§ 10. Consideration for decision.
10.1 The Agency may consider the following in making its decision on an application:
(a)
The application and its supporting documentation;
(b)
Public comments, evidence and testimony from a public hearing;
(c)
Reports from other agencies, departments and commissions including but not limited to those of the City of Bristol;
(d)
The agency may also consider comments on any application from the Hartford County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency or other regional organizations; agencies in adjacent municipalities which may be affected by the proposed activity, or other technical agencies or organizations which may undertake additional studies or investigations;
(e)
Nonreceipt of comments from agencies, departments and commissions listed above within the proscribed time shall neither delay nor prejudice the decision of the agency.
10.2 Standards and criteria for decision. The agency shall consider all relevant facts and circumstances in making its decision on any application for a permit, including but not limited to the following:
(a)
The environmental impact of the proposed action, including the effects on the inland wetland's and watercourse's capacity to support fish and wild life, to prevent flooding, to supply and protect surface and ground waters, to control sediment, to facilitate drainage, to control pollution, to support recreational activities, and to promote public health and safety;
(b)
The alternatives to the proposed action including a consideration of alternatives which might enhance environmental quality or have a less detrimental effect, and which could feasibly attain the basic objectives of the activity proposed in the application. This consideration should include, but is not limited to, the alternative of taking no action, or postponing action pending further study, and the alternatives of requiring actions of a different nature which would provide similar benefits with different environmental impacts, such as using a different location for the activity;
(c)
The relationship between the short-term uses of the environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long term productivity, including consideration of the extent to which the proposed activity involves trade-offs between short-term environmental gains at the expense of long-term losses, or vice versa, and consideration of the extent to which the proposed action forecloses or predetermines future options;
(d)
Irreversible and irretrievable commitments or resources which would be involved in the proposed activity. This requires recognition that inland wetlands and watercourses of the State of Connecticut are an indispensable, irreplaceable and fragile natural resource, and that these areas may be irreversibly destroyed by deposition, filling and removal of material, by the diversion, diminution or obstruction of water flow including low flows, and by the erection of structures and other uses;
(e)
The character and degree of injury to, or interference with, safety, health, or the reasonable use of property, including abutting or downstream property, which could be caused or threatened by the proposed activity, or the creation of conditions which may do so. This includes recognition of potential damage from erosion, turbidity, or siltation, loss of fish and wildlife and their habitat, loss or diminution of beneficial aquatic organisms and wetland plants, the dangers of flooding and pollution, and the destruction of the economic, aesthetic, recreational and other public and private uses and values of wetlands and watercourses to the community;
(f)
The suitability of the activity to the area for which it is proposed. This requires a balancing of the need for the economic growth of the city and the use of its land, with the need to protect its environment and ecology for the people of the state and the benefit of generations yet unborn;
(g)
Measures which would mitigate the impact of any aspect of the proposed regulated activity(s). Such measures include, but are not limited to, actions which would avoid adverse impacts or lessen impacts to wetlands and watercourses and which could be feasibly carried out by the applicant and would protect or enhance the wetland's or watercourse's natural capacity to support fish and wild life, prevent flooding, supply water, control sedimentation, prevent erosion, assimilate wastes, facilitate drainage, and to provide recreation and open space.
10.3 In the case of any application which received a public hearing, a permit shall not be issued unless the agency finds that a feasible and prudent alternative does not exist. In making this finding, the agency shall consider the facts and circumstances set forth in this section 10 of these regulations. This finding and the reasons therefor shall be stated on the stated on the record in the decision of the agency. However, the agency is not precluded from seeking advice from its own experts on information already in the record of the public hearing.
10.4 In reaching its decision on any application after a public hearing, the agency shall base its decision on the record of that hearing. Documentary evidence or other material not in the hearing record shall not be considered by the agency in its decision.