Iowa Code § 459.304 - Construction permit application procedure — county participation — comments — master matrix

1. a. The department shall deliver a copy or require the applicant to deliver a copy of the application for a permit to construct, including expanding, a confinement feeding operation structure pursuant to section 459.303, including supporting documents, to the county board of supervisors in the county where the confinement feeding operation structure subject to the permit is proposed to be constructed. b. The county auditor or other county officer designated by the county board of supervisors may accept the application on behalf of the board. If the department requires the applicant to deliver a copy of the application to the county board of supervisors, the board shall notify the department that the board has received the application according to procedures required by the department. 2. Regardless of whether the county board of supervisors has adopted a construction evaluation resolution, the county may provide comment to the department on a construction permit application for a confinement feeding operation structure. a. The board shall provide for comment as follows: (1) The board shall publish a notice that the board has received the application in a newspaper having a general circulation in the county. (2) The notice shall include all of the following: (a) The name of the person applying to receive the construction permit. (b) The name of the township where the confinement feeding operation structure is to be constructed. (c) Each type of confinement feeding operation structure proposed to be constructed. (d) The animal unit capacity of the confinement feeding operation if the construction permit were to be approved. (e) The time when and the place where the application may be examined as provided in section 22.2. (f) Procedures for providing public comments to the board as provided by the board. b. The board may hold a public hearing to receive public comments regarding the application. The county board of supervisors may submit comments by the board and the public to the department as provided in this section, including but not limited to all of the following: (1) The existence of an object or location not included in the application that benefits from a separation distance requirement as provided in section 459.202 or 459.204 or 459.310. (2) The suitability of soils and the hydrology of the site where construction of a confinement feeding operation structure is proposed. (3) The availability of land for the application of manure originating from the confinement feeding operation. (4) Whether the construction of a proposed confinement feeding operation structure will impede drainage through established tile lines, laterals, or other improvements which are constructed to facilitate the drainage of land not owned by the person applying for the construction permit. 3. A county board of supervisors may adopt a construction evaluation resolution relating to the construction of a confinement feeding operation structure. The board must submit such resolution to the department for filing. If the board has submitted such resolution to the department, the board may evaluate the construction permit application and submit an adopted recommendation to the department to approve or disapprove a construction permit application as provided in this subsection. The board must make its decision to recommend approval or disapproval of the permit application as provided in this subsection. a. For the expansion of a confinement feeding operation that includes a confinement feeding operation structure constructed prior to April 1, 2002, the board shall not evaluate a construction permit application for the construction or expansion of a confinement feeding operation structure if after the expansion of the confinement feeding operation, its animal unit capacity is one thousand six hundred sixty-six animal units or less. b. The board must conduct an evaluation of the application using the master matrix as provided in section 459.305. The board’s recommendation may be based on the master matrix or may be based on comments under this section regardless of the results of the master matrix. c. In completing the master matrix, the board shall not score criteria on a selective basis. The board must score all criteria which are part of the master matrix according to the terms and conditions relating to construction as specified in the application or commitments for manure management that are to be incorporated into a manure management plan as provided in section 459.312. d. The board’s adopted recommendation to the department shall include the specific reasons and any supporting documentation for the decision to recommend approval or disapproval of the application. 4. The department must receive the county board of supervisor’s comments or evaluation for approval or disapproval of an application for a construction permit not later than thirty days following the applicant’s delivery of the application to the department. Regardless of whether the department receives comments or an evaluation by a county board of supervisors, the department must approve or disapprove an application for a construction permit within sixty days following the applicant’s delivery of the application to the department. However, the applicant may deliver a notice requesting a continuance. Upon receipt of a notice, the time required for the county or department to act upon the application shall be suspended for the period provided in the notice, but for not more than thirty days after the department’s receipt of the notice. The applicant may submit more than one notice. However, the department may provide that an application is terminated if no action is required by the department for one year following delivery of the application to the board. The department may also provide for a continuance when it considers the application. The department shall provide notice to the applicant and the board of the continuance. The time required for the department to act upon the application shall be suspended for the period provided in the notice, but for not more than thirty days. However, the department shall not provide for more than one continuance. 