Sec. 1408.1

Other

• Civil charges10,000 dollars per violation

  The Board may provide, in an order issued by the Board against such person, for the one-time payment of civil charges for each violation in specific sums, not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) for each violation.

• Civil penalty25,000 dollars per day

  Any person who violates any provision of this article or who violates or fails, neglects or refuses to obey any commission or Board notice, order, rule, regulation or permit condition authorized by this article or Chapter 13 of Title 28.2 of the Code of Virginia shall, upon such finding by the circuit court, be assessed a civil penalty not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) for each day of violation.

• Criminal penalty

  Any person who knowingly, intentionally, or negligently violates any order, rule or regulation of the commission or any provision of this article, or any provision of a permit granted pursuant to Chapter 13 of Title 28.2 of the Code of Virginia or this article shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

• Concentration of development

  To the maximum extent practical, development shall be concentrated in wetlands of lesser ecological significance, in vegetated wetlands which have been irreversibly disturbed before July 1, 1972, in nonvegetated wetlands which have been irreversibly disturbed prior to January 1, 1983, and in areas outside of wetlands.

• Emergency sand gradingGrading (cut & fill)Reshaping land by removing earth (cut) or adding it (fill), often capped by volume.

  Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 1401 through 1410, sand grading activities are permitted on nonvegetated wetlands located on the Atlantic shoreline of the City of Virginia Beach if otherwise permitted by law, and if the city manager has declared an emergency and has issued a permit for this purpose.

• Expiration date

  No permit shall be granted without an expiration date established by the Board; provided, however, that the Board may, upon proper application, extend the permit expiration date.

• In-lieu fees

  Where an agreed-upon permit condition requires the contribution of in-lieu fees to offset permitted wetland losses, the Wetlands Board shall credit the application for any in-lieu fee payments made to the Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund or another decided wetlands restoration fund with reference to the same activity.

• Investigation authority

  The Board shall have the authority to investigate all projects, whether proposed or ongoing, which alter wetlands within the City of Virginia Beach.

• Mitigation bank credits

  The applicant may be permitted to satisfy all or part of such mitigation requirements by the purchase of credits from any wetlands mitigation bank that has been approved and is operating in accordance with applicable federal guidance for the establishment, use and operation of mitigation banks as long as: (1) the bank is in the same U.S.G.S. cataloging unit, as defined by the Hydrologic Unit Map of the United States (U.S.G.S. 1980), or an adjacent cataloging unit within the same river watershed, as the impacted site; (2) the bank is ecologically preferable to practicable on-site and off-site individual mitigation options, as defined by federal wetlands regulations; and (3) the banking instrument, if approved after July 1, 1996, has been approved by a process that included public review and comment.

• Monitoring and inspections

  The Board chairperson may require a permittee to implement monitoring and reporting procedures the chairperson believes are reasonably necessary to ensure compliance with the provisions of the permit and this article. The chairperson may require such on-site inspections as he or she believes are reasonably necessary to determine whether the measures required by the permit are being properly performed, or whether the provisions of this article are being violated.

• Wetlands of primary ecological significance

  Wetlands of primary ecological significance shall not be altered so that the ecological systems in the wetlands are unreasonably disturbed.

• Restoration order

  Upon receipt of a sworn complaint of a substantial violation of this article from a designated enforcement officer, the Board may order that the affected site be restored to predevelopment conditions if the Board finds that restoration is necessary to recover lost resources or to prevent further damage to resources.

• Stop-work order

  Upon receipt of a sworn complaint of a substantial violation of this article from the designated enforcement officer of the Board, the Board chairperson may, in conjunction with or subsequent to a notice to comply as specified in subsection (b) of this section, issue an order requiring all or part of the activities on the site to be stopped until the specified corrective measures have been taken.

• Unlawful activity without permit

  It shall be unlawful for any person to conduct any activity requiring a permit under this article without first having obtained a permit authorizing such activity.

• Permit in writing

  The permit shall be in writing and signed by the chairperson of the Board or an authorized representative.