made by the other water management districts (WMDs). These amendments make minor revisions and provide clarification. In addition, the rule provides additional exemptions, reduces submittal requirements, revises rule to remove the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) from the joint application process, and revises the application and notice forms.

SUMMARY:

Minor revisions to the rule and Applicant Handbooks are proposed to provide technical corrections, clarifications, and updates to forms and notices. More substantive proposed amendments are summarized as follows.

Rule 62-330.010, F.A.C., is amended to incorporate by reference the updated and revised Applicant’s Handbook (AH) Volume I and AH Volume II for each WMD to address any changes that are being proposed during this rulemaking to WMD-specific exemptions, water quantity, and water quality criteria.  

Paragraph 62-330.020(1)(b), F.A.C., is amended to add a reference for the exemption already adopted in Rule 62-330.0511, F.A.C.; Deleting the unnecessary word “new” in (2); and changing the project area from 1 acre to 5 acres.

Subsection 62-330.050(2), F.A.C, is amended to add a reference to the exemption in Rule 62-330.0511, F.A.C., and incorporates by reference an amended “Request for Verification of Exemption” form. 

Amendments to Rule 62-330.051, F.A.C., establish new exemptions for mechanical shredding of aquatic plants by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC); repair of concrete bridge pilings; boat lifts in existing slips; seagrass and coral restoration activities undertaken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary; construction of cellular communications towers in uplands; electrical distribution substations in uplands; and small intakes for residential irrigation and cooling purposes. Certain geotechnical investigations and upland, dry borrow pits of less than five acres in size are converted from requiring a general permit to exemptions. Paragraph 62-330.051(14)(f), F.A.C., is amended to limit activity to a project that can be completed within 24 hours.

Rule 62-330.055, F.A.C., is amended to make the duration and renewal provisions consistent with Section 373.4131(1)(b), F.S., as well as to authorize urban infill and redevelopment projects that necessitate activities within wetlands or other surface waters.

Rule 62-330.060, F.A.C., is amended to incorporate by reference a revised Application form which removes the Corps from the joint application process. The amendment also modifies Part 4 of Section E of the Application to clarify the existing requirement for an applicant to provide associated land use agreements. It also modifies Section H of the Joint Application to clarify information needed for mining applications processed by the Department.

Rule 62-330.062, F.A.C., corrects the time frame set for the Department, WMDs, and delegated local programs (Agencies) to provide a water quality certification and revises language to conform to an existing Agreement executed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Rule 62-330.071, F.A.C., is amended to clarify that the reduced fee for resubmittal of a withdrawn application applies only once. It also updates incorporations by reference of fee rules of the WMDs.

Rule 62-330.075, F.A.C., is amended to streamline issuance of a consolidated permit and sovereignty submerged lands authorization when there is no heightened public concern.

Rule 62-330.090, F.A.C., is amended to add utilities to the category of activities that do not require recording of a notice of permit in the public records.

Rule 62-330.201, F.A.C., is amended to incorporate a revised form for petitions for formal determinations, which includes minor revisions to allow petitioner to specify the type of formal determination requested.

Rule 62-330.310, F.A.C., is amended to delete redundant language and incorporate forms by reference. 

Updated and new application, noticing, conservation, and financial responsibility forms are proposed to be incorporated by reference in Rule 62-330.301, F.A.C.

Rule 62-330.311, F.A.C., is amended to revise two forms incorporated by reference.

Rule 62-330.315, F.A.C., is amended to clarify additional categories of pre-Statewide Environmental Resource Permits (SWERP) subject to grandfathering and the effective dates applicable to those and the current rules.

Rule 62-330.320, F.A.C., is amended to allow for individual permit durations of less than five years to apply in certain circumstances.

A revised Request for Transfer form is incorporated in Rule 62-330.340, F.A.C. The rule also clarifies the procedures for transferring new or additional permittees and that projects constructed in accordance with general permits automatically transfer to subsequent property owners.

