TITLE 9. ENVIRONMENT
STATE WATER CONTROL BOARD
Initial Agency Notice
Title of Regulation: 9VAC25-830. Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations.
Statutory Authority: §§ 62.1-44.15:69 and 62.1-44.15:72 of the Code of Virginia.
Name of Petitioner: David W. Schnare.
Nature of Petitioner's Request: On March 11, 2024, the Department of Environmental Quality received David W. Schnare's petition to the State Water Control Board. The petitioner requested the board establish by policy or rule a position on:
"1. Whether an Exception Review Committee established under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act must only recognize a Resource Protection Area buffer measured from a nontidal wetland in which the geographic extents of the nontidal wetland was determined independent of federal jurisdictional determinations made under the Federal Clean Water Act, or studies intended to support such jurisdictional determinations, and addresses all elements identified in 9VAC25-830-40 and relevant local ordinances; and
2. Whether an applicant for an exception under Fairfax County Ordinance § 118-6-1 can rely on the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Manual methodologies in order to determine the existence of a nontidal wetland as defined under 33 CFR 328.3 Fairfax County Ordinance § 118-1-6(q), to wit, the presence or absence of a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions under normal circumstances; and
3. Requested the board amend 9VAC25-830-40 to read:
"Nontidal wetlands" means those wetlands lands other than tidal wetlands that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to § 404 of the federal Clean Water Act in 33 CFR 328.3b. whose hydrophytic vegetation indicators, hydric soil indicators, and wetland hydrology indicators reveal the subject land is a wetland as described in the Regional Supplement to the Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual: Eastern Mountains and Piedmont Region (ERDC/EL TR-12-9) or the Regional Supplement to the Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual: Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Region (ERDC/EL TR-10-20) or later versions thereof."
Agency Plan for Disposition of Request: A 21-day public comment period is being announced in the Virginia Register of Regulations. Upon completion of the public comment period, the State Water Control Board will consider the petition at a future meeting and decide whether to move forward with initiating a rulemaking.
Public Comment Deadline: April 29, 2024.
Agency Contact: Justin Williams, Department of Environmental Quality, 1111 East Main Street, Suite 1400, P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA, 23218, telephone (804) 659-1125, or email justin.williams@deq.virginia.gov.
VA.R. Doc. No. PFR26-30; Filed March 19, 2024, 1:24 p.m.
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TITLE 18. PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING
BOARD OF COUNSELING
Initial Agency Notice
Title of Regulation: 18VAC115-20. Regulations Governing the Practice of Professional Counseling.
Statutory Authority: §§ 54.1-2400 and 54.1-3505 of the Code of Virginia.
Name of Petitioner: Brandy Rucker.
Nature of Petitioner's Request: The petitioner requests that the Board of Counseling amend 18VAC115-20-52 to:
1. Reduce the total required residence hours from 3,400 to 3,000;
2. Reduce residency client contact hours from 2,000 to 1,500; and
3. Change supervision requirements from a minimum of 200 hours to a requirement for weekly supervision with no minimum.
Agency Plan for Disposition of Request: The petition for rulemaking will be published in the Virginia Register of Regulations on April 8, 2024. The petition will also be published on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall at www.townhall.virginia.gov to receive public comment, which opens April 8, 2024, and closes May 8, 2024. The board will consider the petition and all comments in support or opposition at the next meeting after the close of public comment. That meeting is currently scheduled for August 2, 2024. The petitioner will be notified of the board's decision after that meeting.
Public Comment Deadline: May 8, 2024.
Agency Contact: Jaime Hoyle, Executive Director, Board of Counseling, 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 300, Henrico, VA, 23233, telephone (804) 367-4406, or email jaime.hoyle@dhp.virginia.gov.
VA.R. Doc. No. PFR24-29; Filed March 11, 2024, 1:10 p.m.