American Samoa Coastal Management Program

        Coordination of PNRS Board

The PNRS Board meets regularly every first and third Wednesday of every month. These meetings are open to the public and are held for the purpose of reviewing applications and making the decision to pass or deny them.

PNRS Legal Notice and Board Hearing – All applications submitted must first be approved to be reviewed by the PNRS Board. Upon acceptance of an application to be reviewed by the Board, public notification is given. For minor projects, the notice shall remain posted for 3 business days in which time no action on the permit can be taken. For major projects, the notice is posted throughout the process until a decision is made. Furthermore, the notice is posted in a newspaper of general circulation in the Territory at least one week prior to the Board’s review. The applicant is given at least seven days notice of the meeting. All notices mentioned above are posted in the Department of Commerce.

Site Visit Agenda – Site visits for all major projects are conducted every Tuesday. Prior to taking action on any land use permit application, a site visit must be conducted and a report made in order to establish the accuracy of the application in terms of location, location in relation to sensitive site areas, project activity, and so forth.

Technical Review – All applications when received are reviewed to determine as to whether the permit should be categorized as a “minor permit” (with minimal impact to the environment) or as a “major permit” (with substantial and significant impacts). In the event that and application is deemed as major all of the PNRS agencies will review the application. Any plans submitted will require the members to provide comments and technical input.