(a) Within 15 days of receipt of a preapplication, the Department shall provide written comments addressing the completeness of the submitted information. The preapplication shall be deemed complete when the preapplication is considered by the Department to be adequate for evaluation purposes. The staff of the Department of Conservation shall complete the review of preapplications within 60 days of receipt of a complete preapplication.

(b) Within 15 days of receipt of written comments, an applicant may request a meeting with the staff to discuss the staff comments concerning completeness of the application. The meeting should be held within 10 days of the request.

(c) Notification of grant awards or denials will be made by the Director within 15 days following completion of staff review. Even though a jurisdiction is notified that they will receive a grant, payment of the grant monies cannot be made until the provisions of Sections 3861 and 3862 of the Public Resources Code have been fulfilled, and the final application that meets the requirements of Section 1796 of this chapter has been filed with the Department.