4VAC20-390-30: General criteria

A. It shall remain the policy of the Commonwealth to avoid, minimize, and then compensate for impacts to wetlands and the adverse ecological effects of all permitted activities.

The primary aim is to preserve the wetlands as much as possible in their natural state and to consider appropriate requirements for compensatory mitigation only after it has been proven that the impact to the natural resource is unavoidable and that the project will have the highest public and private benefit.

B. A permittee's commitment to preserve existing tidal wetlands can, under certain circumstances, be a form of compensatory mitigation.

C. Mitigation, including compensatory mitigation, shall be required for both vegetated and nonvegetated wetlands unless site-specific information indicates such mitigation is not necessary.

D. Where compensatory mitigation is required, the ratio of the area of required compensatory mitigation to the area of approved impact should, in most cases, be at least one to one.