Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Title 310 CMR 10.00 - Wetlands Protection › Additional Regulations for Coastal Wetlands › Section 10.30 - Coastal Banks

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Preamble
. Coastal banks are likely to be significant
				to storm damage prevention and flood control. Coastal banks that supply
				sediment to coastal beaches, coastal dunes and barrier beaches are per se
				significant to storm damage prevention and flood control. Coastal banks that,
				because of their height, provide a buffer to upland areas from storm waters are
				significant to storm damage prevention and flood control.
Coastal banks composed of unconsolidated sediment and exposed
				  to vigorous wave action serve as a major continuous source of sediment for
				  beaches, dunes, and barrier beaches (as well as other land forms caused by
				  coastal processes). The supply of sediment is removed from banks by wave
				  action, and this removal takes place in response to beach and sea conditions.
				  It is a naturally occurring process necessary to the continued existence of
				  coastal beaches, coastal dunes and barrier beaches which, in turn, dissipate
				  storm wave energy, thus protecting structures of coastal wetlands landward of
				  them from storm damage and flooding.
Coastal banks, because of their height and stability, may act
				  as a buffer or natural wall, which protects upland areas from storm damage and
				  flooding. While erosion caused by wave action is an integral part of shoreline
				  processes and furnishes important sediment to downdrift landforms, erosion of a
				  coastal bank by wind and rain runoff, which plays only a minor role in beach
				  nourishment, should not be increased unnecessarily. Therefore, disturbances to
				  a coastal bank which reduce its natural resistance to wind and rain erosion
				  cause cuts and gullys in the bank, increase the risk of its collapse, increase
				  the danger to structures at the top of the bank and decrease its value as a
				  buffer.
Bank vegetation tends to stabilize the bank and reduce the
				  rate of erosion due to wind and rain runoff. Pedestrian and vehicular traffic
				  damages the protective vegetation and frequently leads to gully erosion or deep
				  "blowouts" on unconsolidated banks. Therefore, any project permitted by 310 CMR
				  10.30 should incorporate, when appropriate, elevated walkways.
A particular coastal bank may serve both as a sediment source
				  and as a buffer, or it may serve only one role.
When a proposed project involves dredging, removing, filling,
				  or altering a coastal bank, the issuing authority shall presume that the area
				  is significant to storm damage prevention and flood control. This presumption
				  may be overcome only upon a clear showing that a coastal bank does not play a
				  role in storm damage prevention or flood control, and if the issuing authority
				  makes a written determination to that effect.
When issuing authority determines that a coastal bank is
				  significant to storm damage prevention or flood control because it supplies
				  sediment to coastal beaches, coastal dunes or barrier beaches, the ability of
				  the coastal bank to erode in response to wave action is critical to the
				  protection of that interest(s).
When the issuing authority determines that a coastal bank is
				  significant to storm damage prevention or flood control because it is a
				  vertical buffer to storm waters, the stability of the bank, i.e., the natural
				  resistance of the bank to erosion caused by wind and rain runoff, is critical
				  to the protection of that interest(s).
(2)
Definition
.
Coastal Bank
means the seaward face
				  or side of any elevated landform, other than a coastal dune, which lies at the
				  landward edge of a coastal beach, land subject to tidal action, or other
				  wetland.
WHEN A COASTAL BANK IS DETERMINED TO BE SIGNIFICANT TO STORM
				  DAMAGE PREVENTION OR FLOOD CONTROL BECAUSE IT SUPPLIES SEDIMENT TO COASTAL
				  BEACHES, COASTAL DUNES OR BARRIER BEACHES, 310 CMR 10.30(3) THROUGH (5) SHALL
				  APPLY:
(3) No new bulkhead,
				revetment, seawall, groin or other coastal engineering structure shall be
				permitted on such a coastal bank except that such a coastal engineering
				structure shall be permitted when required to prevent storm damage to buildings
				constructed prior to the effective date of
				310 CMR 10.21
				through
				10.37
				or constructed pursuant to a Notice of Intent filed prior to the effective date
				of
				310 CMR 10.21
				through
				10.37
				(August 10, 1978), including reconstructions of such buildings subsequent to
				the effective date of
				310 CMR 10.21
				through
				10.37,
				provided that the following requirements are met:
(a) a coastal engineering structure or a
				modification thereto shall be designed and constructed so as to minimize, using
				best available measures, adverse effects on adjacent or nearby coastal beaches
				due to changes in wave action, and
(b) the applicant demonstrates that no method
				of protecting the building other than the proposed coastal engineering
				structure is feasible.
(c)
				protective planting designed to reduce erosion may be permitted.