Permit Application Review Process

(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. (6) If a permit is not granted for any of the reasons listed in 400 CMR 3.07(5), the issuing authority shall provide written notice to the applicant, the Secretary, and the Permit Ombudsman explaining why the issuing authority will not grant the permit. A refusal to grant a permit for one of these reasons shall apply to that permit application only and shall not prevent the applicant from reapplying for the Program in the future. (7) Each issuing authority retains authority to fulfill its statutory and regulatory obligations in permitting or reviewing a project. Nothing in M.G.L. c. 43E or 400 CMR 3.00 shall be construed to alter the substantive jurisdictional authority of issuing authorities or modify any requirement of the State Implementation Plan or other requirement of law that is necessary to retain federal delegation to, or assumption by, the Commonwealth of the authority to implement a federal law or program.