Recent legislation was passed to allow a streamlined permit process for projects designed to enhance fish habitat. Projects that meet certain requirements (listed in the attachment) are entitled to the streamlined Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA) process, exemption from the State Environmental Policy Act, and exemption from all local government permits and fees.
Per the legislation, Ecology was required to immediately revise JARPA to implement this bill. The JARPA form will be revised on the annual July schedule, so in the interim, Wendy Bolender and I have created a cover sheet that will be used as an attachment to the JARPA form to notify local governments and WDFW that the new streamlined process is being triggered. Many local governments do not know, or may not support this legislation, so be aware of that. Also, applicants and Ecology can qualify for these exemptions and for a funding process that is being implemented by DOT and WDFW through a 3.7 million dollar grant that was provided by the legislation. (If you know of good restoration efforts out there - get the word out - this is a great opportunity).
To apply for the exemption process, applicants must provide on the same day, a complete JARPA form and a new cover addition (attached) to the Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and all applicable Local Government planning and permitting departments. Local governments have 15-days to provide comments to WDFW, who will use these comments to aid them in making decisions.
Local governments must accept the JARPA form even if they are not a JARPA city or county, and they must provide comments within 15 days to WDFW or their comments are considered waived. I want to make sure the folks working closely with local government know how this new process works. It is for good projects, but there is so much room for interpretation that any size project could go through providing it is designed to provide fish habitat.
Ecology's Federal Permit Unit and the Corps are currently working on a regional or general permit that will allow these restoration projects to go through the federal permitting process easier.
If you have any questions, please call Sandra Manning at (360) 407-6912. Also, please get the word out to others as needed.
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