Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Title 310 CMR 10.00 - Wetlands Protection › Additional Regulations for Coastal Wetlands › Section 10.23 - Additional Definitions for 310 CMR 10.21 through 10.37

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
The definitions contained in 310 CMR 10.23 apply to and are
				  valid for
				  310 CMR 10.21
				  through
				  10.37.
				  The following definitions are for terms used throughout
				  310 CMR 10.21
				  through
				  10.37.
				  Other terms that are used only in specific sections of
				  310 CMR 10.21
				  through
				  10.37
				  are defined in those sections.
Act
means the Wetlands Protection
				  Act, M.G.L. c. 131, § 40.
Adverse Effect
means a greater than
				  negligible change in the resource area or one of its characteristics or factors
				  that diminishes the value of the resource area to one or more of the specific
				  interests of M.G.L. c. 131, § 40, as determined by the issuing
				  authority.
Negligible
means small enough to be
				  disregarded.
Applicant
means any person giving
				  notice of intention to remove, fill, dredge or alter under M.G.L. c. 131,
				  § 40.
Area of Critical Environmental
				  Concern
(ACEC) means an area which has been so designated by the
				  Secretary in accordance with
				  301 CMR 12.00: Areas of
				  Critical Environmental Concern. The term
Area for Preservation or
				  Restoration
(APR) shall be synonymous with ACEC, as provided in
				  the CZM Regulations.
Building
means any residential,
				  commercial, industrial, recreational or other similar structure. For the
				  purposes of
				  310 CMR
				  10.00, building may be interpreted to include a large,
				  substantial structure such as a utility tower.
Coastal Engineering Structure
means,
				  but is not limited to, any breakwater, bulkhead, groin, jetty, revetment,
				  seawall, weir, riprap or any other structure that is designed to alter wave,
				  tidal or sediment transport processes in order to protect inland or upland
				  structures from the effects of such processes.
Coastal Zone
means that area defined
				  in
				  301 CMR 20.02:
				  Definitions.
DMF
means the Division of Marine
				  Fisheries.
Grain Size
means a measure of the
				  size of a material or rock particle that makes up sediment.
Improvement Dredging
means any
				  dredging under a license in an area which has not previously been dredged or
				  which extends the original dredged width, depth, length or otherwise alters the
				  original boundaries of a previously dredged area.
Interests of the Act
means the
				  following eight interests specified in M.G.L. c. 131, § 40: public or
				  private water supply, ground water supply, flood control, storm damage
				  prevention, prevention of pollution, protection of land containing shellfish
				  and protection of fisheries and wildlife habitat.
Issuing Authority
means either a
				  conservation commission or the Department, as appropriate.
Littoral Processes
means the
				  movement of sediment, including gravel, sand or cobbles, along the coast caused
				  by waves or currents.
Maintenance Dredging
means dredging
				  under a license in any previously dredged area which does not extend the
				  originally-dredged depth, width, or length but does not mean improvement
				  dredging or backfilling.
Marine Fisheries
means any animal
				  life inhabiting the ocean or its adjacent tidal waters or the land thereunder
				  that is utilized by man in a recreational and/or commercial manner or that is
				  part of the food chain for such animal life.
Mean High Water Line
means the line
				  where the arithmetic mean of the high water heights observed over a specific
				  19-year metonic cycle (the National Tidal Datum Epoch) meets the shore and
				  shall be determined using hydrographic survey data of the National Ocean Survey
				  of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Mean Low Water Line
means the line
				  where the arithmetic mean of the low water heights observed over a specific
				  19-year metonic cycle (the National Tidal Datum Epoch) meets the shore and
				  shall be determined using hydrographic survey data of the National Ocean Survey
				  of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Minimize
means to achieve the least
				  amount of adverse effect that can be attained using best available measures or
				  best practical measures, whichever is referred to in the pertinent section.
				  "Best available measures" means the most up-to-date technology or the best
				  designs, measures or engineering practices that have been developed and that
				  are commercially available. "Best Practical Measures" means technologies,
				  designs, measures or engineering practices that are in general use to protect
				  similar interests.
NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
				  System) Permit
means the permit issued jointly by the federal and
				  state governments, in accordance with
				  33 U.S.C.
				  1342 and M.G.L. c. 21, § 43, regulating
				  liquid discharges from a point source.
Productivity
means the rate of
				  biomass production over a period of time.
Resource Area
means any coastal
				  bank; coastal wetland; coastal beach; coastal dune; tidal flat; or any land
				  under the ocean or under an estuary or under a salt pond; land subject to tidal
				  action or coastal 100 year storm flowage; or land under certain streams, ponds,
				  rivers, lakes, or creeks within the coastal zone that are
				  anadromous/catadromous fish runs.
Secretary
means the Secretary of
				  Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Significant
. A resource area shall
				  be found to be significant to an interest of M.G.L. c. 131, § 40 when such
				  resource area plays a role in the provision or protection, as appropriate, of
				  public or private water supply, ground water supply, flood control, storm
				  damage prevention, prevention of pollution, land containing shellfish,
				  fisheries, and/or wildlife habitat.
Turbidity
means the amount of
				  particulate matter suspended in water.
Water Circulation
means the pattern
				  of water movement in coastal waters.