(A) (1) The permit applicant shall submit to the County Commissioners two copies of all information required by federal and state agencies for the facility for which it requests a county permit at the same time such information is submitted to the state and federal government except facilities already located in the county which shall file such documents when they initiate the application process.
(2) The review procedure shall not begin nor shall the application be designated as complete until such time as all required data are submitted and the appropriate fees are paid, or suitable arrange- ments for payment have been approved by the County Commissioners.
(B) A designee of the County Commissioners shall compile copies of all reports, applications, minutes of Planning Board and Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board meetings, reports by consultants, and similar material. These shall be placed in one location with free access by the public and availability of copying any portion or all of any document at cost.
(C) Within 45 days of the submission of the application, the Commissioners’ designee shall hold a public hearing so that the applicant can present its plans to the public and answer questions.
(D) After the hearing, the Commissioners’ designee, after consultation with the Hazardous and Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board, shall have 60 days in which to determine if the application is complete and shall mail notice of its determination to the applicant. If it is not complete, the applicant shall have six months to complete the application. However, the applicant may at the end of six months make a showing of cause to the County Commissioners, and if the Commissioners find that the delay is justified and in good faith, they can grant the applicant a maximum three-month extension.
(E) Each application shall require an analysis conducted by the county staff and a consultant or consultants selected by the County Commissioners upon the recommendation of the Hazardous and Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board. The analysis shall be completed within 120 days from the day the application is determined to be complete. In certain instances where the complexity of the application required more than the usual 120 days, the county, staff and/or the consultant may request an additional 60 days from the County Commissioners, and the proponent has the option of requesting the County Commissioners to extend the analysis period to allow time for responding to staff and/or consultant requests for additional information on a completed application.
(F) The Commissioners’ designee and each consultant shall make reports on the application to the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board at their meetings.
(G) The Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board shall call a public meeting for public comment on the completed application along with the analysis by county staff and consultants. The purpose of this meeting shall be for public review of the application. The staff shall give notice by regular mail of the time and place of the public meeting to the owner and adjacent property owners as specified on the map. The notice shall be mailed not less than 14 days prior to the date specified thereon. Notice of the public meeting shall be posted by the applicant on the proposed facility property on each and every street of access, not less than 14 days prior to the date specified thereon. The posted notices shall be at intervals of not greater than 1,500 feet. Notice shall also be placed by the applicant in each of the local newspapers not less than 14 days prior to the date specified thereon.
(H) Within 45 days after review of the final analysis, completed application and public comment, the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board shall make a recommendation to the County Commissioners at a public meeting whether to accept the application, deny it, or accept it with modifications. This recommendation shall be made to the full Commission. However, before making a recommendation to the County Commissioners to accept the proposal or accept it with modifications, the Waste Board shall make the following determinations:
(1) That the construction and operation of the facility will not pose an unreasonable health or environmental risk to the surrounding locality;
(2) That the applicant (or facility operator) has the capability and financial resources to construct, operate, and maintain the facility;
(3) That the applicant or operator has taken or consented in writing to take any and all reasonable measures to comply with applicable federal, state, and local regulations and ordinances; and
(4) That the applicant’s plan represents the best available technology for handling the wastes for which the applicant will be permitted, and that the applicant has demonstrated that it will employ the best management practices in handling the wastes at the proposed facility to achieve the goal of maximizing reuse, recycling, neutralization, detoxification, incineration, and volume reduction before long-term storage. In the case of generators storing or treating their wastes on-site at the point of generation in the county at the time of adoption of this chapter, these facilities shall be held to the standard of best management practices and may be exempted from the standard of best available technology on that site until such time as they may file a permit application as in § 51.16.
(I) At its next scheduled meeting, the County Commissioners shall make its decision to grant the permit, deny it, or grant it with specified conditions.
(J) A permit shall be valid for no more than 18 months from the date it is granted by the County Commissioners unless the applicant begins construction of the facility prior to the expiration of the permit and continues to operate the facility according to specified conditions. If a permit becomes invalid and the application is unchanged from when the permit was granted, it shall follow the procedure of this section and the filing fee of § 51.19.
(1996 Code, § 51.22) (Ord. passed 10-5-1987)