Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 400 CMR - EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT › Title 400 CMR 3.00 - Expedited State Permitting › Section 3.07 - Permit Application Review Process

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
			 Issuing authorities shall review and take final action on a complete permit
			 application based on the 180 calendar day permit review period, or the 210
			 calendar day permit review period for permit processes requiring a public
			 comment period, subject to an extension or waiver granted under
			 400 CMR
			 3.08. The permit review period shall begin on
			 the calendar day following the day the issuing authority sends written notice
			 by mail or electronic mail that the application is complete or following the
			 day when the application review period expired under
			 400 CMR
			 3.06(4).
(2) Where an issuing authority's rules,
			 regulations, or established procedures provide for a multi-stage permit review
			 process whereby the permit applicant submits its application in multiple stages
			 throughout the process to allow the issuing authority to review and comment on
			 each submission and so that the applicant may amend the application, if
			 necessary, in between each submission, the permit review period shall toll on
			 the day the issuing authority notifies the applicant that it has completed
			 reviewing a submission and shall begin again on the day the applicant makes the
			 next submission in the permit review process. With each new submission, the
			 permit review period shall last only the number of days that remained when the
			 period was last tolled. Where an issuing authority's rules or regulations
			 provide for such a multi-stage process, the issuing authority shall work with
			 the permit applicant before the permit review period begins to create a
			 timeline that the applicant shall follow to ensure that the permit review
			 period plus any time during which the period is tolled under 400 CMR 3.07(2),
			 will not equal more than 180 or 210 calendar days.
(3) The provisions of M.G.L. c. 43E and
			 400 CMR
			 3.00 are not intended to replace the rules,
			 regulations, or procedures ordinarily used by issuing authorities while
			 reviewing permit applications unless they are in direct conflict with the
			 Program. Therefore, where an issuing authority ordinarily reviews and takes
			 final action on a complete permit application within a time period shorter than
			 that provided by the Program, the issuing authority's shorter review period,
			 and any consequences for failing to take final action within such shorter
			 review period, shall remain in effect. In no case, however, shall a permit be
			 automatically granted within a time period shorter than the 180 or 210 calendar
			 day permit review period established under the Program unless the rules,
			 regulations, or procedures of the issuing authority specifically provide for
			 it.
(4) Failure by an issuing
			 authority to take final action on a complete permit application within the
			 permit review period or extended time shall be considered an automatic grant of
			 the permit requested. In that event, within three business days after the date
			 of expiration of the permit review period, the applicant shall file a notice
			 with the issuing authority and the Permit Ombudsman, attaching the application,
			 setting forth the facts giving rise to the grant and stating that notice of the
			 grant has been mailed, by certified mail, to all parties to the proceedings and
			 all persons entitled to notice of hearing in connection with the application.
			 The notice to the issuing authority and Permit Ombudsman shall include the
			 names and contact information of all the parties to the proceedings and persons
			 to whom notice of the grant was mailed.
(5) The grant of a permit pursuant to the
			 Program shall not occur if the issuing authority:
(a) made a timely determination under
			 400 CMR
			 3.06 that the application was incomplete in
			 accordance with its requirements, properly notified the applicant and the
			 applicant did not make a timely response to complete the application;
(b) determined that the final application
			 contained false or misleading information; or
(c) determined that substantial changes to
			 the project affecting the information required to review the permit application
			 have occurred since the permit applicant filed the application.