Section 3 - PERMIT REQUIRED
All excavation areas require a permit except:
3.1 An excavation which lawfully existed and was in use on or before August 24, 1979, may continue to excavate without a permit subject to the following:
3.1.1 such an excavation site shall be except from local zoning and other regulations, provided that at the time the excavation was first begun, it was in compliance with any local ordinances and regulations that may have been in effect.
3.1.2 such an excavation site may not be expanded beyond the limits of the Town in which it is situated and the area which, on August 24, 1979, and at all times subsequent thereto has been contiguous to and in common ownership with the excavation site of that date, and appraised and inventoried for property tax purposes as part of the same tract as the excavation site.
3.1.3 whenever such excavation is not allowed by local zoning or similar ordinances in effect on the effective date of this section regulating the location of the excavation site, expansion may be restricted or modified with conditions by order of the Regulator if after notice to the owner and a hearing, the board finds that such expansion will have a substantially different and adverse impact on the neighborhood.
3.1.4 such an excavation shall be performed in compliance with the operational and reclamation standards in these regulations (Section 6, 7, and 8).
3.1.5 the owners or operators of any existing excavation site for which no permit has been obtained shall file an excavation report with the Regulator within one year of written notification by the Regulator and in no case later than August 4, 1991. Any existing excavation that fails to file a report within one year time period shall be determined to be abandoned per 4.1.3.
The report shall contain the following information:
3.1.5.1 the location of the excavation - tax map and lot number;
3.1.5.2 the date the excavation first began;
3.1.5.3 a description of the permissible limits of expansion as described in Section 3.1.2;
3.1.5.4 an estimate of the area which has been excavated to date; and
3.1.5.5 an estimate of the amount of commercially-viable earth materials still available on the parcel.
3.2 Excavations from an area contiguous to, or contiguous land in common ownership with, stationary manufacturing and processing plants in operation as of August 24, 1979, which use earth from said area. Such excavations shall be performed in compliance with the operational and reclamation standards contained in Section 6, 7, and 8 of this regulation.
3.3 Excavations from an area contiguous to, or contiguous land is common ownership with, stationary manufacturing and processing plants which have been granted state or local permits since August 24, 1979, and which use earth obtained from said area. The operation and reclamation of such areas shall be governed by the conditions of the state or local permit and any extensions or renewals thereof.
3.4 An excavation performed exclusively for th lawful construction, reconstruction, or maintenance of a class I, II, III, IV, or V highway by a unit of government which has jurisdiction for the highway or an agent of the unit of government which has a contract for the construction, reconstruction, or maintenance of the highway, provided that:
3.4.1 a copy of the pit agreement executed by the owner, the agent and the governmental unit shall be filed with and accepted by the Regulator prior to the start of excavation; and such excavation shall not be exempt from the provisions of Sections 6, 7, and 8 of this regulation, nor from any other land use regulations of the municipality. In addition, a plan must be filed with the Regulator which identifies and limits the exemption granted to only that portion of the pit that is necessary for the public highway project. Failure to file a copy of the pit agreement or the above referenced plan with the municipality or to comply with the terms of the agreement constitutes a violation enforceable under the provisions of Section 16 of these regulations.
3.4.2 the New Hampshire Department of Transportation or its agent may apply to the appeals board created under RSA 21-L to be exempted from the provisions of local land use regulations. The appeals process includes a formal public hearing in the affected municipality as set forth in RSA 155-E:2, IV(c).
3.4.3 such exempted excavation shall comply with Section 7 and Section 8 herein.
3.5 Excavation that is exclusively incidental to the lawful construction or alteration of a building or structure or the lawful construction or alternation of a parking lot or way including a driveway on a portion of the premises where removal occurs. This excavation cannot be started, however, until all required state and local permits necessary for the construction or alteration of the building, structure parking lot or way have been issued.
3.6 Excavation that is incidental to agricultural or silvicultural activities, normal landscaping or minor topographical adjustment.
3.7 Excavation from a granite quarry for the purpose of producing dimension stone, if such excavation requires a permit under RSA12-E.
3.8 A person owning land abutting a site which was taken by eminent domain or by any other governmental taking upon which construction is taking place may stockpile earth taken from the construction site and may remove the earth at a later date after written notification to the regulator.
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