Local Program Status

Phase III

Phase III of local government implementation of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act requires the 84 Tidewater local governments to review local land development ordinances, and revise if necessary, in order to ensure these ordinances adequately address the protection of the quality of state waters. The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations (Regulations) require local governments to have provisions in their ordinances to ensure, that as land development occurs, three performance criteria are addressed: 1) land disturbance is minimized, 2) indigenous vegetation is preserved and, 3) impervious cover is minimized.

The Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Board is currently in the process of developing the review program for Phase III that will assess the extent to which Bay Act localities are in compliance with this requirement. To assist local governments in reviewing local ordinances, the Board will provide a checklist to determine if there are adequate provisions to address the three performance criteria along with six other specific required provisions.

The checklist will be used by DCR staff to perform advisory reviews of local government ordinances and processes, and a review of the implementation of Phase III components will be incorporated into the locality compliance evaluation process. The draft Checklist for Evaluation of Local Phase III Programs contains two sections. Section 1 includes six provisions that must be contained within local ordinances, as they are specifically required in the Regulations. Section 2 contains numerous measures that provide examples of requirements that may be contained within a locality’s land development ordinances to implement the three general performance criteria described above.

Please submit all written comments, questions, or concerns to:

Division of Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance
Department of Conservation & Recreation
900 East Main Street, 8th Floor
Richmond, Virginia 23219
1-800-243-7229

Email comments may be submitted to:

Shawn.Smith@dcr.virginia.gov