Paragraph 62-330.350(1)(d), F.A.C., is amended to enable submittal of a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Notice of Intent to Use a Generic Permit form to also serve as an ERP Construction Commencement Notice for activities requiring both permits. 62-330.350(1)(n), F.A.C., is amended to incorporate clarifications requested by the Department of State, Division of Historical Resources.

Rule 62-330.351, F.A.C., is created to standardize general conditions for conceptual approval permits that will be based on existing conditions of permit issuance and analogous administrative procedures used for individual permits.

Rule 62-330.405, F.A.C., is amended to provide clarifying language and to delete redundant language. 

Rule 62-330.407, F.A.C., is repealed as a general permit and converted to an exemption as paragraph 62-330.051(11)(d), F.A.C.

The term “mean annual low water level”, which has no known definition, is removed from Rule 62-330.417, F.A.C. The rule also clarifies manatee protection criteria.

Rule 62-330.427, F.A.C., is amended to correct the title, eliminate redundant text, and allow roofs over mooring areas. It also clarifies the limitation on numbers of “vessels”, referring to concurrent requirements for structures on state-owned submerged lands, removing the undefined term “mean annual low water level”. The amendment of the rule also specifies that this general permit cannot be used for revenue generating docks and piers, and clarifies manatee protection requirements.

Rule 62-330.431, F.A.C., is amended to clarify conditions for installation of riprap at an individual, private residential single-family property. 

Rule 62-330.437, F.A.C., is amended to clarify prohibition of fences on state-owned submerged lands and to ensure that fences do not prevent navigation, except within isolated waters that are wholly owned or controlled by the permittee.

Rule 62-330.443, F.A.C., is amended to clarify that the limitation of dredging and filling also limits new overwater structure, allows the creation of new travel lanes for non-motorized vehicles, expands the use of general permits to existing causeways, and prohibits any expansion of structure within designated critical habitat of Johnson’s seagrass.

Rule 62-330.449, F.A.C., is amended to clarify the applicability of the general permit to military airbases.

Rule 62-330.450, F.A.C., is amended to add a provision to clarify that the general permit can only be used after the issuance of an individual permit, if such individual permit is required in accordance with proposed subsection 62-330.055(6), F.A.C.

Rules 62-330.453 and 62-330.457, F.A.C., are amended to increase the maximum diameter for utility conduits and pipelines and to create paragraph 62-330.453(3)(i) and subsection 62-330.457(3), F.A.C., to address current federal requirements.

The general permit in Rule 62-330.475, F.A.C., has been split into two separate general permits for clarification, creating Rule 62-330.474, F.A.C. “General Permit for Certain Minor Activities” and amending Rule 62-330.475, F.A.C. to contain “General Permit for Single-family Residential Activities in Isolated Wetlands”. Rule 62-330.475, F.A.C. is amended to consolidate text, while Rule 62-330.474, F.A.C., is created to clarify that piling supported structures may not have enclosed or habitable structures, and to specify that this general permit is not intended to allow construction or modification of docks or piers. The creation of Rule 62-330.474, F.A.C., also restores text prohibiting structures over certain benthic resources that was inadvertently omitted when Rule 62-330.475, F.A.C., was last amended on October 1, 2013.

Rule 62-330.631, F.A.C., is amended to improve clarity, and revise construction criteria for oyster reef breakwaters to prevent manatee entrapment. Paragraph 62-330.631(1)(h), F.A.C., is created to enable the use of the general permit to restore impacted seagrasses.

