Purpose


The purposes and effects of the proposed rule amendments are to amend the rules of the St. Johns River Water Management District (District) to: (1) increase consistency with the statewide environmental resource permit (ERP) rules adopted in Chapter 62-330, F.A.C., pursuant to Section 373.4131, F.S. (2012); (2) amend the fees for certain ERPs to more closely approximate the fees before Chapter 62-330 became effective on October 1, 2013; and (3) create a new fee category for renewal of certain expired formal determinations of the landward extent of wetlands and other surface waters. More specifically, the amendments will: (1) revise 40C-1.1008 by changing the timeframe for any permit applicant to respond to a request for additional information (RAI) from 120 days down to 90 days to be consistent with the statewide ERP timeframe and expand the rule to also cover petitions for variances, waivers, and formal determinations; (2) revise 40C-1.603 by creating new fees subcategories in 40C-1.603(3)(a)1.a.-b., 40C-1.603(3)(e)2., and 40C-1.603(3)(a)7., and decreasing the fees in 40C-1.6003(3)(a)1.b., 40C-1.603(3)(a)5.-7. and 40C-1.603(3)(d)-(e) so that the fees for those ERPs and ERP modifications would more closely approximate the lower fees that had been charged before Chapter 62-330 became effective on October 1, 2013, clarifying the fees in 40C-1.603(3)(d)1.-3. and 40C-1.603(3)(e)3., creating a new fee category in 40C-1.603(7)(f) for renewal of certain expired formal determinations, clarifying in 40C-1.603(11) that the permit fee for letter modifications of ERPs issued before October 1, 2013 shall continue to be the fee that applied before Chapter 62-330 became effective on October 1, 2013; and (3) revise 40C-1.612 by clarifying that 40C-1.612(2)(a) applies to transfers that do not involve a conversion of a construction permit for a 40C-44 system or activity to its operation phase, and changing the timeframes in 40C-1.612(5)(a)-(b) for a permittee (who requests a permit transfer) to respond to a request for additional information about the transfer request from 120 days down to 90 dyas to be consistent with the proposed change to 40C-1.1008.