N.J.A.C. 7:7 — COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT RULES (Subchapter 1 to 29)

(a) Ports are water areas having, or lying immediately adjacent to, concentrations of shoreside marine terminals and transfer facilities for the movement of waterborne cargo (including fluids), and including facilities for loading, unloading, and temporary storage. 1. Port locati…

(a) A submerged infrastructure route is the corridor in which a pipe or cable runs on or below a submerged land surface. (b) Any activity which would increase the likelihood of infrastructure damage or breakage, or interfere with maintenance operations is prohibited. (c) Rational…

(a) The shipwreck and artificial reef habitats special area includes all permanently submerged or abandoned remains of vessels and other structures, including, but not limited to, artificial reefs, anchors, quarry rocks or lost cargo, which serve as a special marine habitat or ar…

(a) Wet borrow pits are scattered artificially created lakes that are the results of surface mining for coastal minerals extending below groundwater level to create a permanently flooded depression. This includes, but is not limited to, flooded sand, gravel, and clay pits, and st…

(a) Intertidal and subtidal shallows means all permanently or temporarily submerged areas from the spring high water line to a depth of four feet below mean low water. (b) Development, filling, new dredging, or other disturbance is discouraged but may be permitted in accordance w…

(a) A dune is a wind or wave deposited or man-made formation of sand (mound or ridge), that lies generally parallel to, and landward of, the beach and the foot of the most inland dune slope. "Dune" includes the foredune, secondary or tertiary dune ridges and mounds, and all landw…

(a) An overwash area is an area subject to accumulation of sediment, usually sand, that is deposited landward of the beach or dune by the rush of water over the crest of the beach berm, a dune, or a structure. An overwash area may, through stabilization and vegetation, become a d…

(a) Coastal high hazard areas are flood prone areas subject to high velocity waters (V zones) as delineated on FEMA flood mapping, and areas within 25 feet of oceanfront shore protection structures, which are subject to wave run-up and overtopping. The coastal high hazard area ex…

(a) Erosion hazard areas are shoreline areas that are eroding and/or have a history of erosion, causing them to be highly susceptible to further erosion, and damage from storms. 1. Erosion hazard areas may be identified by any one of the following characteristics: i. Lack of beac…

(a) Shellfish habitat is defined as an estuarine bay or river bottom which currently supports or has a history of production for hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria), soft clams (Mya arenaria), eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica), bay scallops (Argopecten irradians), or blue mu…

(a) Barrier island corridors are the interior portions of oceanfront barrier islands, spits and peninsulas. Along the New Jersey Coast, headlands are located between Monmouth Beach, Monmouth County and Pt. Pleasant Beach, Ocean County. 1. The oceanfront barrier island corridor en…

(a) Bay islands are islands or filled areas surrounded by tidal waters, wetlands, beaches, or dunes, lying between the mainland and barrier island. Such islands may be connected to the mainland or barrier island by elevated or fill supported roads. Existing lagoon edges (N.J.A.C.…

(a) Beaches are gently sloping areas of sand or other unconsolidated material, found on all tidal shorelines, including ocean, bay, and river shorelines, that extend landward from the mean high water line to either: 1. A man-made feature generally parallel to the ocean, inlet, or…

(a) Filled water's edge areas are existing filled water, wetland, or upland areas lying between wetlands or water areas, and either (a)1 or 2 below, whichever is closer to the water: 1. The upland limit of fill; or 2. The first paved public road or railroad landward of the adjace…

(a) Existing lagoon edges are defined as existing manmade land areas resulting from the dredging and filling of wetlands, bay bottom and other estuarine water areas for the purpose of creating waterfront lots along lagoons for residential and commercial development. 1. Existing L…

(a) Flood hazard areas are areas subject to flooding from the flood hazard area design flood, as defined by the Department under the Flood Hazard Area Control Act rules at N.J.A.C. 7:13. Flood hazard areas include those areas mapped as such by the Department, areas defined or del…

(a) A riparian zone is the land and vegetation within and adjacent to a regulated water. A riparian zone exists along both sides of every regulated water and includes the regulated water itself, except as provided in (b) below. The extent of a riparian zone is determined in accor…

(a) Wetlands or wetland means an area that is inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil condit…

(a) Wetlands buffer or transition area means an area of land adjacent to a wetland which minimizes adverse impacts on the wetlands or serves as an integral component of the wetlands ecosystem. Wider buffers than those noted below may be required to establish conformance `with thi…

(a) A coastal bluff is a steep slope (greater than 15 percent) of consolidated (rock) or unconsolidated (sand, gravel) sediment which is adjacent to the shoreline or which is demonstrably associated with shoreline processes. 1. The waterward limit of a coastal bluff is a point 25…

(a) Surf clam areas are coastal waters which can be demonstrated to support significant commercially harvestable quantities of surf clams (Spisula solidissima), or areas important for recruitment of surf clam stocks. This includes areas where fishing is prohibited for research sa…

(a) Intermittent stream corridors are areas including and surrounding surface water drainage channels in which there is not a permanent flow of water and which contain an area or areas with a seasonal high water table equal to or less than one foot. The inland extent of these cor…

(a) Farmland conservation areas are defined as any contiguous area of 20 acres or more (in single or multiple tracts of single or multiple ownership) with soils in the Capability Classes I, II and III or special soils for blueberries and cranberries as mapped by the United States…

