New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 7 - COASTAL PERMIT PROGRAM RULES › Subchapter 10 - STANDARDS FOR BEACH AND DUNE ACTIVITIES › Section 7:7-10.2 - Standards applicable to routine beach maintenance

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) Routine
				beach maintenance includes debris removal and clean-up; mechanical sifting and
				raking; maintenance of accessways; removal of sand accumulated beneath a
				boardwalk; removal of sand from street ends, boardwalks/promenades, and
				residential properties; the repair or reconstruction of existing boardwalks,
				gazebos, and dune walkover structures; and limited sand transfers from the
				lower beach to the upper beach or alongshore (shore parallel). Sand transfers
				from the lower beach profile to the upper beach profile are specifically
				designed to restore berm width and elevation, to establish/enhance dunes, and
				to repair dune scarps. Activities which preclude the development of a stable
				dune along the back beach are not considered to be routine beach maintenance
				activities, pursuant to this section. Specifically, the bulldozing of sand from
				the upper beach (berm) to the lower beach (beach face), for the purpose of
				increasing the berm width or flattening the beach profile, is not considered to
				be routine maintenance, except as provided at (a)9 below.
1. All routine beach maintenance activities
				shall be conducted in a manner that does not destroy, jeopardize, or adversely
				modify endangered or threatened wildlife or plant species habitat; and shall
				not jeopardize the continued existence of any local population of an endangered
				or threatened wildlife or plant species.
2. If the activities in (a) above are
				proposed to be conducted by a municipal or county agency on property owned by
				that governing body, then the municipal or county engineer must certify that
				the activities will be conducted in accordance with these standards. The
				appropriate municipal or county engineer is responsible for ensuring compliance
				with these requirements. If these activities are proposed to be conducted on
				privately owned property, then the property owner is responsible for ensuring
				that the activities will be conducted in accordance with these standards. If
				these activities are proposed to be conducted on State owned properties, then
				the DEP, Bureau of Construction and Engineering must certify that the
				activities will be conducted in accordance with these standards.
3. All guidelines and specifications of this
				section must be incorporated into any contract documents or work orders related
				to proposed beach and dune activities, as described in this section. The
				Division of Land Use Regulation is available to assist in the development of
				specific maintenance plans for oceanfront locations, upon request.
4. In areas documented by the Department as
				habitat for threatened or endangered beach nesting shorebirds such as Piping
				Plovers (
Charadrius melodus
), Least Terns (
Sternula
				antillarum
), and Black Skimmers (
Rynchops niger
), no
				beach raking, other mechanical manipulation of the beach, or use of
				non-emergency vehicles, shall take place between March 15 and August 31.
i. The Department's Division of Fish and
				Wildlife shall develop a list of specific areas where this restriction shall
				apply, based on documented habitat during the most recent nesting seasons. The
				list of restricted areas shall be updated annually by the Division of Fish and
				Wildlife, at the end of each nesting season and will be available from the
				Division of Land Use Regulation at the address set forth at
				7:7-1.6. The updated list shall be
				provided by the Department to each permittee prior to March 1 of each
				year.
ii. If a particular beach
				area is identified on the updated list as described in (a)4i above as habitat
				for threatened or endangered beach nesting shorebirds, regardless of the
				habitat classification of the previous nesting season, no beach raking, other
				mechanical manipulation of the beach, or the use of non-emergency vehicles
				shall take place between March 15 and August 31 in those areas.
iii. If a particular beach area is not
				identified on the updated list as described in (a)4i above, but is subsequently
				found to contain a nest or unflighted chick of a threatened or endangered beach
				nesting shorebird, the Department shall notify the permittee and no beach
				raking, other mechanical manipulation of the beach, or use of non-emergency
				vehicles shall take place between March 15 and August 31 in those
				areas.
iv. The restrictions
				contained in (a)4 above may be waived if the Department's Division of Fish and
				Wildlife determines that the identified areas do not represent suitable
				threatened or endangered beach nesting shorebird habitat, due to beach erosion
				or other causes. Requests for such a waiver shall be made in writing to the
				Division of Land Use Regulation at the address set forth at
				7:7-1.6.
