If a permit is required, staff will include the appropriate permit application when responding to a Jurisdictional Inquiry Form. Applications are also available on the Agency’s website.

For larger projects a preapplication meeting with APA staff is recommended before filling out an application. These meetings are often helpful for completing the application and ensuring awareness of the Agency’s process and standards for review. You can possibly save time and money by talking to the Agency first.

When an application is received by the Agency, it is assigned to a team of staff experts for analysis. Within 15 calendar days you will be notified whether or not the application is complete. If it is incomplete, you will be told specifically what additional information is needed. In addition, one or more staff members will often visit the site to review conditions on the ground and meet with the landowner and any consultants or other representatives.

• For minor projects, which consist of single family dwellings and/or two-lot subdivisions, there is no formal public comment period, and permitting decisions must be made within 45 days from the day the application is determined complete.

• For all other projects, a public comment period must be noticed in the Environmental Notice Bulletin, with the final permitting decision made within 90 days from the day the application is deemed complete.

For any project, an adjudicatory hearing is required before a project can be denied; additional time frames apply if the Agency determines that a hearing will be required.

Activities for which a permit is needed may not be undertaken in any way, including through the commencement of road construction, grading, excavation, or landscaping, clearing of building sites, installation of utilities, or conveyance of any subdivision lot, until a permit has been issued. The APA has an enforcement program to ensure compliance with the law.

Public hearings are only required for a small percentage of projects. A public hearing may be scheduled for one of the following reasons:

• To give the public an opportunity to express views and opinions, especially in regard to large projects;

• If a project is controversial;

• If landowners adjoining the project site may be adversely affected;

• If the local government involved requests one; or

• If it appears the project may be unapprovable (the Agency cannot deny an application without first holding a public hearing).

The Agency meets in public on a monthly basis to consider these applications.

Staff Approvals: Most permit applications are acted upon by the APA staff, specifically, the Deputy Director of Regulatory Programs, without going to the full Agency Board. This procedure saves time for the applicant in that staff act on the project without waiting for the regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Agency members.

You are given the right to appeal any permit condition imposed by the Director of Regulatory Programs to the Regulatory Programs Committee of the Agency Board.

Board Approvals: The following projects always require the approval of the Agency Board:

• A subdivision involving 50 lots or more;

• A project upon which the Agency has held a public hearing; or

• Most projects involving a variance.

The Deputy Director of Regulatory Programs can only approve projects within their delegated authority. Any recommendation for a denial must go to the Agency Board for consideration.

Procedures exist to allow you to request that your application, if disapproved by the Agency, be reconsidered. You must demonstrate that:

• Newly discovered facts or evidence exists; or

• There has been a change in Agency policy; or

• The previous determination was based on materially erroneous findings of fact.