AGENDA JULY 28, 2015

**APPROVAL OF AGENDA.  

1.  MINUTES of previous meeting.

2.  PERMITS (Projects over $500,000 with no objections and with staff recommendation for approval).

3.  CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS.

4.  CLOSED MEETING FOR CONSULTATION WITH, OR BRIEFING BY COUNSEL.

5. VIRGINIA ELECTRIC & POWER CO., #15-0533, requests authorization to cross the Rappahannock River with a new, 115kV transmission line immediately downstream of the Route 3 Norris Bridge between Middlesex and Lancaster Counties. The existing line will be removed from the bridge and the new line will be suspended on ten (10) new towers, with a fender system to be installed around the two new towers on either side of the navigation channel. The project is protested by a citizen in Urbanna.

6. MR. B’S OYSTER COMPANY LLC, #14-1632, requests authorization to deploy a total of 512 commercial aquaculture floats in an 8,100 square foot area along the West Yeocomico River at Oyster Shell Point in Northumberland County. The project is protested by an upland property owner.

7. KEITH BATTS, #14-1664, requests authorization to construct an 11-foot by 13-foot open-sided gazebo over the reconstructed private pier head serving 2102 Turnstone Quay in the Broad Bay Point subdivision, situated along Ferebee Cove in Virginia Beach. The project is protested by an adjoining property owner.

8. SHIRLEY CONTRACTING COMPANY, LLC, #15-0076, requests authorization to fill approximately 14,000 square feet (1,994 square feet is temporary for construction access) of Horsepen Run, a tributary to the Potomac River in association with the proposed widening of the Route 606/Loudoun County Parkway near the Dulles Greenway interchange in Loudon County. The project is protested by an adjacent property owner.

9. PUBLIC HEARING: Proposed “Living Shoreline Group 1 General Permit for Certain Living Shoreline Treatments Involving Tidal Wetlands.” The general permit regulation is being developed pursuant to §28.2-104.1 of the Code of Virginia.

10. PUBLIC COMMENTS:

11. OFFENDERS:

12. FAILURE TO REPORT: Cases involving failure to report commercial harvests, in accordance with Chapter 4 VAC 20-610-10 et seq., "Pertaining to Commercial Fishing and Mandatory Harvest Reporting."

13. PUBLIC HEARING: Request to amend Chapter 4 VAC 20-610-10 et seq., “Pertaining to Commercial Fishing and Mandatory Harvest Reporting” to modify the criteria for an exception to the two-year delay process for a Commercial Fisherman Registration License.

14. PUBLIC HEARING: Request to amend Chapter 4 VAC 20-560-10 et seq., “Pertaining to Shellfish Management Areas” to establish the lawful season of harvest of clams by patent tong from the Newport News Shellfish Management Area, and prohibit additional lease applications within this clam management area.

15. DISCUSSION ITEM: Consideration of a petition (pursuant to section 28.2-214 of the Code of Virginia) requesting a review of the $150.00 fee for a Daily Restricted Shellfish Area Relay Permit established by Regulation 4VAC20-1290-10 ET SEQ, PERTAINING TO RESTRICTIONS ON THE HARVEST OF SHELLFISH IN CONDEMNED SHELLFISH AREAS, effective June 1, 2015. The Commission will accept public comment on the petition.

16. DISCUSSION ITEM: Status of oyster stocks on public oyster grounds for the 2015- 2016 harvest season.

17. REQUEST FOR AUGUST PUBLIC HEARING: Amendments to Chapter 4 VAC 20- 720-10 et seq., “Pertaining to Restrictions on Oyster Harvest,” to establish the 2015-2016 public oyster harvest seasons and management measures that could include, but are not limited to, lower bushel limits and effort limitations.

18. REQUEST FOR AUGUST PUBLIC HEARING: Amendments to Chapter 4 VAC 20- 490-10 et seq., “Pertaining to Sharks,” to request establishing a prohibition on the use of any bow hunting gear to take, capture, or kill any ray or skate species.

19. REQUEST FOR AN AUGUST PUBLIC HEARING: To conform the penalty section of Chapter 4 VAC 20-280-10 et seq., “Pertaining to Speckled Trout and Red Drum” with recent changes to the Code of Virginia.

PAGE 2 ITEMS 

2A. NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP., #15-0196, requests authorization to construct a living shoreline, to include three (3) riprap sill structures totaling approximately 1,270 linear feet, to include associated sand fill and vegetated wetlands plantings landward of the structures, at their Lambert’s Point facility situated along the Elizabeth River in Norfolk.

2B. TRANSCONTINENTAL GAS PIPELINE COMPANY, LLC, #15-0428, requests authorization to install by the open-cut method, a 24-inch diameter natural gas pipeline a minimum of five (5) feet beneath a 66-foot wide section of Reedy Creek, approximately three quarters of a mile south of Totaro, in Brunswick County. Staff recommends approval with standard instream permit conditions and a royalty of $198.00 for crossing 66 linear feet of State-owned submerged land at a rate of $3.00 per linear foot.

2C. HAMPTON YACHT CLUB, INC., #15-0227, requests authorization to install a 7-foot wide open pile commercial pier extending 259 feet channelward of an existing bulkhead, a 5-foot by 107-foot T-head, 11 4-foot by 50-foot finger piers and one (1) 4-foot by 35-foot finger pier to facilitate 25 boat slips, 52 linear feet of bulkhead, a 70.5-foot by 6-foot floating dock with 95 square feet of additional deck space and a pump-out facility, and to mechanically dredge 3,000 cubic yards of State-owned subaqueous bottom to attain depths of minus nine (-9) feet mean low water along the Hampton River at 515 Bridge Street in the City of Hampton. Staff recommends approval with standard dredging permit conditions and a royalty in the amount of $42,409.00 for the dredging of 3,000 cubic yards at $0.45 per cubic yard, the outline of the proposed piers over 27,054 square feet of subaqueous bottom at $1.50 per square foot, and the filling of 104 square feet of State-owned subaqueous bottom at a rate $2.00 per square foot.

2D. CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH, #15-0549, requests authorization to annually dredge, by either mechanical or hydraulic methods, approximately 27,000 cubic yards of State-owned submerged bottomlands within the existing Crab Creek municipal channel adjacent to the Lynnhaven Boat Ramp and Beach Facility in Virginia Beach. The interior channel will be dredged to maximum depths of minus six (-6) feet mean low water from the ramp to the turning basin at the southernmost point, and a maximum of minus nine (-9) feet for the exterior channel from the turning basin to the end point where it connects to the existing Lynnhaven Inlet Federal Navigational Channel south of the Lesner Bridge. A time-of-year-restriction will be imposed to prevent dredging from March 1 – September 30 to protect juvenile flounder. Dredge spoils will be mechanically offloaded either on-site, or hydraulically pumped to the Ocean Park Beach situated along the Chesapeake Bay. The City may also mechanically offload at the Maple Street Dredged Material Management area situated along Long Creek for only the first three years of the permit, as necessary. The City identified the Maple Street area as a possible offloading location because of potential site access concerns at the Lynnhaven Facility and Ocean Park Beach due to the ongoing Lesner Bridge staging and construction.

 PAGE 3 ITEMS

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VMRC DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES; THEREFORE, IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS DUE TO A DISABILITY, PLEASE ADVISE JANE MCCROSKEY (757-247-2215) 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.