Coastal Zone Management Program Policies

Effective Date: March 11, 1997

The CZM Program Plan establishes the following program policies which embody coastal policy for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Recognition of these statements as Massachusetts coastal policy is formalized in Memoranda of Understanding between CZM and state environmental agencies. Projects subject to federal consistency review must be consistent with CZM program policies. CZM enforces its program policies through existing Massachusetts statutes and their implementing regulations.

In addition, the federally-approved CZM Program Plan lists management principles. These policy statements are not currently enforceable through existing state statutes and regulations. They are published as guidance to proponents of activities in the Coastal Zone and represent the preferred policy direction of CZM. CZM reviews all projects, whether for federal consistency or MEPA review, for consistency with management principles and may recommend alternatives or changes to projects in order to achieve consistency with the management principles.

WATER QUALITY

•WATER QUALITY POLICY #1 - Ensure that point-source discharges in or affecting the coastal zone are consistent with federally approved state effluent limitations and water quality standards.

•WATER QUALITY POLICY #2 - Ensure that nonpoint pollution controls promote the attainment of state surface water quality standards in the coastal zone.

•WATER QUALITY POLICY #3 - Ensure that activities in or affecting the coastal zone conform to applicable state and federal requirements governing subsurface waste discharges.

•HABITAT POLICY #1 - Protect coastal resource areas including salt marshes, shellfish beds, dunes, beaches, barrier beaches, salt ponds, eelgrass beds, and fresh water wetlands for their important role as natural habitats.

•HABITAT POLICY #2 - Restore degraded or former wetland resources in coastal areas and ensure that activities in coastal areas do not further wetland degradation but instead take advantage of opportunities to engage in wetland restoration.

PROTECTED AREAS

•PROTECTED AREAS POLICY #1 - Preserve, restore, and enhance complexes of coastal resources of regional or statewide significance through the Areas of Critical Environmental Concern program.

•PROTECTED AREAS POLICY #2 - Protect state and locally designated scenic rivers and state classified scenic rivers in the coastal zone.

•PROTECTED AREAS POLICY #3 - Ensure that proposed developments in or near designated or registered historic districts or sites respect the preservation intent of the designation and that potential adverse effects are minimized.

COASTAL HAZARDS

•COASTAL HAZARD POLICY #1 - Preserve, protect, restore, and enhance the beneficial functions of storm damage prevention and flood control provided by natural coastal landforms, such as dunes, beaches, barrier beaches, coastal banks, land subject to coastal storm flowage, salt marshes, and land under the ocean.

•COASTAL HAZARD POLICY #2 - Ensure construction in water bodies and contiguous land areas will minimize interference with water circulation and sediment transport. Approve permits for flood or erosion control projects only when it has been determined that there will be no significant adverse effects on the project site or adjacent or downcoast areas.

•COASTAL HAZARD POLICY #3 - Ensure that state and federally funded public works projects proposed for location within the coastal zone will:

• not exacerbate existing hazards or damage natural buffers or other natural resources,
• be reasonably safe from flood and erosion related damage, and
• not promote growth and development in hazard-prone or buffer areas, especially in Velocity zones and ACECs, and
• not be used on Coastal Barrier Resource Units for new or substantial reconstruction of structures in a manner inconsistent with the Coastal Barrier Resource/Improvement Acts.

•COASTAL HAZARD POLICY #4 - Prioritize public funds for acquisition of hazardous coastal areas for conservation or recreation use, and relocation of structures out of coastal high hazard areas, giving due consideration to the effects of coastal hazards at the location to the use and manageability of the area.

PORT AND HARBOR INFRASTRUCTURE

•PORTS POLICY #1 - Ensure that dredging and disposal of dredged material minimize adverse effects on water quality, physical processes, marine productivity and public health.

•PORTS POLICY #2 - Obtain the widest possible public benefit from channel dredging, ensuring that designated ports and developed harbors are given highest priority in the allocation of federal and state dredging funds. Ensure that this dredging is consistent with marine environment policies.

