COMMISSION ACTIONS FEBRUARY 2011

The following are the agenda items from the Commission's regular meeting held February 22, 2011 at Commission headquarters.  The Commission's actions are in bold.

** APPROVAL OF AGENDA.  THE COMMISSION APPROVED THE AGENDA 8-0 AFTER PULLING AGENDA ITEM #8, TIGER ENTERPRISES INC. 
[Audio Agenda]

1.  MINUTES of previous meeting.  THE MINUTES OF THE JANUARY MEETING WERE APPROVED 6-0, WITH ASSOCIATE COMMISSIONERS ROBINS AND LAINE ABSTAINING.
[Audio Item 1]

2.  PERMITS (Projects over $50,000 with no objections and with staff recommendation for approval).  THESE SEVEN SO-CALLED PAGE 2 ITEMS, DELINEATED BELOW IN DETAIL, WERE APPROVED 8-0.
[Audio Item 2]

3.  CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS.  NONE.

4.  CLOSED MEETING FOR CONSULTATION WITH, OR BRIEFING BY COUNSEL.  NONE.   

5.  DAVID ANCARROW, #10-1245. Commission review of the York County Wetland Board's January 13, 2011, decision to approve the installation of approximately 175 linear feet of riprap marsh toe sill with backfill and the jurisdictional determination that would allow the additional filling of approximately 6,000 square feet of vegetated tidal wetlands as identified by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) at Mr. David Ancarrow's property on Cabin Creek.  THE COMMISSION VOTED 8-0 TO REMAND THIS CASE BACK TO THE YORK COUNTY WETLANDS BOARD FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION.
[Audio Item 5]

6.  NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION, #10-2003, requests authorization to extend the existing Wallops Island rock seawall 4,600 feet to the south and place approximately 3,199,000 cubic yards of sand along 19,400 linear feet of their shoreline, extending the beach east a maximum of 240 feet beyond the seawall with a total impact to both the existing beach and submerged land of 550 feet beyond the seawall.  The sand for the project will be dredged from deposits in the Atlantic Ocean beyond Virginia's three-mile territorial limit and will be pumped to the beach from a nearshore anchored pump-out station located approximately between the 28-foot and 32-foot contours east of Wallops Island in the Atlantic Ocean.  The project is protested and both Coastal Primary Sand Dunes and Beaches and Submerged Lands permits are required.  THE COMISSION VOTED 7-0 TO APPROVE THE PROJECT AS RECOMMENDED BY STAFF.  
[Audio Item 6]

7.  LLOYD TAYLOR, ET AL, #10-1798, requests authorization to construct a replacement timber bulkhead aligned a maximum of two (2) feet channelward of an existing deteriorated timber bulkhead and to install a total of 225 linear feet of riprap revetment the toe of which will be aligned at mean low water adjacent to his property located at 2614 Glendas Way situated along the Rappahannock River in Spotsylvania County.  A Wetlands Permit is required.  THE COMISSION VOTED 7-0 TO APPROVE THE PROJECT AS RECOMMENDED BY STAFF. 
[Audio Item 7]

8.  TIGER ENTERPRISES, INC. #10-1928, requests authorization to remove an existing boathouse and to construct a new 18-foot by 34-foot open sided boathouse with two (2) 4-foot wide finger piers adjacent their existing private, noncommercial, open pile pier situated along the North River at 8718 Elmington Lane in Gloucester County.  The project is protested by an adjoining property owner.  THIS ITEM WAS PULLED FROM THE MEETING AGENDA BECAUSE PROTESTS HAD BEEN RESOLVED AND THE PROJECT IS ELIGIBLE, AS A RESULT, FOR ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVAL. 
[Audio Agenda]

9.  GUILFORD HEIGHTS ASSOCIATION, #10-0816.  Request by Bill Baker, agent for the project, for reconsideration of a previously assessed, accepted and paid civil charge of $1,800.00 in lieu of the need for further enforcement action, related to after-the-fact approval of a tiered concrete block structure placed on a jurisdictional beach area adjacent to the James River on property owned by the Guilford Heights Association in Surry County.  The Commission voted 7-0-1, with Commissioner Bowman recusing himself from the vote, to decline to reconsider the civil assessment in lieu of further enforcement action that was set on this matter in August 2010. 
[Audio Item 9]

10.  PUBLIC COMMENTS.  NORFOLK RESIDENT ELLIS JAMES SPOKE ON POTENTIAL IMPACTS TO LYNNHAVEN INLET OYSTER BEDS FROM ANY BILGE DISCHARGES FROM COAL FREIGHTERS IN THE LOWER CHESAPEAKE BAY.
ALSO, TWO WATERMEN ASKED THE COMMISSION TO CONSIDER GEAR-BASED QUOTAS FOR HORSESHOE CRAB HARVESTING.  THEY WERE TOLD STAFF IS EVALUATING THIS AND RELATED ISSUES, AND AN INFORMAL MEETING WILL BE HELD ON MARCH 8 TO GET INDUSTRY INPUT.
[Audio Item10]

11.  PUBLIC HEARING:  Proposed amendments to Regulation 4VAC20-530, "Pertaining to American Shad", to provide for a limited by-catch fishery in 2011.  THE COMMISSION VOTED 8-0 TO CONTINUE A LIMITED BYCATCH FISHERY IN 2011.
[Audio Item 11]