Substantive proposed amendments to the Applicant’s Handbook Volume I (General and Environmental) include the following: sections 1.3.1.1 through 1.3.2.2 are amended to reflect the Corps decision to withdraw from the joint application process and clarify and add information about related federal permitting programs under the Clean Water Act for construction-related stormwater and dewatering discharges and for dredging and filling; sections 1.3.2 through 1.3.2.2 are amended to better inform applicants of NPDES stormwater construction general permit and dewatering permit requirements; section 2.0 is amended to revise 11 existing definitions and to add the definition of “vessel” to assist in implementing provisions of the rule and handbook that use these terms; section 3.1.4(f) is amended to clarify that new activities that are not regulated under subsection 62-330.020(2), F.A.C., cannot, when combined with existing systems, cause adverse secondary or cumulative impacts to water resources; section 3.2.3(b)7. and 9. are amended to clarify applicability of the maintenance dredge exemption in situations when a permit was not issued for the canal prior to October 26, 1975, and specifying the date of amendment to include the terms “previously dredged” and “within recorded drainage rights-of-way”; sections 4.2.3(d) and (e) are amended to add clarification regarding ownership responsibilities for mitigation sites and corporate registration requirements; section 5.4 is amended to clarify that the agencies will not provide notice of receipt of requests to verify exemptions, which do not appear subject to the statutory requirement of Section 373.413(3), F.S.; section 5.5.2.1 is amended to remove the Corps from the joint application process; section 6.1.5 is amended to explain that the phrase “authorized construction or alteration has begun,” as it is used in subsection 62-330.056(9), F.A.C., applies to substantive work to implement the permitted activities and not to superficial activities conducted only to keep the conceptual approval permit active; section 6.2.1 is amended to clarify the factors that apply in determining whether a permit modification shall be considered “minor” or “major”; section 6.3.2.1 is amended to clarify permit transfer requirements; section 7.2.5 is added to provide for a reduced fee to renew a formal determination, extend the duration for requesting such a renewal, and allow for issuance of a new formal determination on a site with an expired determination; section 8.2.7 is added to reflect the addition of criteria for discharges of stormwater into mine pits, including incorporating by reference proposed Appendix I; section 10.2.7(a) is amended to recognize that certain buffers may require planting or removal of exotic and nuisance vegetation; section 10.2.7(b) is amended to reflect changes in Rule 68A-16.002, F.A.C. which now only requires an applicant to get a bald eagle take permit from the US Fish and Wildlife Service; section 12.3.2 is added to specify that when an applicant proposes that particular utility and governmental entities will assume operation and maintenance (O&M) responsibility for a permitted system, that the applicant must provide documentation showing that the entity agrees to assume said responsibilities; section 12.3.4 is renumbered (from 12.3.3) to reflect that the required documentation must show that the association, rather than the permittee, will exist and possess the legal authority to assume O&M responsibility for a permitted system; and Appendix I is created to provide criteria for treatment of stormwater discharges into mine pits.

Minor technical corrections are proposed to Applicant’s Handbook, Volume II (Water Quality and Quantity) applicable within the Northwest Florida Water Management District. However, the remaining WMDs are considering minor revisions to their Volume II’s, which requires that the updated volumes be incorporated by reference in Chapter 62-330, F.A.C.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY:

161.055, 253.03(7), 253.77, 258.43, 373.026, 373.043, 373.044, 373.109, 373.113, 373.118, 373.171, 373.406, 373.413, 373.4131, 373.414, 373.4145, 373.415, 373.416, 373.418, 373.421(2), 373.427, 380.06, 380.23, 403.0877, 403.805(1), FS.

LAW:

120.54(5)(a), 120.569(2), 120.60, 161.041, 161.055, 253.03, 253.034(1), 253.04, 253.77, 258.43, 373.026, 373.042, 373.043, 373.044, 373.046, 373.086, 373.109, 373.116, 373.117, 373.118, 373.119, 373.129, 373.136, 373.403, 373.406, 373.409, 373.413, 373.4131, 373.4136, 373.414, 373.4141, 373.4142, 373.4145, 373.415, 373.416, 373.418, 373.419, 373.421, 373.422, 373.423, 373.426, 373.427, 373.428, 373.429, 373.439, 380.06, 380.23, 403.0877, 403.201, 403.813(1), 403.814, FS.

PRINT PUBLISH DATE:

2/2/2018 Vol. 44/23

COMMENTS:

From 2/2/2018 To 2/23/2018 (21 Days)
The public comment period for this notice has already expired.

REFERENCE MATERIALS:

Under Florida law, E-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your E-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.