Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Title 310 CMR 12.00 - Adopting Coastal Wetlands Orders › Section 12.02 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
Act
means M.G.L. c. 130, §
				105.
Altering
means causing change,
				directly or indirectly within any coastal wetland and includes, but is not
				limited to, one or more of the following actions:
(a) changing pre-existing drainage characteristics, flushing
				characteristics, salinity distribution, sedimentation patterns, flow patterns
				and flood storage retention areas;
(b) draining or otherwise disturbing surface or groundwater
				levels;
(c) degrading water quality;
(d) driving pilings or erecting buildings or structures of any
				kind;
(e) placing any obstruction to water flow;
(f) destroying plant life, including the cutting of
				trees;
(g) discharging, releasing, or causing to be released, any
				contaminating materials, including sediments, from any source into a coastal
				wetland whether by overland flow or through a new or existing pipe or other
				conduit;
(h) causing adverse effects to wildlife, shellfish or other
				marine fisheries, or to their habitat;
(i) lowering, polluting, or otherwise changing the level,
				quantity, or quality of ground water by doing any work in a coastal wetland.
Amendment
means any change in the
				allowed or prohibited activities or uses contained in any Order adopted
				underthe Act; any addition to or deletion of, including any change in the
				definition of, the types of coastal wetlands defined in any Order; any addition
				to or deletion of any wetland areas; or any addition to any list of assessed
				owners adopted as part of the Order. An amendment shall not include a
				correction as defined in 310 CMR 12.02
Correction
.
Assessed owner
means the person to
				whom land within a coastal wetland affected by an Order was assessed in the
				last preceding annual tax levy.
Bank
means the seaward face or side of
				any elevated landform which lies at the landward edge of a coastal beach, land
				subject to tidal action or coastal storm flowage, or any other coastal
				wetland.
Contiguous land
means any area
				landward of and adjacent to any coastal wetland or low land subject to tidal
				action or coastal storm flowage, which the Commissioner deems necessary to
				include in any Order to protect any interest of M.G.L. c. 130, §
				105.
Coastal wetland
means any bank, marsh,
				swamp, meadow, flat or other low land subject to tidal action or coastal storm
				flowage and such contiguous land as the Commissioner deems necessary to include
				in any Order pursuant to M.G.L. c. 130, § 105.
Commissioner
means the Commissioner of
				the Department of Environmental Protection.
Correction
means any minor change in
				the location of the wetland boundary line on a plan, for the purpose of
				describing the correct wetland boundary, the substitution or deletion of any
				name or names from the list of assessed owners adopted as part of any order as
				long as this does not include the deletion of any wetland area, or
				anytypographical, grammatical or other change which does not alter the sense or
				meaning of any Order.
Department
means the Department of
				Environmental Protection.
Dredging
means the removal of
				materials including, but not limited to, rocks, bottom sediments, debris, sand,
				refuse, plant or animal matter, in any excavating, grading, cleaning,
				deepening, widening or lengthening, either permanently or temporarily, of any
				coastal wetland. Dredging shall include improvement dredging and backfilling or
				other dredging and subsequent refilling.
Filling
means the placing of any
				material that raises, either temporarily or permanently, the existing elevation
				of any coastal wetland.
Flat
means any nearly level area which
				typically extends from the mean low water line landward to the more steeply
				sloping seaward face ofthe coastalmarshor other landform or which may be
				separated from the coastal marsh or other landform by tidal waters.
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 boundaries of a previously dredged area.
Land affected by an Order
means any
				land that is subject to any restriction under an Order.
Low land subject to tidal action or coastal storm
				flowage
means any land between mean low water or any other seaward
				boundary of theCommonwealth, and the landward boundary of the 100 year flood,
				as determined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to
				the National Flood Insurance Program or by any other scientifically reliable
				determination. Such areas shall include, but not be limited to, land under salt
				ponds, land containing shellfish, rocky intertidal shores, coastal beaches,
				barrier beaches, coastal dunes, banks, marshes and flats.
Maintenance Dredging
means dredging
				under a license in any previously dredged area which does not extend the
				originally dredged width, depth, or length, but does not mean improvement
				dredging or backfilling.
Marsh
means a salt marsh or coastal
				wetland that extends landward up to the highest tide line, that is, the highest
				spring tide of the year, and is characterized by plants that are well adapted
				to or prefer living in saline soils. Dominant plants within salt marshes are
				salt meadow cord grass (
Spartina patens
) and/or salt marsh
				cord grass (
Spartina alterniflora
). A salt marsh may contain
				tidal creeks, ditches, and pools.
Meadow
means any marsh as defined in
				310 CMR 12.02
Marsh
.
Mean low water line
means the
				arithmetic mean of the low water heights observed over a specific 19-year
				Metonic cycle (the National Tidal Datum Epoch) and shall be determined using
				the nautical charts, harbor charts series (1:50,000 and larger), prepared by
				the National Ocean Survey, U.S. Department of Commerce. For those coastalareas
				not covered bysuchpublished harbor charts, the mean low water line shall be
				determined using hydrographic survey data obtainable fromthe National Ocean
				Survey.
Modification
means any amendment as
				defined in 310 CMR 12.02
Amendment
.
Order
means any instrument issued by
				the Commissioner that imposes restrictions on any coastal wetland in accordance
				with M.G.L. c. 130, § 105.
Person
means any individual, group of
				individuals, association, partnership, corporation, company, business
				organization, trust, estate, the Commonwealth or political subdivision thereof,
				any administrative agency, public or quasi-public corporationor body, or any
				other legal entity or its legal representative, agents or assigns.
Person having an interest
means any
				assessed owner or any holder of record of aneasement, covenant, restriction or
				any other property interest or any other holder of any such property interest
				known to the Commissioner.
Plan
means a map made by surveying
				techniques, a line and symbol photogrammetric map or an orthophoto map, which
				meets National Map Accuracy Standards, upon which coastal wetlands are
				delineated.
Polluting
means, but is not limited
				to, the discharge, release or flow of any product, by-product, material or
				waste resulting from sewage, sewage processing, or from any agricultural,
				industrial, commercial, or other man-made process, any man-made thermal
				discharge, run-off, leachate, or any other substance in any form, which is or
				can be drained, discharged or infiltrated, or otherwise introduced into any
				coastal wetland.
Removing
means to take away any type
				of material that alters the elevation of any coastal wetland.
Repea
l means the rescinding of any
				Order, including the plan or plans and list of assessed owners incorporated
				with the Order.
Restriction
means any provision in any
				Order limiting activities or uses in or on coastal wetlands. A restriction
				shall be unlimited in time unless repealed.
Shellfish
means, but is not limited
				to, the following species: Bay scallop (
Argopecten irradians
);
				Blue Mussel (
Mytilus edulis
); Ocean Quahaug (
Arctica
				islandica
); Oyster (
Crassostrea virginica
); Quahaug
				(
Mercenaria mercenaria
); Razor Clam (
Ensis
				directus
); Sea Clam (
Spisula solidissima
); Sea
				Scallop (
Placopecten magellanicus
); and Soft Shell Clam
				(
Mya arenaria
).
Swamp
means any marsh as defined in
				310 CMR 12.00.
Wetland area
means any coastal wetland
				delineated by a continuous boundary line which encloses that wetland, or any
				coastal wetland for which the aquatic or seaward boundary is mean low water,
				and which may include lands held by more than one assessed
				owner.