Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:37: (Effective until July 1, 2024) Monitoring, reports, investigations, inspections, and stop work orders
A. The VSMP authority (i) shall provide for periodic inspections of the installation of stormwater management measures, (ii) may require monitoring and reports from the person responsible for meeting the permit conditions to ensure compliance with the permit and to determine whether the measures required in the permit provide effective stormwater management, and (iii) shall conduct such investigations and perform such other actions as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this article. If the VSMP authority, where authorized to enforce this article, or the Department determines that there is a failure to comply with the permit conditions, notice shall be served upon the permittee or person responsible for carrying out the permit conditions by mailing with confirmation of delivery to the address specified in the permit application, or by delivery at the site of the development activities to the agent or employee supervising such activities. The notice shall specify the measures needed to comply with the permit conditions and shall specify the time within which such measures shall be completed. Upon failure to comply within the time specified, a stop work order may be issued in accordance with subsection B by the VSMP authority, where authorized to enforce this article, or by the Board, or the permit may be revoked by the VSMP authority, or the state permit may be revoked by the Board. The Board or the VSMP authority, where authorized to enforce this article, may pursue enforcement in accordance with § 62.1-44.15:48.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:37
- Board: means the State Water Control Board. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
- Department: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
- Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
- Owner: means the Commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions, including but not limited to sanitation district commissions and authorities and any public or private institution, corporation, association, firm, or company organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country, or any officer or agency of the United States, or any person or group of persons acting individually or as a group that owns, operates, charters, rents, or otherwise exercises control over or is responsible for any actual or potential discharge of sewage, industrial wastes, or other wastes to state waters, or any facility or operation that has the capability to alter the physical, chemical, or biological properties of state waters in contravention of § 62. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
- Permittee: means the person to which the permit or state permit is issued. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, governmental body, municipal corporation, or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
- Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
- State permit: means an approval to conduct a land-disturbing activity issued by the Board in the form of a state stormwater individual permit or coverage issued under a state general permit or an approval issued by the Board for stormwater discharges from an MS4. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- Stormwater: means precipitation that is discharged across the land surface or through conveyances to one or more waterways and that may include stormwater runoff, snow melt runoff, and surface runoff and drainage. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- VSMP: means a program approved by the Soil and Water Conservation Board after September 13, 2011, and until June 30, 2013, or the State Water Control Board on and after June 30, 2013, that has been established by a VSMP authority to manage the quality and quantity of runoff resulting from land-disturbing activities and shall include such items as local ordinances, rules, permit requirements, annual standards and specifications, policies and guidelines, technical materials, and requirements for plan review, inspection, enforcement, where authorized in this article, and evaluation consistent with the requirements of this article and associated regulations. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- VSMP authority: means an authority approved by the Board after September 13, 2011, to operate a Virginia Stormwater Management Program or the Department. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
B. If a permittee fails to comply with a notice issued in accordance with subsection A within the time specified, the VSMP authority, where authorized to enforce this article, or the Department may issue an order requiring the owner, permittee, person responsible for carrying out an approved plan, or person conducting the land-disturbing activities without an approved plan or required permit to cease all land-disturbing activities until the violation of the permit has ceased, or an approved plan and required permits are obtained, and specified corrective measures have been completed.
Such orders shall be issued (i) in accordance with local procedures if issued by a locality serving as a VSMP authority or (ii) after a hearing held in accordance with the requirements of the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.) if issued by the Department. Such orders shall become effective upon service on the person by mailing, with confirmation of delivery, sent to his address specified in the land records of the locality, or by personal delivery by an agent of the VSMP authority or Department. However, if the VSMP authority or the Department finds that any such violation is grossly affecting or presents an imminent and substantial danger of causing harmful erosion of lands or sediment deposition in waters within the watersheds of the Commonwealth or otherwise substantially impacting water quality, it may issue, without advance notice or hearing, an emergency order directing such person to cease immediately all land-disturbing activities on the site and shall provide an opportunity for a hearing, after reasonable notice as to the time and place thereof, to such person, to affirm, modify, amend, or cancel such emergency order.
If a person who has been issued an order is not complying with the terms thereof, the VSMP authority or the Department may institute a proceeding in accordance with § 62.1-44.15:42.
1989, cc. 467, 499, § 10.1-603.11; 2004, c. 372; 2012, cc. 785, 819, 2013; cc. 756, 793.