(A) The director of natural resources, using the best available scientific records, data, and analyses of shoreline recession, shall make a preliminary identification of Lake Erie coastal erosion areas, which are the land areas anticipated to be lost by Lake Erie-related erosion within a thirty-year period if no additional approved erosion control measures are completed within that time. The preliminary identification shall state the bluff recession rates for the coastal erosion areas and shall take into account areas where substantial filling, protective measures, or naturally stable land has significantly reduced recession. Prior to making the preliminary identification, the director shall consult with the appropriate authority of each municipal corporation, county, and township having territory within an area that the director proposes to identify as a Lake Erie coastal erosion area. Upon making the preliminary identification, the director shall notify by certified mail the appropriate authority of each municipal corporation, county, and township having territory within a Lake Erie coastal erosion area of the preliminary identification. The notice shall delineate the portion of a Lake Erie coastal erosion area within the jurisdiction of, and shall be made available for public inspection by, the municipal corporation, county, or township. The director also shall publish a notice in a newspaper of general circulation in each affected locality stating that the preliminary identification has been made and stating where information delineating the Lake Erie coastal erosion areas may be inspected by the public and shall notify each landowner of record in a coastal erosion area of the preliminary identification. The notification shall be sent by certified mail to the landowner at the address indicated in the most recent tax duplicate. Within sixty days after the notifications required by this division, the director shall hold public hearings in each of the shoreline counties on the preliminary identification of the Lake Erie coastal erosion areas. Any affected municipal corporation, county, township, or private landowner may file with the director a written objection to the preliminary identification at any of those hearings or at any other time within one hundred twenty days from the date indicated in the certified mail notice, which date shall be one week following the date of the notice. For any such objection, verifiable evidence or documentation shall be submitted indicating that some portion of a Lake Erie coastal erosion area should not have been included in the areas defined by the preliminary identification. A municipal corporation, county, or township may object only with respect to territory within its jurisdiction or other territory that it owns; a private landowner may object only with respect to the landowner's land.

(B) The director shall review all objections filed under division (A) of this section. The director may then modify the preliminary identification of Lake Erie coastal erosion areas. Within the next ninety days, the director shall notify each objecting person of the director's decision regarding the objection. The director also shall notify, within that ninety-day period, any other owner for whom the director's decision results in a modification on that other owner's property.

(C) Whenever the preliminary identification of a Lake Erie coastal erosion area is modified as a result of an objection, the director shall so notify the affected municipal corporation, county, or township and shall publish a notice of the modification in a newspaper of general circulation in the affected locality. Objections to modifications may be filed within sixty days of the newspaper notification required by this division or within sixty days of the date of the property owner's notification required by division (B) of this section, whichever is later, and shall be filed in the same manner as objections to the original preliminary identification. The director shall rule on each objection to a modification within sixty days after receiving it.

(D) After the director has ruled on each objection filed under division (B) or (C) of this section, the director shall make a final identification of the Lake Erie coastal erosion areas and shall notify by certified mail the appropriate authority of each affected municipal corporation, county, and township of the final identification. The final identification may be appealed under section 1506.08 of the Revised Code.

(E) At least once every ten years, the director shall review and may revise the identification of Lake Erie coastal erosion areas, taking into account any recent natural or artificially induced changes affecting anticipated recession. The review and revision shall be done in the same manner as that provided for original preliminary and final identification in this section.

(F) Any person who has received written notice under this section or section 5302.30 of the Revised Code that a parcel or any portion of a parcel of real property that the person owns has been included in a Lake Erie coastal erosion area identified under this section shall not sell or transfer any interest in that real property unless the person first provides written notice to the purchaser or grantee that the real property is included in a Lake Erie coastal erosion area. The written notice shall be provided in accordance with section 5302.30 of the Revised Code.

(G) No state agency, county, township, or municipal corporation, or any other political subdivision or special district in this state established by law shall use the fact that property has been identified as a Lake Erie coastal erosion area as a basis for any of the following:

(1) Failing to enter into or renew a lease or to issue or renew a permit under section 1506.11 of the Revised Code;

(2) Failing to issue or renew a permit required by law, other than a permit issued under section 1506.07 of the Revised Code;

(3) Taking private property for public use in the exercise of the power of eminent domain;

(4) Determining what constitutes just compensation for a taking of the property in the exercise of the power of eminent domain.

Effective Date: 05-08-1996.