[brief] A.  Statutory and Regulatory Background  The Legislature granted [...] extensive authority to review development located in flood-prone areas pursuant to the Flood Hazard Area Control Act (“FHACA”), N.J.S.A. 58:16A-50 to -103.  [...] was empowered to delineate flood hazard areas and adopt land use regulations controlling development to protect “the safety, health, and general welfare of the people[.]”  N.J.S.A. 58:16A-50.  To discharge this statutory duty, [...] adopted the FHACA rules, N.J.A.C. 7:13-1 to -24, governing development in the flood hazard area and riparian zone of FHACA-regulated waters.  N.J.A.C. 7:13-1.1(a).  Most waters in the State are regulated, N.J.A.C. 7:13-2.2, and there is a regulated flood hazard area along every regulated water with a drainage area of fifty acres or more, N.J.A.C. 7:13-2. 3(b).  These flood hazard areas include any land, and the space above that land, lying below the flood hazard area design flood elevation, which is an elevation sufficient to hold a flood equal to the one-hundred-year flood plus an additional --- 1  Because they are closely related, the procedural and factual histories are combined for efficiency and the court’s convenience. amount of water to account for possible future increases in flows due to development or other factors.  N.J.A.C. 7:13-1.2 (2022).  Any proposed structures located below the flood hazard area design flood elevation are considered “in” the flood hazard area.  Ibid.  Additionally, along each side of a regulated water exists a riparian zone, N.J.A.C. 7:13-2.3(c), which amounts to a buffer area that is comprised of land and vegetation ranging from fifty feet to three hundred feet wide depending on the waterbody’s ecological value, N.J.A.C. 7:13-4.1(a), (c).  [...] applies FHACA and its accompanying rules to identify the flood hazard area, riparian zone, and determine if proposed development will unduly impact the areas through permitting decisions.  Projects that disturb one or more acres of land must also meet [...]’s stormwater management requirements.  N.J.A.C. 7:8-1.6.  [...]’s Stormwater Management Rules, N.J.A.C. 7:8-1 to -6, address the stormwater flowing from developed land.  The Stormwater Rules set standards on stormwater quantity, N.J.A.C. 7:8-5.6, stormwater water quality, N.J.A.C. 7:8-5.5, and the types of infrastructure used to meet [...]’s stormwater standards, N.J.A.C. 7:8-5.3.  There are numerous ways to meet the standards, so [...] created a Stormwater Best Management Practices manual to guide applicants with demonstrated methods specifically designed to achieve numeric stormwater standards.  New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, NJ Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual, https://dep.nj.gov/stormwater/bmp-manual/.  Applicants may use those or any alternate methods so long as the proposed development meets the regulatory standards.  In conjunction with its flood hazard and stormwater management review, [...] must also ensure that permits do not conflict with an adopted areawide plan under Water Quality Planning Act (“WQPA”), N.J.S.A. 58:11A-10, one of several means the Legislature used to address water quality in the State.  **B.