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If agreed to by the team and the applicant, consolidated hearings shall be used when possible. Such hearings shall include all hearings which agencies would be required to conduct individually. The team and the applicant shall determine which agencies shall be included in the consolidated hearings, but no agency shall be included over the objection of the applicant, if the action required from that agency is merely routine or administrative. If an application by the applicant to a particular agency would not otherwise require a hearing, such agency shall not be included in the consolidated hearing and no action taken in the consolidated hearing shall delay such application.
The consolidated hearing is intended to combine public hearings concerned with similar regulatory topics, e.g., water quality, into one (1) hearing, thus avoiding the need for additional individual hearings. Issues to be considered in the hearing must be common to each agency and clearly indicated in the agenda and public notice. A common hearing procedure must be developed that satisfies due process and individual agency statutes. One (1) hearing record should be prepared for use by each agency.
Procedural and organizational arrangements for the hearing should be made as far in advance as possible. Guidelines for organizing the hearing are provided below:
The team and applicant should identify those public hearings that could be coordinated. If possible, such identification should occur when the project decision schedule is formulated;
The team, in conjunction with the applicant and relevant agencies, should decide whether it is feasible to coordinate those hearings and which coordinated approach would be desirable;
Assuming coordination is feasible, the team leader should appoint one (1) team member to develop a coordinated hearing plan;
The team member assigned to develop the plan will arrange various meetings, as necessary, with relevant agency representatives, their attorneys and the proponent to develop and review proposed plans;
Once a plan has been agreed upon, the decision schedule should be modified, if necessary, to reflect the hearing agreement;
If the participating agencies and the proponent agree, the team member assigned to coordinate development of the joint hearing plan should continue to coordinate implementation of the plan; and
The coordinated hearing plan should be discussed at one (1) or more team meetings to allow for public comment.