12.  PUBLIC HEARING: Proposed amendments to Regulation 4VAC20-620, "Pertaining to Summer Flounder", to establish the 2011recreational fishery management measures.  THE COMMISSION VOTED 8-0 TO LOWER THE RECREATIONAL SIZE LIMIT FOR FLOUNDER, WHICH WILL ALLLOW ANGLERS TO KEEP MORE OF THE FLOUNDER THEY CATCH.  THE 2011 SIZE LIMIT WILL BE 17.5 INCHES, WITH A FOUR FISH POSSESSION LIMIT AND NO CLOSED SEASON.  THE 2010 SIZE LIMIT WAS 18.5 INCHES WITH A FOUR FISH POSSESSION LIMIT.
[Audio Item 12]

13.  PUBLIC HEARING:  Proposed amendments to Regulation 4VAC20-950, "Pertaining to Black Sea Bass", to set the 2011 directed commercial fishery quota at 302,216 pounds and to limit black sea bass by-catch landings per trip and repeal the transfer of by-catch quota to the directed fishery.  THE COMMISSION VOTED 8-0 TO SET THE 2011 BLACK SEA BASS QUOTA FOR 2011 AND TO MAKE SOME MINOR REGULATION CHANGES AT THE REQUEST OF THE SEAFOOD INDUSTRY.
[Audio Item 13]

14.  APPROVAL:  of the 2011 Oyster Replenishment Plan and associated procurement procedures.  THE COMMISSION VOTED 7-0-1, WITH ASSOCIATE COMMISSIONER ROBINS ABSTAINING, TO APPROVE A 2011 OYSTER REPLENISHMENT PLAN CRAFTED BY STAFF, WITH THE EXPECTATION OF REDUCED STATE FUNDING.
[Audio Item 14]

15.  REQUEST FOR A MARCH PUBLIC HEARING:  Angling Club-proposed modifications to possession and size limit for speckled trout from December 1 through March 31, as described in "Pertaining to Speckled Trout and Red Drum," Regulation 4 VAC 20-280-10 et seq.  THE COMMISSION VOTED 7-0, WITH COMMISSIONER BOWMAN ABSENT FOR THE VOTE, TO APPROVE A PUBLIC HEARING AND VOTE AT THE MARCH COMMISSION MEETING ON AN ANGLER'S CLUB REQUEST TO LOWER THE RECREATIONAL SPECKLED TROUT POSSESSION LIMIT DEC. 1 THROUGH MARCH 31 FROM 10 TO 5 FISH WITH AN ALLOWANCE OF ONLY ONE FISH 24 INCHES OR GREATER.
[Audio Item 15]

THE FOLLOWING SO-CALLED PAGE TWO ITEMS (PROJECTS OVER $50,000 WITH NO OBJECTIONS AND WITH STAFF RECOMMENDATION FOR APPROVAL) WERE APPROVED 8-0:

2A.  LAUREL LAKE WATERFRONT HOA, #10-1899, requests authorization to repair an existing earthen impoundment and construct a new riprap spillway & sill within Skimino Creek to facilitate repairs to Barlows Pond in James City & York County.  Recommend approval with an encroachment royalty of $175.00 for the encroachment of the dam and spillway over 175 square feet of State-owned subaqueous bottom at a rate of $1.00 per square foot.

2B.  TOWN OF WYTHEVILLE, #10-1997, requests authorization to install an 8-inch HDPE sewer line, ductile iron casing pipe, and concrete encasement beneath the streambed of 40 linear feet of Reed Creek, upstream of Atkins Mill Rd in Wythe County.  The sewer line and encasement will be installed utilizing either the open trench and cofferdam method or be directionally drilled.  Recommend inclusion of standard in-stream permit conditions.

2C.  OCEAN LAND TRUST, LTD, #10-1570, requests authorization to change the use of their existing 512-foot long by 5-foot wide private pier to a community pier for the lot owners in the "Ocean View" subdivision and install a 225-foot long by 5-foot wide L-head to the existing pier, which includes a 25-foot long by 5-foot wide floating platform section for kayak access along Crippen Creek in Accomack County.  The L-head will accommodate the mooring of up to ten (10) boats for lot owners. The applicant has agreed to forever prohibit the construction of private piers on all 15 riparian lots (Lots 11-16, 26-28, 39-44) in the subdivision.  Staff recommends the assessment of a royalty in the amount of $3,235.50 for the pier and mooring area encroachment over 2,157 square feet of State owned submerged land at a rate of $1.50 per square foot.

2D.  CITY OF NORFOLK, #09-0710, requests authorization to install approximately 100 linear feet of replacement bulkhead with concrete cap encroaching approximately 1.5 feet channelward of mean low water, with riprap aprons on either end and a concrete stairway for access to the Lafayette River, at the southern terminus of Ashland Circle in the City of Norfolk.

2E.  DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, #09-1153, requests a modification to a previously authorized permit to now install an approximately 3,000-foot long, conduit duct bank system to accommodate instrument cables between an existing underwater electro-magnetic measurement range located within the Entrance Reach Channel of the Norfolk Harbor Channel and an existing data concentrator shed, to be installed within a dredged trench to be backfilled with approximately 7,000 cubic yards of non-magnetic gravel within the channel and 8-foot wide articulated concrete matting along the remainder of the duct bank's path within Hampton Roads.

2G.  DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY,  #11-0039, requests authorization to demolish and upgrade portions of Pier 1 at Naval Station Norfolk to include the replacement/addition of 70 concrete support piles; the replacement of portions of the pier's existing concrete deck, fender system, and affected utilities; and the installation of 20 new bollards situated along Hampton Roads in the City of Norfolk.

PAGE THREE ITEMS:

NONE.