Posted on May 9, 2016
Starting May 16, the Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL) will hold public hearings in Astoria, Tillamook, Newport, Coos Bay and Bandon to seek comments on two sets of administrative rules governing the state-owned waterway management and leasing program and the establishment of a new General Permit for Navigational Access Maintenance Dredging.
The waterway rulemaking pertains to leases, licenses and registrations for structures and uses of state-owned submerged and submersible land. It also includes procedures for the recently approved Submerged Lands Enhancement Fund, enacted by House Bill 2463 in 2015.
The maintenance dredging rulemaking pertains to creating a removal-fill General Permit for routine maintenance dredging of existing marinas, boat basins, terminals and access channels for navigational access purposes.
Both sets of draft rules were developed with input from advisory committees composed of a diverse group of stakeholders.
A hearing on the waterway program will be held 4-6 p.m. May 24 at the North Bend Public Library, 1800 Sherman Ave.
A hearing on maintenance dredging will be held 5-6 p.m. May 26 at The Barn Community Center, 1200 11th St. SW, Bandon.
Members of the public who are unable to attend one of the hearings may send comments via mail or email. The public comment period for maintenance dredging is May 1-31, and the period for the waterway leasing program is May 1-June 7.
Email: rules@dsl.state.or.us; U.S. mail: Sabrina Foward, Rules Coordinator, Department of State Lands, 775 Summer Street NE, Suite 100, Salem, Oregon 97301-1279.
Additional information, including the complete schedule of hearings, is on the DSL website under Rulemaking:http://www.oregon.gov/dsl/Pages/Rulemaking-Activity.aspx
The Department of State Lands protects Oregon’s wetlands and waterways for their ecological functions and for the benefits they provide to the state’s economy and the well-being of Oregonians. The agency does this through administering the Removal-Fill Law, passed by the Oregon Legislature in 1967. The Department also protects public ownership rights of Oregon’s navigable and tidally influenced waterways by managing the use of state-owned land under rivers, lakes and the territorial sea.
Source: The World