5. In areas documented by the Department as
				supporting known occurrences of Federally listed endangered or threatened plant
				species such as seabeach amaranth (
Amaranthus pumilus
), or
				known occurrences of State listed endangered plant species, such as sea-beach
				knotweed (
Polygonum glaucum
), no beach raking, other
				mechanical manipulation of the beach, or use of non-emergency vehicles, shall
				take place between May 15 and November 30.
i.
				The Department, in cooperation with the USFWS, shall develop a list of present
				and documented habitat areas where this restriction shall apply based on
				occurrence locations during the previous seasons. The list of restricted areas
				shall be updated annually and will be available from the Division of Land Use
				Regulation at the address set forth at
				7:7-1.6. The updated list shall be
				provided by the Department to each permittee prior to May 1 of each
				year.
ii. If a particular beach
				area is not identified on the updated list as described in (a)5i above, but is
				subsequently found to contain an occurrence of a Federally listed endangered or
				threatened plant species, or a State listed endangered plant species, the
				Department shall notify the permittee and no beach raking, other mechanical
				manipulation of the beach, or use of non-emergency vehicles shall take place
				between May 15 and November 30 in those areas.
iii. The restrictions contained in (a)5 above
				may be waived if the Department determines that the identified areas do not
				support occurrences of Federally listed endangered or threatened plant species,
				or occurrences of State listed endangered plant species. Requests for such a
				waiver shall be made in writing to the Division of Land Use Regulation at the
				address set forth at
				7:7-1.6.
6. Mechanical sifting and beach raking shall
				be limited to recreational beach areas only. For the purposes of this
				subsection, "recreational beach area" means all areas within 100 yards of a
				staffed lifeguard stand.
7. The
				excavation of sand accumulated beneath a boardwalk is conditionally acceptable
				provided:
i. The elevation of the area after
				the excavation is completed is not lower than either the upper beach berm
				design template for an engineered beach, or, for a non-engineered beach, the
				elevation of the existing beach berm;
ii. The excavated sand is relocated to the
				seaward toe of the existing dune, if present, or on the upper beach
				berm;
iii. Where breaching of an
				existing dune is necessary to allow for sand excavation, the following apply:
(1) The area of the dune breached shall be
				minimized; and
(2) The dune shall
				be restored to pre-existing conditions immediately upon excavation of the sand;
				and
iv. Where sand is
				removed from the landward dune slope, the slope must be:
(1) Restored to the preexisting conditions
				and in no case be steeper than three horizontal to one vertical; and
(2) Revegetated in accordance with
				7:7-10.4(b) and
				(c).
8. Any sand excavated from boardwalks, street
				ends, and single-family lots shall be placed on the seaward toe of the existing
				dune, if present, or on the upper beach berm.
9. Placement of temporary sand fencing during
				the winter months, which results in the accumulation of sand that is later
				redistributed on the beach berm, is conditionally acceptable, provided:
i. The sand fencing is:
(1) Placed a minimum of 15 feet waterward of
				the seaward toe of any existing dune or, if no dune is present, from the
				waterward side of any structure;
(2) Installed no earlier than October 15 and
				removed prior to the Memorial Day weekend, unless threatened and endangered
				species timing restrictions apply;
(3) Installed in a manner that does not
				prevent public access along the tidal water and does not restrict public access
				to the beach from existing public access points; and
ii. The accumulated sand that is
				redistributed:
(1) Is placed on the
				beach;
(2) Does not result in the
				grading of the beach below the beach berm design template for an engineered
				beach or, for a non-engineered beach, below the elevation of the beach berm
				elevation existing prior to the redistribution; and
(3) Where feasible, does not result in the
				grading of the beach face to a slope steeper than 10 horizontal to one
				vertical.