COMMISSION AGENDA MARCH 27, 2007

** APPROVAL OF AGENDA.

1. MINUTES of previous meeting.    

2. PERMITS (Projects over $50,000 with no objections and with staff recommendation for approval.)

3. CLOSED MEETING FOR CONSULTATION WITH OR BRIEFING BY COUNSEL.


4.    CONSOL VIRGINIA COAL COMPANY, #05-2233, requests authorization to construct a diffuser outfall to facilitate the discharge of mine water from its Buchanan Mine Number 1 into the Levisa Fork in Buchanan County.  The project is protested by the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors, the Town of Grundy, the Sierra Club and nearby residents.

5.    ROBERT B. HART, ET AL, #06-1551.  Commission review of the Prince William County Wetland Board's November 14, 2006 decision to approve the installation of 355 linear feet of vinyl bulkhead, and to grant after-the-fact authorization for the installation of 90 linear feet of gabion basket retaining wall and the placement of fill over approximately 3,550 square feet of tidal wetlands adjacent to two properties situated along Quantico and Swans Creeks in Prince William County.

6.    RONALD C. WOODS, #07-0196.  Request by 26 freeholders of property in Northampton County for Commission review of the February 21, 2007 decision of the Northampton County Wetlands and Dunes Board to approve the installation of 120 linear feet of stone riprap extending onto the beach at his property situated along the Chesapeake Bay in the Latimers Bluff area of Northampton County.

7.    ALISON E. MORRISON, #07-0197.  Request by 26 freeholders of property in Northampton County for Commission review of the February 21, 2007 decision of the Northampton County Wetlands and Dunes Board to approve the installation of 120 linear feet of stone riprap extending onto the beach at her property situated along the Chesapeake Bay in the Latimers Bluff area of Northampton County.

8.    MARINE HYDRAULICS INCORPORATED, #04-1984, requests modification of their previously issued permit to include dredging, using either clamshell or hydraulic methods, 5,400 cubic yards of State-owned submerged lands within a 130-foot by 140-foot basin to create maximum depths of minus ten (–10) feet below mean low water adjacent to their property situated along the Elizabeth River in Norfolk.  The project is protested by nearby property owners.

9.    VALIANT VENTURES, #06-1022, requests authorization to construct a 150-foot long by 6-foot wide community pier with a 6-foot by 128-foot T-head platform with five 32-foot long by 4-foot wide finger piers with 10 boat slips with lifts for a future condominium association adjacent to property situated along the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River in Norfolk.

10.    MARGARET BLEVINS, #07-0139, requests authorization to install 205 linear feet of timber bulkhead flanked with riprap protection at the property lines, and to install three (3) low-profile, timber groins extending 48 feet channelward of mean high water, adjacent to her property situated along Portobago Bay in Caroline County.  Both Wetlands and Subaqueous permits are required. 

11.    SHAH HEMANG AND APURVA PATEL, #06-0263, request after-the-fact approval of a previously constructed, and unauthorized expansion of a T-head pier deck from 10-foot by 20-foot to 20-foot by 21.5-foot at the applicants properties situated along the Nansemond River at 409 and 411 Blue Heron Point in the City of Suffolk.

12.    PUBLIC COMMENTS

13.    PUBLIC HEARING:  Amendments to Regulations 4 VAC 20-670-10 et seq. and 4 VAC 20-430-10 et seq., concerning the use of anchored gill nets, licensed for recreational purposes and set in areas above the saltwater-freshwater recreational license boundary lines on the James, York and Rappahannock rivers. 

14.    PUBLIC HEARING:  Planned construction of a new artificial recreational fishing reef (Bluefish Rock), to be centered 3.2 nautical miles E.S.E. of the Grand View section of Hampton.

15.    PUBLIC HEARING:  Amend Regulation 4 VAC 20-450-10 et seq. to establish the 2007 commercial bluefish quota, as 1,018,660 pounds.

16.    PUBLIC HEARING:  Regulation 4 VAC 20-950-10 et seq., “Pertaining to Black Sea Bass.” Consideration of alternate methods for allocation of the 2007 commercial harvest quota between directed and by-catch fisheries.

17.    PUBLIC HEARING:  Proposed adoption of February 27, 2007 emergency amendments to Regulations 4 VAC 20-270-10 et seq. and 4 VAC 20-300-10 et seq., as permanent parts of these regulations.  Amendments to Regulation 4 VAC 20-270-10 extend the lawful crab pot and peeler pot season from March 17 through November 30, establish a daily time limit of 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the March 17 through March 31 period, and prohibit the placing, setting or fishing of any fish pot in tidal waters from March 12 through March 16, except in defined upriver areas.  The amendment to Regulation 4 VAC 20-300-10 et seq. extends the 51-bushel (17-barrel) possession limit from March 17 through May 31 for vessels taking or catching crabs by crab pot.

