Section 30716.

(a) A certified port master plan may be amended by the port governing body, but an amendment shall not take effect until it has been certified by the commission. Any proposed amendment shall be submitted to, and processed by, the commission in the same manner as provided for submission and certification of a port master plan.

(b) The commission shall, by regulation, establish a procedure whereby proposed amendments to a certified port master plan may be reviewed and designated by the executive director of the commission as being minor in nature and need not comply with Section 30714. These amendments shall take effect on the 10th working day after the executive director designates the amendments as minor.

(c) (1) The executive director may determine that a proposed certified port master plan amendment is de minimis if the executive director determines that the proposed amendment would have no impact, either individually or cumulatively, on coastal resources, is consistent with the policies of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 30200), and meets the following criteria:

(A) The port governing body, at least 21 days prior to the date of submitting the proposed amendment to the executive director, has provided public notice, and provided a copy to the commission, which specifies the dates and places where comments will be accepted on the proposed amendment, contains a brief description of the proposed amendment, and states the address where copies of the proposed amendment are available for public review, by one of the following procedures:

(i) Publication, not fewer times than required by Section 6061 of the Government Code, in a newspaper of general circulation in the area affected by the proposed amendment. If more than one area will be affected, the notice shall be published in the newspaper of largest circulation from among the newspapers of general circulation in those areas.

(ii) Posting of the notice by the port governing body both onsite and offsite in the area affected by the proposed amendment.

(iii) Direct mailing to the owners and occupants of contiguous property shown on the latest equalized assessment roll.

(B) The proposed amendment does not propose any change in land use or water uses or any change in the allowable use of property.

(2) At the time that the port governing body submits the proposed amendment to the executive director, the port governing body shall also submit to the executive director any public comments that were received during the comment period provided pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1).

(3) (A) The executive director shall make a determination as to whether the proposed amendment is de minimis within 10 working days from the date of submittal by the local government. If the proposed amendment is determined to be de minimis, the proposed amendment shall be noticed in the agenda of the next regularly scheduled meeting of the commission, in accordance with Section 11125 of the Government Code, and any public comments forwarded by the port governing body shall be made available to the members of the commission.

(B) If three members of the commission object to the executive director's determination that the proposed amendment is de minimis, the proposed amendment shall be set for public hearing in accordance with the procedures specified in subdivision (a) or, at the request of the port governing body, returned to the port governing body. If set for public hearing under subdivision (a), the time requirements set by this section and Section 30714 shall commence from the date on which the objection to the de minimis designation was made.

(C) If three or more members of the commission do not object to the de minimis determination, the de minimis amendment shall become a part of the certified port master plan 10 days from the date of the commission meeting.

(4) The commission may, after a noticed public hearing, adopt guidelines to implement this subdivision, which shall be exempt from review by the Office of Administrative Law and from Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. The commission shall file any guidelines adopted pursuant to this paragraph with the Office of Administrative Law.

(Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 208, Sec. 7. Effective January 1, 2010.)