•PORTS POLICY #3 - Preserve and enhance the capacity of Designated Port Areas (DPAs) to accommodate water-dependent industrial uses, and prevent the exclusion of such uses from tidelands and any other DPA lands over which a state agency exerts control by virtue of ownership, regulatory authority, or other legal jurisdiction.

•PORTS MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE #1 - Encourage, through technical and financial assistance, expansion of water dependent uses in designated ports and developed harbors, re-development of urban waterfronts, and expansion of visual access.

PUBLIC ACCESS

•PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY #1 - Ensure that developments proposed near existing public recreation sites minimize their adverse effects.

•PUBLIC ACCESS MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE #1 - Improve public access to coastal recreation facilities and alleviate auto traffic and parking problems through improvements in public transportation. Link existing coastal recreation sites to each other or to nearby coastal inland facilities via trails for bicyclists, hikers, and equestrians, and via rivers for boaters.

•PUBLIC ACCESS MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE #2 - Increase capacity of existing recreation areas by facilitating multiple use and by improving management, maintenance and public support facilities. Resolve conflicting uses whenever possible through improved management rather than through exclusion of uses.

•PUBLIC ACCESS MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE #3 - Provide technical assistance to developers of private recreational facilities and sites that increase public access to the shoreline.

•PUBLIC ACCESS MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE #4 - Expand existing recreation facilities and acquire and develop new public areas for coastal recreational activities. Give highest priority to expansions or new acquisitions in regions of high need or limited site availability. Assure that both transportation access and the recreational facilities are compatible with social and environmental characteristics of surrounding communities.

ENERGY

•ENERGY POLICY #1 - For coastally dependent energy facilities, consider siting in alternative coastal locations. For non-coastally dependent energy facilities, consider siting in areas outside of the coastal zone. Weigh the environmental and safety impacts of locating proposed energy facilities at alternative sites.

•ENERGY MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE #1 - Encourage energy conservation and the use of alternative sources such as solar and wind power in order to assist in meeting the energy needs of the Commonwealth.

OCEAN RESOURCES

•OCEAN RESOURCES POLICY #1 - Support the development of environmentally sustainable aquaculture, both for commercial and enhancement (public shellfish stocking) purposes. Ensure that the review process regulating aquaculture facility sites (and access routes to those areas) protects ecologically significant resources (salt marshes, dunes, beaches, barrier beaches, and salt ponds) and minimizes adverse impacts upon the coastal and marine environment.

•OCEAN RESOURCES POLICY #2 - Extraction of marine minerals will be considered in areas of state jurisdiction, except where prohibited by the MA Ocean Sanctuaries Act, where and when the protection of fisheries, air and marine water quality, marine resources, navigation and recreation can be assured.

•OCEAN RESOURCES POLICY #3 - Accommodate offshore sand and gravel mining needs in areas and in ways that will not adversely affect shorelines areas due to alteration of wave direction and dynamics, marine resources and navigation. Mining of sand and gravel, when and where permitted, will be primarily for the purpose of beach nourishment.

GROWTH MANAGEMENT

•GROWTH MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE #1 - Encourage, through technical assistance and review of publicly funded development, compatibility of proposed development with local community character and scenic resources.

•GROWTH MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE #2 - Ensure that state and federally funded transportation and wastewater projects primarily serve existing developed areas, assigning highest priority to projects that meet the needs of urban and community development centers.

•GROWTH MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE #3 - Encourage the revitalization and enhancement of existing development centers in the coastal zone through technical assistance and federal and state financial support for residential, commercial and industrial development.

