Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia
Department 391 - RULES OF GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Chapter 391-2 - COASTAL RESOURCES
Subject 391-2-3 - COASTAL MARSHLANDS PROTECTION
Rule 391-2-3-.02 - Regulation of Upland Component of a Project
Universal Citation: GA Rules and Regs r 391-2-3-.02
Current through Rules and Regulations filed through December 18, 2024
(1) Findings and Purpose.
(a) Findings. In promulgating this Rule, the
Board declares the following:
1. Georgia's
coastal marshlands have long been recognized by the General Assembly and the
Board as a vital natural resource system, a vital area of the state, and
essential to maintain the health, safety, and welfare of all the citizens of
the State.
2. The Coastal
Marshlands Protection Act (CMPA) provides a grant of authority to the Board of
Natural Resources and Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee to regulate
certain activities that affect or have the potential to affect the coastal
marshlands of the state, to ensure the values and functions of the coastal
marshlands are not impaired and to protect the public interest.
3. Stormwater management measures, impervious
surface coverage standards, and marshlands buffer design and maintenance
measures as applied to projects which are subject to permitting under the
Coastal Marshlands Protection Act are warranted so as to protect this vital
area and to protect the public interest.
(b) Purpose. The purpose of these Rules is to
implement the authority of the Board of Natural Resources to promulgate rules
and regulations for permitting under and enforcement of the Coastal Marshlands
Protection Act. This Chapter establishes procedures and criteria to be applied
by the Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee when reviewing applications for
a permit to remove, fill, dredge, drain, or otherwise alter any marshlands or
construct or locate any structure on or over marshlands within the estuarine
area of the state.
(2) Definitions used in this Rule.
(a) "Applicant" means any person who files a
permit application under the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act.
(b) "Coastal marshlands" or "marshlands"
means any marshland intertidal area, mud flat, tidal water bottom, or salt
marsh in the State of Georgia within the estuarine area of the state, whether
or not the tidewaters reach the littoral areas through natural or artificial
watercourses. "Vegetated marshlands" shall include those areas upon which grow
one, but not necessarily all, of the following: salt marsh grass
(Spartina alterniflora), black needlerush (Juncus
roemerianus), saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens),
big cordgrass (Spartina cynosuroides), saltgrass
(Distichlis spicata), coast dropseed (Sporobolus
virginicus), bigelow glasswort (Salicornia
bigelovii), woody glasswort (Salicornia virginica),
saltwort (Batis maritima), sea lavender (Limonium
nashii), sea oxeye (Borrichia frutescens), silverling
(Baccharis halimifolia), false willow (Baccharis
angustifolia), and high-tide bush (Iva frutescens).
The occurrence and extent of salt marsh peat at the undisturbed surface shall
be deemed to be conclusive evidence of the extent of a salt marsh or a part
thereof.
(c) "Committee" means the
Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee.
(d) "Effective impervious cover" is the
percentage derived when total impervious area is adjusted to reflect the fact
that a site design results in the actual impervious surface characteristics of
a site with a lower total impervious area, supported by scientific and
engineering studies and findings.
(e) "Estuarine area" means all tidally
influenced waters, marshes, and marshlands lying within a tide-elevation range
from 5.6 feet above mean tide level and below.
(f) "Greenspace" means vegetative upland or
wetland that remains in its natural state or has been developed only to the
extent consistent with natural ecological systems protection.
(g) "Impervious surface" means any surface
such as pavement, roofs, roadways or other surface material through which water
does not permeate.
(h) "Marshlands
buffer" means a zone or strip of land of a specified width along the riparian
border of the project that serves as a protective setback.
(i) "Marshlands component of the project"
means the part of the project in an estuarine area or any structure on or over
an estuarine area, including but not limited to marinas, community docks,
bridges, piers, and bulkheads, requiring a permit under the Coastal Marshlands
Protection Act pursuant to O.C.G.A. Section
12-5-286.
(j) "Nonstructural Stormwater Management
Practice" means any naturally occurring or planted vegetation or other pervious
component of a stormwater management plan that provides for, or enhances,
stormwater quality and/or reduces stormwater quantity or provides other
stormwater management benefits.
