Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee Created; Members; Powers; per Diem and Expenses; Administrative Hearings and Review; Permits for Minor Alterations

1. Law
2. Georgia Code
3. Conservation and Natural Resources
4. Water Resources
5. Coastal Waters, Beaches, and Sand Dunes
6. Coastal Marshlands
7. Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee Created; Members; Powers; per Diem and Expenses; Administrative Hearings and Review; Permits for Minor Alterations

1. There is created the Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee to be composed of five members. The commissioner of natural resources and four persons selected by the board shall be the members of this committee. Each of three persons selected by the board shall be a resident of Camden, Glynn, McIntosh, Liberty, Bryan, or Chatham County. Three members of the committee shall constitute a quorum. The committee shall issue all orders and shall grant, deny, revoke, and amend all permits and leases provided for by this part. The members of the committee shall be entitled to reimbursement of actual expenses and mileage together with a per diem as set by the board to be paid out of funds appropriated for use by the department.
2. Any person who is aggrieved or adversely affected by any order or action of the committee shall, upon petition within 30 days after the issuance of such order or the taking of such action, have a right to a hearing before an administrative law judge appointed by the board.The hearing before the administrative law judge shall be conducted in accordance with Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act," and the rules and regulations adopted by the board pursuant thereto. The decision of the administrative law judge shall constitute the final decision of the board and any party to the hearing, including the committee, shall have the right of judicial review thereof in accordance with Chapter 13 of Title 50.
3. Persons are "aggrieved or adversely affected" where the challenged action has caused or will cause them injury in fact and where the injury is to an interest within the zone of interests to be protected or regulated by this part.In the event the committee asserts in response to the petition before the administrative law judge that the petitioner is not aggrieved or adversely affected, the administrative law judge shall take evidence and hear arguments on this issue and thereafter make a ruling on this issue before continuing with the hearing.The burden of going forward with evidence on this issue shall rest with the petitioner.
4. Any permit for minor alteration of the marshlands may be issued by the commissioner based on the recommendations of staff, past committee actions, and the results of public comments.The commissioner may refer the application to the committee to decide on permits for minor alterations that, in his judgment, should receive broader consideration.A committee member may choose to have the full committee decide on permit applications for minor alterations that the member feels should receive broader consideration.

(Ga. L. 1972, p. 1015, § 17; Ga. L. 1973, p. 564, § 1; Code 1981, §12-5-282; Ga. L. 1984, p. 404, § 5; Ga. L. 1985, p. 1465, § 3; Ga. L. 1989, p. 574, § 2; Code 1981, §12-5-283, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1992, p. 2294, § 1; Ga. L. 2004, p. 400, § 2.)

Code Commission notes.

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1989, a comma was inserted following "Act" in the second sentence of subsection (b).

Administrative Rules and Regulations.

- Procedures for disposition of contested cases, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Chapter 391-1-2.

Law reviews.

- For article surveying Georgia cases dealing with environment, natural resources, and land use from June 1977 through May 1978, see 30 Mercer L. Rev. 75 (1978). For annual survey of law on administrative law, see 62 Mercer L. Rev. 1 (2010).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Board may not further review decisions of committee. Department of Natural Resources v. American Cyanamid Co., 239 Ga. 740, 238 S.E.2d 886 (1977).

Landowners not entitled to a hearing regarding neighbors' planned dock.

- Landowners' claims against the state for declaratory judgment, mandamus, an unconstitutional taking, and due process and equal protection violations, all arising out of the issuance of a license to their neighbors to build a private dock in a coastal marshland area, all failed. The Coastal Marshlands Protection Act did not apply to a private dock, pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 12-5-295(7); therefore, the landowners were not entitled to a hearing under the Act pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 12-5-283(b) and the Administrative Procedure Act, O.C.G.A. §§ 50-13-13(a) and50-13-2(2). Hitch v. Vasarhelyi, 302 Ga. App. 381, 691 S.E.2d 286 (2010).

Permit improperly reversed.

- Trial court reviewing an administrative law judge's (ALJ) decision affirming the issuance of a permit to build a dock over marshlands, under the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act of 1970, O.C.G.A. § 12-5-280 et seq., by the Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee (Committee) erroneously reversed the decision because the court focused on the Committee's decision, instead of deciding whether the ALJ correctly affirmed the Committee's decision, since the ALJ conducted a de novo review of the Committee's decision at which new evidence could be received. Coastal Marshlands Prot. Comm. v. Altamaha Riverkeeper, Inc., 315 Ga. App. 510, 726 S.E.2d 539 (2012).

Marshlands boundary correctly determined.

- Relevant marshlands boundary was where the boundary lay before the owner began the owner's second construction activity in March 2009, because the owner's 2008 excavation had created additional tide-influenced areas; since the second replacement bulkhead encroached on jurisdictional marshlands, the March 2016 removal order was affirmed. C&M Enters. of Ga., LLC v. Williams, 346 Ga. App. 79, 816 S.E.2d 44 (2018), cert. denied, No. S18C1407, 2019 Ga. LEXIS 52 (Ga. 2019).

Cited in Coastal Marshlands Prot. Comm. v. Ctr. for a Sustainable Coast, 286 Ga. App. 518, 649 S.E.2d 619 (2007); Ctr. for a Sustainable Coast, Inc. v. Ga. Dep't of Natural Res., 319 Ga. App. 205, 734 S.E.2d 206 (2012).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 2 Am. Jur. 2d, Administrative Law, § 364.

C.J.S.

- 73A C.J.S., Public Administrative Law and Procedure, §§ 313, 314, 316.

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