May 31, 2005, Introduced by Rep. Condino and referred to the Committee on Conservation, Forestry, and Outdoor Recreation.
A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled
"Natural resources and environmental protection act,"
by amending sections 30301, 30312, and 30318 (MCL 324.30301,
324.30312, and 324.30318), sections 30301 and 30312 as amended by
2003 PA 14 and section 30318 as added by 1995 PA 59, and by adding
section 30312b.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 30301. As used in this part:
(a) "Beach" means the area landward of the shoreline of the
Great Lakes as the term shoreline is defined in section 32301.
(b) "Beach maintenance activities" means any of the following
in the area of Great Lakes bottomlands lying below the ordinary
high-water mark and above the water's edge:
(i) Manual or mechanized leveling of sand.
(ii) Mowing of vegetation.
(iii) Manual de minimis removal of vegetation.
(iv) Grooming of soil.
(v) Construction and maintenance of a path.
(c) "Debris" means animal or fish carcasses, zebra mussel
shells, dead vegetation, trash, and discarded materials of human-
made origin.
(d) "Department" means the department of environmental
quality.
(e) "Director" means the director of the department.
(f) "Ecoregion" means a geographic region of relatively
homogenous ecological systems delineated as a mapped sub-subsection
in "Regional Landscape Ecosystems of Michigan, Minnesota, and
Wisconsin", by Dennis A. Albert, north central forest experiment
station, United States department of agriculture (1994).
(g) "Environmental area" means an environmental area as
defined in section 32301.
(h) (f)
"Fill material" means soil, rocks, sand,
waste of
any kind, or any other material that displaces soil or water or
reduces water retention potential.
(g)
"Environmental area" means an environmental area as
defined
in section 32301.
(i) (h)
"Grooming of soil" means raking or
dragging,
pushing, or pulling metal teeth through the top 4 inches of soil
without disturbance of or destruction to plant roots, for the
purpose of removing debris.
(j) (i)
"Leveling of sand" means the relocation of
sand
within areas being leveled that are predominantly free of
vegetation, including the redistribution, grading, and spreading of
sand that has been deposited through wind or wave action onto
upland riparian property.
(k) (j)
"Minor drainage" includes ditching and
tiling for
the removal of excess soil moisture incidental to the planting,
cultivating, protecting, or harvesting of crops or improving the
productivity of land in established use for agriculture,
horticulture, silviculture, or lumbering.
(l) "Mitigation bank" means a site where wetlands are restored,
created, or, in exceptional circumstances, preserved expressly for
the purpose of providing compensatory mitigation pursuant to this
part in advance of authorized, unavoidable impacts to wetlands.
(m) "Mitigation banking" means the process of restoring or
creating self-sustaining functioning wetlands, or, in exceptional
circumstances, preserving high-quality and threatened wetlands, as
prior replacement for wetlands that are expected to be unavoidably
impacted by development within a watershed or ecoregion for the
purpose of protecting and enhancing the wetland resources of the
state while expediting the regulatory process.
(n) (k)
"Mowing of vegetation"
means the cutting of
vegetation to a height of not less than 2 inches, without
disturbance of soil or plant roots.
(o) (l) "Ordinary
high-water mark" means that term as it is
defined in section 32502.
(p) (m)
"Path" means a temporary
access walkway from the
upland riparian property directly to the shoreline across swales
with standing water, not exceeding 6 feet in bottom width and
consisting of sand and pebbles obtained from the exposed,
nonvegetated bottomlands or from the upland riparian property.
(q) (n)
"Person" means an
individual, sole proprietorship,
partnership, corporation, association, municipality, this state, an
instrumentality or agency of this state, the federal government, an
instrumentality or agency of the federal government, or other legal
entity.
(r) (o)
"Removal of vegetation"
means the manual or
mechanized removal of vegetation, other than the manual de minimis
removal of vegetation.
(s) (p)
"Wetland" means land
characterized by the presence
of water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and
that under normal circumstances does support, wetland vegetation or
aquatic life, and is commonly referred to as a bog, swamp, or marsh
and
which is any that meets
1 or more of the following
requirements:
(i) Contiguous The land is contiguous to
the Great Lakes or
Lake St. Clair, an inland lake or pond, or a river or stream.
