| (n) Request for temporary approval of seaweed relocation.
During an extraordinary seaweed landfall event, a local government
may submit a written request to the General Land Office for approval
to relocate seaweed.
(1) Approval to relocate seaweed may be requested in
areas where:
(A) the beach is restricted by an erosion response
structure;
(B) the erosion response structure prevents the reasonable
employment of GLO approved routine seaweed maintenance practices,
and
(C) the use of routine seaweed maintenance practices
in such areas would significantly restrict or impair public beach
access and use.
(2) The General Land Office will review each request
to determine whether a seaweed landfall event is extraordinary and
if it impairs or restricts public beach access and use. The General
Land Office will evaluate any proposed seaweed management activities
for consistency with the Open Beaches Act, the Dune Protection Act,
and the Beach/Dune rules. The General Land Office's approval will
be valid for up to 120 days. The request must include a comprehensive
seaweed management plan that, at a minimum, provides the following
items:
(A) a description of how the seaweed event is extraordinary,
including supporting documentation, such as color photographs;
(B) information justifying how routine maintenance
practices cannot be reasonably employed without restricting or impairing
public beach access and use during the seaweed landfall event;
(C) a complete description of the geographic scope
of proposed seaweed management activities, including a map or site
plan which identifies the line of vegetation in relation to the seaweed
placement area;
(D) a complete description of the proposed seaweed
management activities, expected schedule of activities, and why other
alternatives are not practicable;
(E) a detailed description of how the proposed seaweed
management activities will not materially affect the beach profile,
public beach access and use, dunes and dune vegetation, dune hydrology,
or beach erosion;
(F) a detailed description of how the seaweed management
activities will not result in significant or permanent removal of
sand from the beach and dune system;
(G) a description of the equipment to be used;
(H) a comprehensive dune mitigation plan, if dunes
or dune vegetation will be adversely affected;
(I) information describing how wildlife will be avoided
and a copy of the wildlife monitor's certificate or a certification
that a monitor is not required; and
(J) a description of any coordination with applicable
local, state, and federal agencies that will be required.
(3) Within 60 days after the expiration of the approved
seaweed management plan, the local government must assess the impacts
of the seaweed management activities, and provide the General Land
Office with a detailed assessment report describing any benefits or
challenges with implementing the activities employed and any affects
those activities had on the beach profile, public beach access and
use, dunes and dune vegetation, dune hydrology, beach erosion, and
any mitigation activities conducted.
(o) Prohibitions on signs. A local government shall
not cause any person to display or cause to be displayed on or adjacent
to any public beach any sign, marker, or warning, or make or allow
to be made any written or oral communication which states that the
public beach is private property or represent in any other manner
that the public does not have the right of access to and from the
public beach or the right to use the public beach as guaranteed by
this subchapter, the Open Beaches Act, and the common law right of
the public.
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §15.7 adopted to be effective February 17, 1993, 18 TexReg 661; amended to be effective April 16, 1996, 21 TexReg 3004; amended to be effective January 31, 2010, 35 TexReg 489; amended to be effective June 10, 2015, 40 TexReg 3570; amended to be effective May 8, 2023, 48 TexReg 2343; amended to be effective February 11, 2024, 49 TexReg 717 |
