62-330.402. Submittal and Processing of General Permits

(1) A person wishing to construct, operate, maintain, alter, abandon, or remove projects under a general permit shall provide notice using Form 62-330.402(1), “Notice of Intent to Use an Environmental Resource and/or State 404 Program General Permit,” (December 22, 2020), incorporated by reference herein (https://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-12040), a copy of which may be obtained from the Agency, as described in subsection 62-330.010(5), F.A.C. The notice must be received by the applicable Agency at least 30 days prior to initiating the activities authorized by the general permit, or at such other time as specified in the general permit. Notices for general permits that identify the reviewing agency as the Department shall be submitted to the Department instead of a District.

(2) The notice for a general permit must include the processing fee prescribed in Rule 62-330.071, F.A.C. If a single notice includes more than one general permit, a separate fee shall be required for each general permit.

(3) The specific procedures of a general permit shall govern if they differ from the procedures in this rule.

(4)(a) Within 30 days of receiving Form 62-330.402(1), the Agency shall determine whether the activity qualifies for a general permit. If the activity does not qualify or the notice does not contain all the required information, the Agency will notify the person as provided in section 5.3.2 of Volume I.

(b) If the notice does not demonstrate that the requested activity qualifies for a general permit due to errors or omissions, the person shall have 60 days to amend the notice as provided in section 5.3.3 of Volume I. An additional processing fee will not be required if the person submits additional information demonstrating compliance with the general permit within that 60 days. Alternatively, the person may request that the submitted information be processed as an application for an individual permit, which must be supplemented with the information required in Rule 62-330.060, F.A.C., and sections 4.2.3, 4.3, and 4.4 of Volume I, or the person may withdraw the notice for a general permit.

(c) If the activities do not qualify for a general permit, the processing fee submitted for the general permit shall be applied to the processing fee required for an individual permit, as provided in section 5.3.4 of Volume I. The processing fee will not be returned if the person withdraws the notice or if qualification for the general permit is denied.

(5) The Agency will place notice of the proposed use of a general permit on the Agency website within 10 days of receipt of the request.

(6) At their discretion, persons qualifying for a general permit may publish a notice of qualification to use a general permit in a newspaper of general circulation in the affected area. The Agency will not publish, or require the person to publish, such notice.

(7) A person may waive the timeframes in subsection (4), above, if the project also requires a State 404 Program authorization under Chapter 62-331, F.A.C., that must be reviewed using the timeframes in that chapter. Waiving the timeframes allows the Agency(ies) to issue agency action for both authorizations at the same time. This is strongly recommended by the Agencies to ensure consistency between the authorizations and to reduce the potential need for project modifications to resolve inconsistencies that may occur when the agency actions are issued at different times.

Editor notes: The effective date of the rule will be effective date of assumption, which is the date identified by EPA as published in the Federal Register §373.4146, F.S.

Rulemaking Authority 373.044, 373.113, 373.118, 373.413, 373.4131 FS. Law Implemented 373.116(2), 373.118(3), 373.413, 373.4131, 373.416, 373.426, 668.003, 668.004, 668.50 FS. History–New 10-1-13, Amended 6-1-18, 12-22-20.