(ii) Not contiguous to the Great Lakes, an inland
lake or
pond,
or a river or stream; and The land is more than 5 acres in
size
; except this subparagraph shall not be of effect and,
except
for the purpose of inventorying, in counties of less than
100,000
population until the department certifies to the commission
it
has substantially completed its inventory of wetlands in that
county.
meets 1 or more of the following requirements:
(A) Is located in a county with a population of 100,000 or
more.
(B) Is located in a county in which the department has
substantially completed its inventory of wetlands, as certified by
the department to the commission.
(iii) Not contiguous to the Great Lakes, an inland
lake or
pond,
or a river or stream; and 5 acres or less in size if the
department
determines The department has determined that
protection of the area is essential to the preservation of the
natural resources of the state from pollution, impairment, or
destruction
and the department has so notified the owner. ; except
this
subparagraph may be utilized regardless of wetland size in a
county
in which subparagraph (ii) is of
no effect; except for the
purpose
of inventorying, at the time.
Sec. 30312. (1) The department, after notice and opportunity
for a public hearing, may issue general permits on a statewide
basis or within a local unit of government for a category of
activities if the department determines that the activities are
similar in nature, will cause only minimal adverse environmental
effects when performed separately, and will have only minimal
cumulative adverse effect on the environment. A general permit
issued under this subsection shall be based on the requirements of
this part and the rules promulgated under this part, and shall set
forth the requirements and standards that shall apply to an
activity authorized by the general permit.
(2) The department may impose conditions on a permit for a use
or development if the conditions are designed to remove an
impairment to the wetland benefits, to mitigate the impact of a
discharge of fill material, or to otherwise improve the water
quality.
(3)
The department may establish a reasonable time when the
a permit for construction, development, or use is to be completed
or
terminated. A general permit,
including any extensions, shall
not be valid for more than 5 years.
(4) A general permit under this section may be issued for the
mowing of vegetation or the removal of vegetation in the area
between the ordinary high-water mark and the water's edge. An
application under this subsection may be submitted by a local unit
of government on behalf of property owners within its jurisdiction
or by 1 or more adjacent property owners for riparian property
located within the same county.
Sec. 30312b. (1) The department may require compensatory
wetland mitigation to assure that, upon completion of the permitted
activity, there will be no net loss of wetlands. The applicant
shall provide for the permanent protection of the natural resource
functions and values of the compensatory wetland mitigation site.
(2) The department shall consider compensatory wetland
mitigation only after all of the following conditions are met:
(a) The wetland impacts can otherwise be authorized by a
permit under section 30311.
(b) No feasible and prudent alternative to avoid wetland
impacts exists.
(c) An applicant has used all practical means to minimize
impacts to wetlands. This may include the permanent protection of
wetlands on the site not directly impacted by the proposed
activity.
(3) The department may accept a conservation easement and
authorize the use of credits from an approved mitigation bank to
satisfy all or a part of the compensatory wetland mitigation
requirements associated with any permit application in accordance
with applicable statutory criteria.
(4) The establishment and use of a mitigation bank are
voluntary. The permit applicant has the option of providing
compensatory wetland mitigation for a single permitted action at
the time of permit issuance.
(5) Any person may establish a mitigation bank and may buy,
sell, or use mitigation credits as approved by the department to
meet the requirements of this part.
(6) A person who chooses to establish and operate a mitigation
bank that has been approved by the department shall enter into a
written mitigation banking agreement with the department before
construction of the mitigation bank or any sale or use of credits
from the bank.
(7) The department shall facilitate the establishment of
wetland mitigation banks by providing available digital information
regarding desirable locations for mitigation banks.
Sec.
30318. If a permit is denied for a proposed wetland
activity,
the A landowner may request a
revaluation of the
affected
wetland property for tax
assessment purposes to determine
its
fair market value under the use restriction. if 1 of the
following applies:
(a) A permit for a proposed activity in that wetland is denied
under this part.
(b) The landowner voluntarily grants to a qualified
organization, including, but not limited to, a land conservancy or
the department or another governmental agency, a permanent
conservation easement over wetlands and associated uplands
exclusively for the purpose of providing preservation of the
wetland resources. The grant must constitute a qualified
conservation contribution under 26 USC 170. The taxable value of
lands subject to the conservation easement shall be reduced in
proportion to the reduction in state equalized value to reflect the
placement of permanent limitations on the property.