Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 301 CMR - EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS › Title 301 CMR 23.00 - Review and Approval of Municipal Harbor Plans › Section 23.01 - Purpose

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
								301 CMR 23.00 serves as the
			 primary agency of the Commonwealth for environmental planning, as set forth in
			 M.G.L. c. 21A, §§ 2 and 4; and to implement the Massachusetts Coastal
			 Zone Management Program (CZM Program), established by M.G.L. c. 21A, § 4A
			 for the purpose of securing for the inhabitants of the Commonwealth the
			 objectives and benefits of the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act,
			 16 USC
			 1451
et seq
.
			 301 CMR 23.00 forms part of
			 the CZM Program and shall be interpreted and applied in a manner consistent
			 with
			 301 CMR 20.00:
Coastal Zone Management Program
.
(2)
Purpose
.
			 301 CMR 23.00 establishes a
			 voluntary procedure by which municipalities may obtain approval of Municipal
			 Harbor Plans (MHPs) from the Secretary, in order that such plans may serve to
			 inform and guide state agency actions affecting the implementation of waterway
			 management programs at the local level. Specifically, Approved MHPs will be of
			 direct assistance to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in making
			 regulatory decisions pursuant to M.G.L. c. 91 that are responsive to municipal
			 objectives and priorities, harbor-specific conditions, and other local and
			 regional circumstances. The additional purposes served by the regulations are
			 as follows:
(a) to promote long-term,
			 comprehensive, municipally based planning of harbors and other waterway areas
			 that fully incorporates state policies governing stewardship of trust lands, as
			 defined in
			 310 CMR 9.02:
Definitions
, and that establishes, through early and
			 continuing consultation, an effective partnership between the Commonwealth and
			 its municipalities in such planning efforts;
(b) to carry out overall state environmental
			 policy by, among other things, providing for the management of water and land
			 resources to assure the protection and balanced utilization of such resources;
			 promoting the best usage of land and water by encouraging and providing for, in
			 cooperation with other appropriate state agencies, planned industrial,
			 commercial, recreational, and community development; encouraging the
			 restoration and reclamation of degraded or despoiled areas, including harbors
			 and coastal waters; and assisting other state agencies and regional planning
			 agencies in developing programs and policies relating to land-use planning and
			 regulation in the Commonwealth;
(c)
			 to comply with and implement national coastal policy as set forth in the
			 Federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, by encouraging the
			 preparation of special area management plans that provide for increased
			 specificity in protecting significant natural resources, reasonable
			 coastal-dependent economic growth, improved protection of life and property in
			 hazardous areas, and improved predictability in governmental decision making
			 and by encouraging the participation and cooperation of the public, state,
			 local, regional, interstate, and federal governments in the preparation of such
			 plans;
(d) to foster the right of
			 the people to clean air and water, freedom from excessive and unnecessary
			 noise, and the natural, scenic, historic, and aesthetic qualities of their
			 environment under Article XCVII of the Massachusetts Constitution.