No regulated activity shall be conducted upon any wetland without a permit. Any person proposing to conduct or cause to be conducted a regulated activity upon any wetland shall file an application for a permit with the commissioner, in such form and with such information as the commissioner may prescribe. Such application shall include a detailed description of the proposed work and a map showing the area of wetland directly affected, with the location of the proposed work thereon, together with the names of the owners of record of adjacent land and known claimants of water rights in or adjacent to the wetland of whom the applicant has notice. The commissioner shall cause a copy of such application to be mailed or sent by electronic means to the chief administrative officer in the town or towns where the proposed work, or any part thereof, is located, and the chairman of the conservation commission and shellfish commission of the town or towns where the proposed work, or any part thereof, is located. The commissioner or the commissioner’s duly designated hearing officer shall hold a public hearing on such application, provided, whenever the commissioner determines that the regulated activity for which a permit is sought is not likely to have a significant impact on the wetland, the commissioner may waive the requirement for public hearing after publishing notice, in a newspaper having general circulation in each town wherever the proposed work or any part thereof is located, of the commissioner’s intent to waive said requirement and of the commissioner’s tentative decision regarding the application, except that the commissioner shall hold a hearing on such application upon request of the applicant or upon receipt of a petition, signed by at least twenty-five persons, requesting such a hearing. The following shall be notified of the hearing by mail or by electronic means not less than fifteen days prior to the date set for the hearing: All of those persons and agencies who are entitled to receive a copy of such application in accordance with the terms hereof and all owners of record of adjacent land and known claimants to water rights in or adjacent to the wetland of whom the applicant has notice. The commissioner shall cause notice of the commissioner’s tentative decision regarding the application and such hearing to be published at least once not more than thirty days and not fewer than ten days before the date set for the hearing in the newspaper having a general circulation in each town where the proposed work, or any part thereof, is located. All applications and maps and documents relating thereto shall be open for public inspection at the office of the commissioner. At such hearing any person or persons may appear and be heard.