Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
 
Agency
Department of Environmental Quality
 
Board
Department of Environmental Quality
 
chapter
Public Participation Guidelines [9 VAC 15 ‑ 11]
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8/19/21  9:13 pm
Commenter: Christine Steiffer

Making it easier to engage with the public
 

Hi, my name is Christine and I’m a native Virginian living in Floyd county. I work as a User Experience designer, making websites and online services easier to use. There are some simple things this board can do to make it easier to get the community feedback needed to make informed decisions:  

  • hold meetings during rail and public transit available hours, and include meeting times outside of standard work hour so that more people can attend
  • include translated materials, translators and deaf interpreters at public meetings
  • Instructions on the Public comment process should be clear and given with enough advanced notice for people to act
  • post information on social media as well as the website
  • A list of environmental justice communities should be maintained and those groups notified with more time to respond since they likely will face impacts sooner
  • Ensure EJ and community outreach specialists are on every board and are actively engaging with impacted communities.

thanks!

CommentID: 99793