(a) To provide for adequate public review and comment, notwithstanding Section 4582.7, the director shall not approve a timber harvesting plan in any county for which rules and regulations have been adopted pursuant to Section 4516.5 or 4516.8 until 35 days from the date of filing of the plan, and timber operations shall not commence until five days from the date of approval of the plan. The board may provide, by regulation, for those periods to be waived or shortened by the department upon a determination, pursuant to criteria and procedures established by the board, that the proposed timber operations will cause no significant environmental damage or threat to public health and safety or to the environment, or that the timber operations are necessary to reduce that threat. If the chairperson of the board of supervisors of the county in which the proposed timber operations are located notifies the director and the plan submitter that the county intends to appeal the approval of the plan and that the county meets the requirements for filing an appeal, no timber operations shall occur until the final determination of the appeal. If the board of supervisors determines not to appeal the approval of the plan, it shall immediately notify the director and the plan submitter in writing of that determination, and timber operations pursuant to the plan may commence immediately.

(b) (1) The board of supervisors of the county for which rules and regulations have been adopted pursuant to Section 4516.5 or 4516.8 may, not later than 10 days after approval of the plan by the director, appeal that approval to the board, if the county has both participated in the initial inspection of the plan area with the director and participated in a multidisciplinary review of the plan.

(2) The board may establish procedures for filing the appeal and may specify findings that the board of supervisors is required to make in filing the appeal to demonstrate that a substantial issue is raised with respect to public health and safety or the environment.

(c) The board shall grant to a county that meets the requirements for filing an appeal an initial hearing to consider the county’s request for an appeal at the next regularly scheduled board meeting following the receipt of the request.

(d) The board shall grant a public hearing on the appeal if it determines at an initial hearing pursuant to subdivision (c) that the appeal raises substantial issues with respect to public health and safety or the environment.

(e) (1) The board shall hold a public hearing on the appeal granted pursuant to subdivision (d) within 30 days from the date of granting the hearing or at the next regularly scheduled board meeting, whichever occurs first, or within a longer period of time that is mutually agreed upon by the board, the county, and the plan submitter. Upon conclusion of the hearing, the board shall approve or deny the plan. The basis of the board’s decision shall be conformance with this section and the rules and regulations of the board, including any rules or regulations enacted with respect to the county pursuant to Section 4516.5 or 4516.8, and this chapter. In denying a plan, the board may make findings that set forth conditions under which it believes that the plan would have been approved.

(2) The board may delegate conduct of the hearing and the decision to a committee of three members to be appointed for that hearing by the chairperson of the board. The committee shall consist of at least two general public members of the board. The chairperson of the board or the chairperson’s designee shall conduct the hearing. The decision of the committee shall have the full force and effect of a decision of the full board.

(f) This section does not apply to timber operations on any land area of less than three acres and that is not zoned for timberland production.

(Amended by Stats. 2006, Ch. 538, Sec. 563. Effective January 1, 2007.)