The department shall establish, in cooperation with the parties to the planning agreement, a process for public participation throughout plan development and review to ensure that interested persons, including landowners, have an adequate opportunity to provide input to lead agencies, state and federal wildlife agencies, and others involved in preparing the plan. The public participation objectives of this section may be achieved through public working groups or advisory committees, established early in the process. This process shall include all of the following:

(a) A requirement that draft documents associated with a natural community conservation plan that are being considered for adoption by the plan lead agency shall be available for public review and comment for at least 60 days prior to the adoption of that draft document. Preliminary public review documents shall be made available by the plan lead agency at least 10 working days prior to any public hearing addressing these documents. The review period specified in this subdivision may run concurrently with the review period provided for any document required by the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code) that is associated with the natural community conservation plan. This subdivision shall not be construed to limit the discretion of a public agency to revise any draft documents at a public hearing.

(b) A requirement to make available in a reasonable and timely manner all draft plans, memoranda of understanding, maps, conservation guidelines, species coverage lists, and other planning documents associated with a natural community conservation plan that are subject to public review.

(c) A requirement that all public hearings held during plan preparation or review for approval are complementary to, or integrated with, those hearings otherwise provided by law.

(d) An outreach program to provide access to information for persons interested in the plan, including landowners, with an emphasis on obtaining input from a balanced variety of affected public and private interests, including state and local governments, county agricultural commissioners, agricultural organizations, landowners, conservation organizations, and the general public.

(Repealed and added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 4, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003.)