18.    PUBLIC HEARING:  Proposed amendment to Regulation 4 VAC 20-370-10 et seq., to repeal the prohibition on harvest and possession of dark (any shade of brown through black coloration) sponge crabs and establish an additional blue crab sanctuary in an area that extends out to the 3-Mile Limit Line, from off the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, thence southward along the Virginia Beach coast to the Virginia-North Carolina Line (Regulation 4 VAC 20-752-10 et seq.).

19.    FAILURE TO REPORT COMMERCIAL HARVEST, in accordance with mandatory reporting requirements of Regulation 4 VAC 20-610-10 et seq.

20.    REQUEST FOR APRIL PUBLIC HEARING:  Establish conservation measures for Sheepshead, to include a 4-fish recreational possession limit and a commercial hook-and-line possession limit of 500 pounds.

21.        REQUEST FOR APRIL PUBLIC HEARING:  To amend Regulation 4 VAC 20-900-10 et seq., “Pertaining to Horseshoe Crab”, to establish a definition for male horseshoe crabs, a permitting and reporting system (call-in) for buyers of horseshoe crabs.

22.    REQUEST FOR APRIL PUBLIC HEARING:  To amend Regulation 4 VAC 20-890-10 et seq., “Pertaining to Channeled Whelk”, to modify the definition of a bait bag and establish a permitting and reporting system for buyers of channeled whelk.

23.    REQUEST FOR APRIL PUBLIC HEARING: To establish recreational and commercial possession limits for blueline tilefish and grouper species landed in Virginia.

24.    REQUEST FOR APRIL PUBLIC HEARING:  Request a revision of the May 1 through October 30 possession-limit on spiny dogfish to 3,000 pounds, from 600 pounds.


PAGE 2 ITEMS
(Projects over $50,000 with no objections and with staff recommendation for approval)

2A.    HENRY COUNTY PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY, #07-0344, requests authorization to install a submerged waterline, by directional bore method, beneath Marrowbone Creek and Jordan Creek to provide potable water to area residents in the Chestnut Knob/Ridgeway section of Henry County.

2B.    CSX TRANSPORTATION, #03-1647, requests a modification to reduce the requirement to mitigate for the previously proposed loss of 1.743 acres of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) to reflect the actual, constructed loss of 0.21 acres of SAV resulting from the construction of two (2) temporary stone causeways and the dredging of 18.5 cubic yards of State-owned subaqueous material from a 500 square foot area adjacent to the previously authorized railroad crossing of Quantico Creek in Prince William County.  The applicant proposes to donate $10,000 to the VMRC Habitat Improvement Fund, to be earmarked for use in a SAV restoration project in the Potomac River Watershed, if their SAV restoration efforts do not meet the success criteria outlined in their revised SAV mitigation plan, as determined by their final report due to the VMRC no later than November 1, 2008.

2C.    HIGGERSON-BUCHANAN, INC., #06-2845,  requests authorization to dredge 13,700 cubic yards of State-owned subaqueous bottom to create a 550-foot long by 130 foot wide (maximum) barge unloading berth with maximum depths of minus fourteen (-14) feet at mean low water, and install one (1) 7-pile cluster dolphin at the confluence of Mains Creek and the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, located adjacent to their commercial property at 5300 Bainbridge Boulevard in Chesapeake.  The dredged material will be removed mechanically and disposed of in their adjacent upland property.  Recommend approval with a royalty in the amount of $6,165.00 for the new dredging of State bottom at a rate of $0.45 per cubic yard and $200.00 for the encroachment of the dolphin over 100 square feet of State bottom at a rate of $2.00 per square foot.

2D.    ALEXANDRIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, #07-0235, requests authorization to annually mechanically maintenance dredge 50,000 cubic yards of accumulated silt, sand, and gravel from five (5) flood control channels, Cameron Run, Holmes Run, Backlick Run, Hooffs Run, and Four Mile Run, to return them to their original design configuration in the City of Alexandria.  Staff recommends a 5-year permit with the requirement for a post-dredge bathymetric survey being submitted for staff review after each dredging cycle.

VMRC DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES; THEREFORE, IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS DUE TO A DISABILITY, PLEASE ADVISE KATHY LEONARD (757-247-2200) NO LATER THAN FIVE WORK DAYS PRIOR TO THE MEETING DATE AND IDENTIFY YOUR NEEDS.

FISHERY MANAGEMENT ITEMS WILL IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW THE HABITAT MANAGEMENT PROJECTS ON THIS AGENDA.

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