The following uses of and activities on wetlands are permitted, if otherwise permitted by law:
(A) The construction and maintenance of noncommercial catwalks, piers, boathouses, boat shelters, fences, duck blinds, wildlife management shelters, footbridges, observation decks and shelters and other similar structures, provided that such structures are so constructed on pilings as to permit the reasonably unobstructed flow of the tide and preserve the natural contour of the wetlands;
(B) The cultivation and harvesting of shellfish and worms for bait;
(C) Noncommercial outdoor recreational activities, including hiking, boating, trapping, hunting, fishing, shellfishing, horseback riding, swimming, skeet and trap shooting, and shooting on shooting preserves, provided that no structure shall be constructed except as permitted in division (A) of this section;
(D) The cultivation and harvesting of agricultural, forestry or horticultural products; grazing and haying;
(E) Conservation, repletion and research activities of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the Department of Wildlife Resources, and other conservation-related agencies;
(F) The construction or maintenance of aids to navigation which are authorized by governmental authority;
(G) Emergency measures decrees of any duly appointed health officer of a governmental subdivision acting to protect the public health;
(H) The normal maintenance, repair or addition to presently existing roads, highways, railroad beds, or the facilities abutting on or crossing wetlands, provided that no waterway is altered and no additional wetlands are covered;
(I) Governmental activity on wetlands owned or leased by the Commonwealth of Virginia, or a political subdivision thereof;
(J) The normal maintenance of man-made drainage ditches, provided that no additional wetlands are covered. This division does not authorize the construction of any drainage ditch;
(K) Outdoor recreational activities, provided that they do not:
(1) Impair the natural functions of the wetlands; or
(2) Alter the natural contour of the wetlands.
(L) The construction of living shoreline projects authorized pursuant to a general permit developed under VA Code § 28.2- 104.1(B); and
(M) Other outdoor recreational activities, provided they do not impair the natural functions or alter the natural contour of the wetlands.
(Ord. passed 4-12-1993; Am. Ord. passed 5-14- 2013; Am. Ord. passed 10-13-2020; Am. Ord. passed 12-11-2023)