5. a. The department shall approve an application for a construction permit if the board of supervisors which has filed a county construction evaluation resolution submits an adopted recommendation to approve the construction permit application which may be based on a satisfactory rating produced by the master matrix to the department and the department determines that the application meets the requirements of this chapter. The department shall disapprove an application that does not satisfy the requirements of this chapter regardless of the adopted recommendation of the board. The department shall consider any timely filed comments made by the board as provided in this section to determine if an application meets the requirements of this chapter. b. If the board submits to the department an adopted recommendation to disapprove an application for a construction permit that is based on a rating produced by the master matrix, the department shall first determine if the application meets the requirements of this chapter as provided in section 459.103. The department shall disapprove an application that does not satisfy the requirements of this chapter regardless of any result produced by using the master matrix. If the application meets the requirements of this chapter, the department shall conduct an independent evaluation of the application using the master matrix. The department shall approve the application if it achieves a satisfactory rating according to the department’s evaluation. The department shall disapprove the application if it produces an unsatisfactory rating regardless of whether the application satisfies the requirements of this chapter. The department shall consider any timely filed comments made by the board as provided in this section to determine if an application meets the requirements of this chapter. c. If the county board of supervisors does not submit a construction evaluation resolution to the department, fails to submit an adopted recommendation, submits only comments, or fails to submit comments, the department shall approve the application if the application meets the requirements of this chapter as provided in section 459.103. 6. The department may conduct an inspection of the site on which the construction is proposed after providing at a minimum twenty-four hours’ notice or upon receiving consent from the construction permit applicant. The county board of supervisors that has adopted a construction evaluation resolution may designate a county employee to accompany a departmental official during the site inspection. The county employee shall have the same right to access to the site’s real estate as the departmental official conducting the inspection during the period that the county employee accompanies the departmental official. The departmental official and the county employee shall comply with standard biosecurity requirements customarily required by the confinement feeding operation that are necessary in order to control the spread of disease among an animal population. 7. Upon written request by a county resident, the county board of supervisors shall forward to the county resident a copy of the board’s adopted recommendation, any county comments to the department on the permit application, and the department’s responses, as provided in chapter 22. 8. a. The department shall deliver a notice to the applicant within three days of the department’s decision to approve or disapprove an application for a construction permit. If the board of supervisors has submitted an adopted recommendation to the department for the approval or disapproval of a construction permit application as provided in this section, the department shall notify the board of the department’s decision to approve or disapprove the application at the same time. b. (1) The applicant may contest the department’s decision by requesting a hearing and may elect to have the hearing conducted before an administrative law judge pursuant to chapter 17A or before the commission. If the applicant and a board of supervisors are both contesting the department’s decision, the applicant may request that the commission conduct the hearing on a consolidated basis. The commission shall hear the case according to procedures established by rules adopted by the department. The commission may hear the case as a contested case proceeding under chapter 17A. The department, upon petition by the applicant, shall deliver to the administrative law judge or the commission a copy of the board of supervisors’ recommendation together with the results produced by its master matrix and any supporting data or documents submitted with the results, comments submitted by the board to the department, and the department’s evaluation of the application including the results produced by its matrix and any supporting data or documents. If the commission hears the case, its decision shall be the department’s final agency action. The commission shall render a decision within thirty-five days from the date that the applicant or board files a demand for a hearing. (2) A county board of supervisors that has submitted an adopted recommendation to the department may contest the department’s decision by requesting a hearing before the commission. The commission shall hear the case according to procedures established by rules adopted by the department. The commission may hear the case as a contested case proceeding under chapter 17A. The board may request that the department submit a copy of the department’s evaluation of the application including the results produced by its matrix and any supporting data or documents. The decision by the commission shall be the department’s final agency action. The commission shall render a decision within thirty-five days from the date that the board initiates the proceeding. c. Judicial review of the decision of either the department or the commission may be sought in accordance with the terms of chapter 17A. 9. An applicant for a construction permit may withdraw the permit application from consideration by the department at any time by filing a written request with the department. The filing of the request shall not prejudice the right of the applicant to resubmit the application. 2002 Acts, ch 1137, §35, 68, 71 ; 2002 Acts, 2nd Ex, ch 1003, §255, 259, 260, 262 ; 2021 Acts, ch 76, §119 Referred to in §459.102, 459.103, 459.303