Statutory and Regulatory Authorities for Program Policies
Effective Date: May 14, 1999

M.G.L. c. 9, §§ 26-27D: Massachusetts Historic Commission Act

950 CMR 71.00: Protection of Properties Included on the State Register of Historic Places

M.G.L. c. 21, § 17A: Public Access Board

M.G.L. c. 21, § 17B: Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act

302 CMR 3.00: Scenic and Recreational Rivers Orders

M.G.L. c. 21, §§ 26-53: Massachusetts Clean Waters Act

314 CMR 3.00: Surface Water Discharge Permit Program
314 CMR 4.00: Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards
314 CMR 5.00: Ground Water Discharge Permit Program
314 CMR 6.00: Ground Water Quality Standards
314 CMR 7.00: Sewer System Extension and Connection Permit Program
314 CMR 9.00: 401 Water Quality Certification
314 CMR 15.00: Oil Pollution Control

M.G.L. c. 21, §§ 54-58: Mineral Resources Act

M.G.L. c. 21A, § 4A: Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management

301 CMR 20.00 - 26.00: Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management Regulations

M.G.L. c. 21A, § 2(7): Areas of Critical Environmental Concern

301 CMR 12.00: Areas of Critical Environmental Concern

M.G.L. c. 21A, § 13: State Environmental Code

310 CMR 11.00: Application & Administration Environmental Code, Title 1
310 CMR 15.000: On-site Sewage Disposal, Title 5

M.G.L. c. 21A, § 14: Reclamation of Degraded Waters

M.G.L. c. 21C, §§ 4, 6, and M.G.L. c. 21E, § 6: Hazardous Waste Management Act

310 CMR 30.00: Hazardous Waste Regulations

M.G.L. c. 21E, §§ 3(c),(d),(e), 3A(d),(f),(g),(m), 3B, 5A, 6, 7, 14; c. 21A, § 2(28); c. 21C; and c. 111, § 160: Massachusetts Contingency Plan

310 CMR 40.0000: Massachusetts Contingency Plan

M.G.L. c. 30, §§ 61-62H: Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act

301 CMR 11.00: MEPA Regulations

M.G.L. c. 40A: State Zoning Act
M.G.L. c. 40C: Historic District Act

M.G.L. c. 81: Public Ways and Works, State Highways

M.G.L. c. 91: Public Waterfront Act

310 CMR 9.00: Waterways Regulations

M.G.L. c. 93, § 29, and c. 93D, § 1: Outdoor Advertising Board

711 CMR 3.00: Outdoor Advertising Board

M.G.L. c. 111, § 17: Department of Public Health, Environmental Protection

M.G.L. c. 111, § 127A: State Sanitary Code

M.G.L. c. 111, §§ 142A-142J: Massachusetts Clean Air Act

310 CMR 7.00: Air Pollution Control

M.G.L. c. 111, §§ 150A-150B: Community Sanitation Program

M.G.L. c. 130, §§ 1-104: Marine Fisheries

322 CMR 3.00 - 12.00, 14.00: Marine Fisheries Regulations

M.G.L. c. 130, § 105: Coastal Wetlands Restriction Act

310 CMR 12.00: Adopting Coastal Wetlands Orders

M.G.L. c. 131, § 40: Wetlands Protection Act

310 CMR 10.00: Wetlands Protection

M.G.L. c. 131, § 40A: Inland Wetland Restriction Act

310 CMR 13.00: Adopting Inland Wetland Orders

M.G.L. c. 131A: Massachusetts Endangered Species Act

321 CMR 8.00: List of Endangered and Threatened Species
321 CMR 10.00: Massachusetts Endangered Species Regulations

M.G.L. c. 132A: Department of Environmental Management

M.G.L. c. 132A, § 11: Self-Help Program

301 CMR 5.00: Self-Help and Urban Self-Help Programs

M.G.L. c. 132A, §§ 12A-16F, 18: Ocean Sanctuaries Act

302 CMR 5.00: Ocean Sanctuaries

M.G.L. c. 161A: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

M.G.L. c. 164, §§ 69H-69Q: Energy Facilities Siting Board

980 CMR 9.00: Coastal Zone Facility Site Selection, Evaluation and Assessment

780 CMR : State Building Code

Executive Order 149: FEMA and Floodplain Use

Executive Order 181: Barrier Beaches

Executive Order 194: Off-road Vehicles

Special Historic District Acts

Pazolt vs. Director of the Division of Marine Fisheries, et al., April 20, 1994, MA Supreme Judicial Court

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