Opinion ID: 2336245
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Designation of Wetlands

Text: Defendant next contends that Wetland Rule § 6.3, requiring a CUD for certain conditional uses within a significant wetland, was unenforceable because the Water Resources Board failed to conduct the statutorily mandated evaluation necessary to designate as significant the specific wetlands on defendant's property. Defendant relies on 10 V.S.A. § 905(7), which provides that the Board shall: Adopt rules for the identification of wetlands which are so significant that they merit protection. Any determination that a particular wetland is significant will result from an evaluation of at least the following functions which the wetland serves. The statute then sets forth eleven separate criteria, including such functions as water storage, spawning of fresh water fish, stopovers for migratory birds, and habitation for endangered species. Id. § 905(7)(A), (D), (F) and (H). Because the Board did not evaluate the specific wetland area located on defendant's property pursuant to the criteria set forth in § 905(7), defendant argues that it lacked authority to designate the wetland as significant. The argument is unpersuasive. As noted, the Vermont Wetland Rules provide that all wetlands identified on the NWI maps for the State of Vermont, and all wetlands contiguous thereto, are presumed to be Class Two wetlands, which in turn are presumed to serve the functions that qualify a wetland as significant. See Wetland Rules, §§ 4.1, 4.2. These rules were the product of a 1988 Agency study of the Vermont wetlands identified on the NWI maps. Based on a random sample, the study found that over 93% of the evaluated NWI wetlands were significant based upon one or more of the eleven criteria set forth in 10 V.S.A. § 905(7). In light of the over 220,000 acres of NWI wetlands in Vermont, the Board's decision to designate all of the NWI wetlands as significant, based upon the high percentage of the sample meeting the statutory criteria, was reasonable. The statute does not explicitly require a separate and detailed evaluation of every wetland designated as significant, and we cannot say that the Board's reliance on the Agency study constituted clear error. See State v. Rolfe, 166 Vt. 1, 8, 686 A.2d 949, 955 (1996) (the Court defer[s] to an agency's interpretation of enabling legislation unless there is a compelling indication of error). Furthermore, the Wetland Rules afforded defendant, or any other affected landowner, the opportunity to petition the Board to reclassify the wetland, and areas contiguous thereto, to a higher or lower classification. See Wetland Rules, § 7. Accordingly, the Board's classification of the NWI wetlands was not clearly erroneous.