Virginia Law

A. Every draft VWP individual permit, with the exception of a VWP Emergency Virginia Water Protection Permit, shall be given public notice paid for by the applicant, by publication once in a newspaper of general circulation in the area affected by the proposed activity. The public notice must be published within 14 days of the applicant's receipt of a draft VWP permit, or the 120-day VWP permit processing timeframe will be suspended until such publication.

B. The department shall provide a comment period of at least 30 days following the date of the public notice for interested persons to submit written comments on the tentative decision and to request a public hearing on the VWP permit. All written comments submitted during the comment period shall be retained by the department and considered during its final decision on the VWP permit.

C. The contents of the public notice for a VWP permit application or proposed VWP permit action shall include:

1. Name and mailing address of the applicant;

2. The permit application number;

3. Project location. If the location of the activity differs from the address of the applicant the notice shall also state the location in sufficient detail such that the specific location may be easily identified;

4. Brief description of the business or activity to be conducted at the site of the proposed activity;

5. Description of the area affected. Information on the number of acres of wetlands and the number of linear feet of streams affected, as well as the name of the receiving waterway and the name of the affected watershed should be included;

6. Description of what the applicant plans to do to compensate for the affected area;

7. A statement of the tentative determination to issue or deny a VWP permit;

8. A brief description of the final determination procedure;

9. The address, email address and phone number of a specific person or persons at the state office from whom further information may be obtained; and

10. A brief description on how to submit comments and request a public hearing.

D. Public notice shall not be required for submission or approval of plans and specifications or conceptual engineering reports not required to be submitted as part of the application.

E. When a VWP permit is denied, the department shall do so in accordance with 9VAC25-210-230.