(a) Steep slopes are land areas with slopes greater than 15 percent, which are not adjacent to the shoreline and therefore not coastal bluffs (see N.J.A.C. 7:7-9.29). Steep slopes include natural swales and ravines, as well as man-made areas, such as those created through mining …

(a) Dry borrow pits are excavations for the purpose of extracting coastal minerals which have not extended below the groundwater level. This includes, but is not limited to, dry sand, gravel and clay pits, and stone quarries. (b) Surface mining is conditionally acceptable, provid…

(a) Historic and archaeological resources include objects, structures, shipwrecks, buildings, neighborhoods, districts, and man-made or man-modified features of the landscape and seascape, including historic and prehistoric archaeological sites, which either are on or are eligibl…

(a) Specimen trees are the largest known individual trees of each species in New Jersey. The Department's Division of Parks and Forestry maintains a list of these trees (see "New Jersey's Biggest Trees," published by the Department's Division of Parks and Forestry, Summer 1991 fo…

(a) Endangered or threatened wildlife or plant species habitats are terrestrial and aquatic (marine, estuarine, or freshwater) areas known to be inhabited on a seasonal or permanent basis by or to be critical at any stage in the life cycle of any wildlife or plant identified as "…

(a) Critical wildlife habitats are specific areas known to serve an essential role in maintaining wildlife, particularly in wintering, breeding, and migrating. 1. Rookeries for colonial nesting birds, such as herons, egrets, ibis, terns, gulls, and skimmers; stopovers for migrato…

(a) Public open space constitutes land areas owned or maintained by State, Federal, county and municipal agencies or private groups (such as conservation organizations and homeowner's associations) and used for or dedicated to conservation of natural resources, public recreation,…

(a) Special hazard areas include areas with a known actual or potential hazard to public health, safety, and welfare, or to public or private property, such as the navigable air space around airports and seaplane landing areas, potential evacuation zones, and areas where hazardou…

(a) Prime fishing areas include tidal water areas and water's edge areas which have a demonstrable history of supporting a significant local intensity of recreational or commercial fishing activity. These areas include all coastal jetties, groins, public fishing piers or docks, a…

(a) Excluded Federal lands are those lands, the use of which is, by law, subject solely to the discretion of or held in trust by the Federal Government, its officers or agents. These lands are excluded from the coastal zone as required by Section 304 of the Federal Coastal Zone M…

(a) Special urban areas are those municipalities defined in urban aid legislation (N.J.S.A. 52:27D-178) qualified to receive State aid to enable them to maintain and upgrade municipal services and offset local property taxes. Under N.J.S.A. 52:27D-178 et seq., the Department of C…

(a) The Pinelands National Reserve includes those lands and water areas defined in the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978, Section 502 ( P.L. 95-625), an approximately 1,000,000 acre area ranging from Monmouth County in the north, south to Cape May County and from Gloucest…

(a) The Hackensack Meadowlands District is a 19,485-acre area of water, coastal wetlands and associated uplands within the boundaries described in the Hackensack Meadowlands Reclamation and Development Act (N.J.S.A. 13:17-1 et seq.). (b) A coastal activity or development for whic…

(a) Wild and scenic river corridors are all rivers designated into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System and any rivers or segments thereof being studied for possible designation into that system pursuant to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1271- 1278). …

(a) Geodetic control reference marks are traverse stations and benchmarks established or used by the New Jersey Geodetic Control Survey pursuant to P.L. 1934, c.116. They include the following types: 1. Monument-(Mon), Disk-(DK): A standard United States Coast and Geodetic Survey…

(a) The following terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meanings: 1. "Average building height" is defined as the mean height of the roof line of a building on a pier measured from the pier deck level to the top of the parapet or the midpoint of a sloped roof …

(a) Atlantic City is those lands within the municipal boundary of the City of Atlantic City. (b) "Casino hotels" are hotels with casinos as provided for in the Casino Control Act ( P.L. 1977, c.100, as amended). 1. Casino hotel development in Atlantic City shall be located in the…

(a) Lands and waters subject to public trust rights are tidal waterways and their shores, including both lands now or formerly below the mean high water line, and shores above the mean high water line. Tidal waterways and their shores are subject to the Public Trust Doctrine and …

(a) A dredged material management area is an area documented through historical data, including, but not limited to, aerial photography, historic surveys, and/or previously issued permits, as having been previously used for the placement of sediment associated with the dredging o…

(a) Finfish migratory pathways are waterways (rivers, streams, creeks, bays and inlets) which can be determined to serve as passageways for diadromous fish to or from seasonal spawning areas, including juvenile anadromous fish which migrate in autumn and those listed by H.E. Zich…

(a) A submerged vegetation habitat special area consists of water areas supporting or documented as previously supporting rooted, submerged vascular plants such as widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima), sago pondweed (Potamogeton pectinatus), horned pondweed (Zannichellia palustris), a…

(a) Navigation channels are tidal water areas including the Atlantic Ocean, inlets, bays, rivers and tidal guts with sufficient depth to provide safe navigation. Navigation channels include all areas between the top of the channel slopes on either side. These navigation channels …

(a) Canals are navigation channels for boat traffic through land areas which are created by cutting and dredging or other human construction technique sometimes enlarging existing natural surface water channels. The Cape May, Point Pleasant, and Delaware and Raritan Canals are th…

(a) Inlets are natural channels through barrier islands allowing movement of fresh and salt water between the ocean and the back bay system. Inlets naturally have delta fans of sediment seaward and landward, deposited by the ebb and flow of the tide. 1. The seaward limit of an in…