New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 15 - WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT PLANNING › Subchapter 4 - WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT PLANS › Section 7:15-4.7 - Habitat Impact Assessment

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) Where
				an area is excluded from being eligible for sewer service area in accordance
				with
7:15-4.4
on the basis that
				it is within a habitat Rank 3, 4, or 5 on the Department's Landscape Maps of
				Habitat for Endangered, Threatened and Other Priority Wildlife, or within a
				Natural Heritage Priority Site, an applicant may seek a Habitat Impact
				Assessment from the Department for a proposed project or activity to determine
				if the area may be included within the sewer service area. The Habitat Impact
				Assessment shall consider the likely effects of the proposed development on the
				local populations of the particular wildlife species or on the natural resource
				elements. The impacts shall be assessed using accepted ecological principles
				and scientific literature on each species or natural resource element and both
				direct and indirect impacts of the proposed development shall be considered.
				This assessment shall be based on habitat requirements and life history of each
				species, or natural resource element occurrence, and the manner in which the
				proposed development may alter habitat, including, but not limited to,
				vegetation, soils, substrate, bathymetry, salinity, hydrology, wildlife
				movement corridors, human disturbance, and effects on competitor, parasite, or
				predator species.
(b) The
				information submitted in support of an application for a Habitat Impact
				Assessment in accordance with (d) below shall demonstrate that the proposed
				development will not adversely affect the population(s) or habitat of
				endangered or threatened wildlife species that resulted in identification of
				the site, or an area surrounding the site, as endangered or threatened wildlife
				species habitat, or the natural resource element occurring within the Natural
				Heritage Priority Site.
(c) If a
				project or activity requires a permit from the Department that addresses
				habitat for endangered and threatened wildlife species or natural resource
				elements occurring within a Natural Heritage Priority Site, the applicant may
				submit the permit application, request for Habitat Impact Assessment, and plan
				amendment application concurrently, so that the Department may review a single
				Habitat Impact Assessment for a particular project or activity. A Habitat
				Impact Assessment is based upon conditions and information available at the
				time of the assessment. A Habitat Impact Assessment obtained prior to permit
				application may be subject to review to ensure that conditions and/or
				information have not changed since the issuance of the original assessment.
				Issuance of a favorable Habitat Impact Assessment does not guarantee that other
				Department permits or approvals will be granted.
(d) An application for a Habitat Impact
				Assessment shall be submitted to the Department in accordance with
7:15-1.6
and shall include
				the information required in
				N.J.A.C.
				7:15-4.6(c)  and all the
				information required below, unless the Department advises the applicant in
				writing that any particular item(s) is not required for the area that is the
				subject of the application:
1. An introduction
				describing the goals of the Habitat Impact Assessment;
2. A USGS quad map(s) meeting the standards
				identified at
7:15-1.7
showing the location of the site, with the State plane coordinates of the site.
				The accuracy of these coordinates shall be within 50 feet of the actual center
				point of the site. For linear sites, 2,000 feet in length and longer,
				additional coordinates shall be provided at each 1,000-foot interval;
3. The lot, block, municipality, and county
				in which the site is located;
4.
				For Habitat Impact Assessments for wildlife species, a digital map identifying
				the site, and the areas mapped as endangered or threatened wildlife species
				habitat on the Landscape Maps onsite and surrounding the site, along with a
				list of the endangered or threatened species that resulted in the mapping of
				endangered or threatened species habitat;
5. For Habitat Impact Assessments for natural
				resource elements, a map identifying the location of the natural resource
				element habitat and Natural Heritage Priority Site boundaries on the site or
				surrounding the site along with a list of the potential plant species and other
				natural resource elements from the Department's Natural Heritage
				Database;
6. A description of the
				habitat requirements for each of these wildlife species and natural resource
				elements identified at (d)4 and 5 above, specific to New Jersey/regional
				populations including appropriate literature citations;
7. The names, addresses, and professional
				qualifications of all persons who performed habitat evaluations, species
				surveys, and/or impact assessments; and
8. A narrative, including supporting
				documentation, such as maps and photographs, which contains the following:
i. A description for each wildlife species
				and natural resource element, of how the proposed development will alter
				habitat, including vegetation, soils, hydrology, human disturbance, and effects
				on competitor, parasite, or predator species. The impact assessment shall
				describe the likely effects of the proposed development on the local
				populations of the particular wildlife species or natural resource element on
				or surrounding the site and why the development would not directly or through
				secondary impacts adversely affect each endangered or threatened wildlife
				species habitat or natural resource element; and
ii. Literature citations used to reach the
				conclusions in (d)8i above.