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2001 SESSION

015326568
SENATE BILL NO. 1011
Offered January 10, 2001
Prefiled January 9, 2001
A BILL to amend and reenact § 10.1-2107 of the Code of Virginia, relating to promulgation of regulations by the Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Board; periodic pump-out of on-site sewage treatement systems.
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Patron-- Williams
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Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 10.1-2107 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 10.1-2107. Board to develop criteria and promulgate regulations.

A. In order to implement the provisions of this chapter and to assist counties, cities and towns in regulating the use and development of land and in protecting the quality of state waters, the Board shall promulgate regulations which establish criteria for use by local governments to determine the ecological and geographic extent of Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas. The Board shall also promulgate regulations which establish criteria for use by local governments in granting, denying, or modifying requests to rezone, subdivide, or to use and develop land in these areas. Such regulations may require the periodic pump-out of on-site sewage treatment systems; however, the Board shall provide for an exemption from such requirement for an owner of an on-site sewage treatment system who provides to the appropriate local government official documentation from a qualified inspector that such system is functioning properly.

B. In developing and amending the criteria, the Board shall consider all factors relevant to the protection of water quality from significant degradation as a result of the use and development of land. The criteria shall incorporate measures such as performance standards, best management practices, and various planning and zoning concepts to protect the quality of state waters while allowing use and development of land consistent with the provisions of this chapter. The criteria adopted by the Board, operating in conjunction with other state water quality programs, shall encourage and promote: (i) protection of existing high quality state waters and restoration of all other state waters to a condition or quality that will permit all reasonable public uses and will support the propagation and growth of all aquatic life, including game fish, which might reasonably be expected to inhabit them; (ii) safeguarding the clean waters of the Commonwealth from pollution; (iii) prevention of any increase in pollution; (iv) reduction of existing pollution; and (v) promotion of water resource conservation in order to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the present and future citizens of the Commonwealth.

C. Prior to the development or amendment of criteria, the Board shall give due consideration to, among other things, the economic and social costs and benefits which can reasonably be expected to obtain as a result of the adoption or amendment of the criteria.

D. In developing such criteria the Board may consult with and obtain the comments of any federal, state, regional, or local agency that has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to the use and development of land or the protection of water. The Board shall give due consideration to the comments submitted by such federal, state, regional, or local agencies.

E. Criteria shall be adopted by July 1, 1989.