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NCCD COVID-19 Protocol: last updated on 8/19/20
The County of Northampton has made a declaration of emergency

Greystone Building lobby will be open to the public during the hours of 8AM to 4PM Monday-Friday;
Appointments/email/phone call interaction with staff is requested; however essential staff interaction is being offered as of 6/8/20, please ring outside notification bell (mask is required).  
Electronic submission is still highly recommended;
however paper mailed and drop-off deliveries are being accepted without quarantine as of 6/29/20
(unless other DEP submission procedures are in place)
(please see protocol below).

DEP COVID-19 Update:

The Department of Environmental Protection is suspending the timeframes for providing permit decisions established in the Policy for Implementing the Department of Environmental Protection Permit Review Process and Permit Decision Guarantee due to the office closures related to Coronavirus (COVID-19). Please note that DEP staff will continue to process received permit applications. However; due to operational conditions, applicants may experience delays receiving decisions. Applicants may also experience delays in receiving permit decisions where the applications are processed by County Conservation Districts. DEP will provide emergency authorizations for projects that are critical to public health and safety.

Check here for DEP updates: https://www.dep.pa.gov/Pages/AlertDetails.aspx
DEP COVID FAQ: Please review this document before contacting District staff

NCCD Operation Plan
Based guidance received from PADEP, to reduce in the spread of the COVID-19 virus,
Submissions/Deliveries

NOTE: if you do not follow the protcol outlined below, your electronic application/resubmission will not be received or processed and may be subject to withdraw or denial per PADEP SOP.

If you have an electronic submission or resubmission, please email a PDF of your completed NCCD application (required for all initial applications and whenever info. is revised) and a picture of your applicable fee checks, based on availability and in the order received, NCCD will verify that the checks are completed correctly per application instructions and the NCCD fee schedule;
send email to: northamptoncd@northamptoncd.org
Once application and fees are verified, NCCD will respond to your email and provide you the contact information to which you will need to email your documents (perferred option #1 below).  At that time, you should place your fee check(s) in the mail to: NCCD, 14 Gracedale Ave., Greystone Bldg., Nazareth, PA 18064.  NCCD will process your application in order received. 
You have 3 options for submittal:
1. Use a file management tool to provide a link to the documents per verification email provided by NCCD; NOTE: Please do not send emails directly to technical staff.  Due to County email security, we do not have access to all file management tools, so please work with the staff if they are not able to open your documents, they will notify you based on availability and order received. Use of a file management tool is preferred, but if this is not possible, please keep your email attachments under 10 MB total or your email may not be received due to size restrictions.  If your submission is not accessible, legible or scaled accordingly; it cannot be accepted.
2. Put your submission on a thumb drive and mail it with your fee check(s).  NOTE: date received will be considered the date an NCCD staff member is able to access the office, retrieve and view your thumb drive.
3. Submit paper copies through mail or drop-off (NOTE: Drop-offs are non-essential and should not warrent staff interaction unless a specific meeting is scheduled). 

NOTE: Complete documents should be provided with ANY electronic submission, substitutions are not acceptable at this time.

Paper copies of the permit documents and plans may be requested once "normal" operations are able to occur. 

Virtual Meetings are required at this time.  

-Pre-application meetings: Electronic request form for virtual standard pre-application meetings should be sent via email (northamptoncd@northamptoncd.org) (unless requesting expedited technical review, reference policy under Downloads tab and email Sharon Pletchan at spletchan@northamptoncounty.org for more information); all proposed meeting attendees should be included in the initial email request. Meeting will be scheduled by Manager through Zoom, Outlook invite will be sent to associated NCCD staff and municipalities as well as the parties included in the original email request.  The meeting will be considered tentative until a link to the documents to be discussed has been provided to Wendy via email; the deadline for this link is 48 hrs prior to your tentatively scheduled meeting. 
If the link is not received by the deadline, your meeting will be cancelled and you will need to submit a new request. 
If your firm would rather use a different electronic media to hold the call, please inform Manager of this upon your initial request.

- Pre-construction meetings are to be held via conference call and scheduled directly with assigned 102 staff (re: About Us page for contacts); staff will require a shared screen with the plans and permit during the call or a link to the documents 48 hrs. prior to the call if we do not already have the documents electronically to be able to hold the meeting; if documents are not presented or provided, the meeting will be cancelled until appropriate documents can be presented. 

- Inspections/Field Work - staff will be performing inspections based on a priority list governed by PADEP and the District Manager.  At this time, all field work must be pre-approved by the District Manager prior to execution.  If you would like to request an inspection, including submission of Notice of Termination to initiate a final inspection, please contact the assigned regional staff member for NPDES/Chapter 102 construction sites; Jim Clauser should be contacted for Agricultural field assistance and Nate Pritchard should be contacted for Watershed management assistance (re: About Us page for contacts).  NOTE: Field time for staff is limited due to social distancing requirements.  It is requested that a maximum of only ONE person be present to accompany the District staff member during the inspection.  Please make District staff aware of any additional safety protocols required on-site, practice social distancing and wear a mask in compliance with CDC guidelines.  The staff is directed to deny service if CDC safety protocols are not followed.

The next NCCD Board of Directors Meeting is scheduled for October 13th, 2020 at 7:30PM and
is open to the public however due pandemic interaction limitations,
the meetings will be held remotely

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87015171296?pwd=aEkyejZIVnYyZ1J6dGppK1oxYUpzQT09

Meeting ID: 870 1517 1296

Passcode: 976947

Dial-in #: (646) 876-9923

Administration/Operations Committee – CANCELLED

Resource Technical Committee –  – CANCELLED
 
Education/Outreach Committee –  CANCELLED

Please check back here for more updates.

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Chapter 102 Training Workshop CANCELLED
              3/24/20 at Lehigh Valley Hotel Conference Center, Bethlehem 8:00AM-3:30PM  

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- NEW NPDES Permit FAQ released by PA DEP - please review this document prior to contacting NCCD with questions on the new NPDES permitting process, as we are experiencing a high number of calls; we appreciate your understanding.