Public comment invited on state-owned waterways and permits for maintenance dredging. Starting May 16, the Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL) will hold five public hearings to seek comments on two sets of administrative rules governing: 1) the state-owned waterway management and leasing program; and 2) the establishment of a new General Permit for Navigational Access Maintenance Dredging. The waterway rulemaking pertains to leases, licenses and registrations for structures and uses of state-owned submerged and submersible land. It also includes procedures for the recently approved Submerged Lands Enhancement Fund, enacted by House Bill 2463 in 2015. The maintenance dredging rulemaking pertains to creating a removal-fill General Permit for routine maintenance dredging of existing marinas, boat basins, terminals and access channels for navigational access purposes. Hearing schedule: Coos Bay/North Bend, May 24: Waterway Program, 4:00 — 6:00 p.m., North Bend Public Library, 1800 Sherman Ave.; Bandon, May 26: Maintenance Dredging, 5:00 — 6:00 p.m., The Barn Community Center, 1200 11th St. SW. Both sets of draft rules were developed with input from advisory committees composed of a diverse group of stakeholders. Members of the public who are unable to attend one of the hearings may send comments via mail or email during the public comment periods: Maintenance Dredging: May 1 — May 31, 2016; Waterway Leasing Program: May 1 — June 7; Email: rules@dsl.state.or.us; U.S. mail: Sabrina Foward, Rules Coordinator, Department of State Lands, 775 Summer Street NE, Suite 100, Salem, Oregon 97301-1279. Additional information is on the DSL website under Rulemaking: http://www.oregon.gov/dsl/Pages/Rulemaking-Activity.aspx The Department of State Lands protects Oregon’s wetlands and waterways for their ecological functions and for the benefits they provide to the state’s economy and the well-being of Oregonians. The agency does this through administering the Removal-Fill Law, passed by the Oregon Legislature in 1967. The Department also protects public ownership rights of Oregon’s navigable and tidally influenced waterways by managing the use of state-owned land under rivers, lakes and the territorial sea.
