| Beach Access Issues | |
| December 5, 2008
Next negotiated rulemaking meeting will be Dec. 11 and 12
By IRENE NOLAN  The next meeting of the National Park Service’s negotiated rulemaking committee, which is working on long-range regulations for off-road vehicles on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, will be Thursday and Friday, Dec. 11 and 12, at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. The meetings begin at 8:30 a.m. both days and end about 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and at 4 p.m. on Friday. The public can attend all or part of the meetings. There are three public comment periods – at noon on Thursday and Friday and at 5 p.m. on Thursday. Comments are usually limited to about four minutes. Expected on Thursday are reports from two subcommittees – vehicle characteristics and permits, passes, and fees. Although the full committee has reached consensus on almost nothing since the meetings began last January, there will apparently be an attempt to see if there is consensus on some recommendations in the subcommittee reports. The two subcommittees that are the most divided between ORV access groups and environmental groups are those on natural resource protection and on routes and areas that will be open and/or closed to vehicles. The two subcommittees are scheduled to meet in small groups for much of Thursday and Friday morning. The public can also sit in on the small group subcommittee meetings but may not comment. The meeting will be videotaped by Dare County. Since the meetings are long, they will appear in segments on Charter Cable’s government Channel 20 and on the Dare County Web site. For a schedule of when the meetings will appear on cable, go to http://darenc.com/depts/PR/Ch20cal.pdf Dare County Public Information Director Dorothy Toolan said that the segments will be on the county Web site as soon as possible. However, the process is time consuming. Last month, the county aimed to have the meetings posted on Wednesday, but they were not posted until Thursday and Friday. Go to the county Web site at http://www.darenc.com and click on video of negotiated rulemaking on the home page. The November meetings are currently posted in segments totaling almost 10 hours. The videotapes are also available at Dare County Libraries. The detailed agenda for the December meeting follows this report. FOR MORE INFORMATION http://islandfreepress.org/2008Archives/09.12.2008-NegotiatedRulemakingCommitteeMeetsForTwoDaysButFindsLittleCommonGround.htm http://islandfreepress.org/2008Archives/10.21.2008-ShootingTheBreezeTheProblemsWithTheNegotiatedRulemakingProcess.html Information and materials from the November meeting, including some interesting proposals for ORV routes and areas, are available at: 2008 11Nov 14 - Nov 08 Reg Neg Committee Meeting (#8) Materials http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=358&projectId=10641&doc NEGOTIATED RULEMAKING COMMITTEE 9th Regulatory Negotiation Meeting Wright Brothers Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, NC December 11-12, 2008 Draft Final Agenda Objectives
Thursday, December 11 8:00 Gathering and Coffee 8:30 Welcome to All and Opening of the Meeting, Mike Murray, NPS, Designated Federal Official (DFO) 8:35 Review Meeting Objectives and Agenda, Facilitators and Agenda Planning Subcommittee 8:45 Brief Updates Since the Last Meeting 8:50 Vehicle Characteristics Proposals
10:30 Natural Resources and Routes and Areas Discussions (in small groups)
Discussion topics for each group: Natural Resources
Routes and Areas
12:00 Public Comment (up to 4 minutes per person, with 5 minutes total at the end of the public session for any a brief response from Committee members to the public comments) Specific comments are requested on the following
12:45 Lunch (provided for principals and alternates) 1:30 Continue Natural Resources/Routes and Areas Discussions (in small groups) 3:50 Caucus meetings 4:50 Break 5:00 Additional Public Comment Session (if not completed before lunch) (up to 4 minutes per person, with 5 minutes total at the end of the public session for any a brief response from Committee members to the public comments) Following Public Comment Adjourn for the Day Friday, December 12 8:00 Gathering and Coffee 8:30 Reflections on Day I and agenda review 8:45 Continue Natural Resources/Routes and Areas Discussions (in small groups) 10:30 Break 10:45 Continue Natural Resources/Routes and Areas Discussions (in small groups) 12:00 Public Comment (up to 4 minutes per person, with 5 minutes total at the end of the public session for any a brief response from Committee members to the public comments) Specific comments are requested on the following
12:45 Working Lunch in Caucuses (provided for principals and alternates) 1:30 Brief Reports from Small Groups and Plenary Discussion • What’s promising? • Disagreements and reasons? • Consensus? 3:15 Review Committee’s Progress Using the NPS Alternatives Management Activity Matrix 3:30 Planning for Future Meetings
3:50 Summary and Closing Remarks 4:00 Adjourn |
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