(k)
"Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, municipal corporation,
county, association, or public or private authority, and shall include the
State of Georgia, its political subdivisions, and all its departments, boards,
bureaus, commissions, or other agencies, unless otherwise specifically exempted
by the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act.
(l) "Project" means the proposed construction
or maintenance activity identified in an application for a marshlands permit
within the contemplation of the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act. A project
may consist of two components: a marshlands component and an upland component,
as defined herein.
(m) "Stormwater
Treatment" means a process of remediation, reduction and/or elimination of the
undesirable characteristics of runoff including, but not limited to, peak
runoff rate, velocity, volume, and quantity of solids and pollutants.
(n) "Total Impervious Area" means all
impervious surface in a specified area as calculated as a percent of the total
area.
(o) "Untreated Stormwater"
means runoff that is discharged without previously being managed by one or a
combination of techniques that remediate, reduce and/or eliminate undesirable
characteristics of the runoff.
(p)
"Upland" means lands that are neither coastal marshlands nor
wetlands.
(q) "Upland component of
the project" is all those service areas, amenities, and recreational areas
associated with marinas, community docks, commercial docks, fishing piers, boat
ramps and bridges located inland of the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act
jurisdiction line, that serve or augment the functioning of the marshlands
component of the project, such as, but not limited to, dry stack boat storage;
dockmaster shop; fuel storage and delivery facilities to serve the marshlands
component of the project; and restrooms intended for users of the marshlands
component of the project. This term may extend to and cover such facilities
adjacent to or in proximity to the marshlands component of the project that are
intended to serve exclusively or primarily the users of the marshlands
component of the project if the Committee finds in its sole discretion that
such facility is likely to alter the marshlands.
(r) "Wetlands" means areas that are inundated
or saturated by surface or ground water often and long enough to support and
under normal circumstances do support a prevalence of vegetation typically
adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, such as swamps, marshes, bogs,
and floodplains.
(3) Procedure for Determining Project Boundaries. The applicant shall delineate the boundaries of the proposed project. Such boundaries shall be subject to review and validation by the staff of the Department of Natural Resources to ensure that the entire project is delineated. Such boundaries shall be included in the application proposed for consideration by the Committee. In this regard, the applicant shall submit documentation identifying all areas that are planned to be used in connection with the project which is delineated, to allow the Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee to verify the extent of the project.
(4) Marshlands Buffers for Upland Component of the Project.
(a) There is established a 50-foot marshlands
buffer applicable to the upland component of the project as measured
horizontally inland from the coastal marshland-upland interface, which is the
Coastal Marshlands Protection Act jurisdiction line, so as to ensure the
project does not result in the filling or other alteration of the coastal
marshlands.
(b) The applicant for a
permit under the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act and these rules shall
certify adherence to soil and erosion control responsibilities, which, for
purposes of the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act shall include recognition of
and compliance with the following requirements unless in conflict with a
criterion or exception established by the Environmental Protection Division of
the Department of Natural Resources.
1.
Except as provided in subparagraph 2. of this paragraph and paragraphs (d) and
(g) below, no land-disturbing activities within the project boundaries shall be
conducted within the 50-foot marshlands buffer, and such marshlands buffer
shall remain in its natural, undisturbed state of vegetation, so as to
naturally treat stormwater during both construction and post construction
phases of the upland component of the project.
2. Land disturbance and construction of
structures within the 50-foot marshlands buffer in the upland component of the
project shall be limited to the following:
(i) Construction and maintenance of temporary
structures necessary for construction of the marshlands component of the
project;
(ii) Construction and
maintenance of permanent structures that are required for the functionality of
and/or provide permanent access to the marshlands component of the project;
and
(iii) Planting and grading with
vegetated materials within the marshlands buffer to enhance stormwater
management, such as erosion and sediment control measures, and to allow
pedestrian access for passive recreation.
(c) After such land disturbing activities
associated with (b)2.(i) above are completed, and except as allowed for in
(b)2.(ii) and (iii) above, the marshlands buffer must be restored to and
maintained in a natural vegetated state or in a vegetated state at least as
protective or better than pre-construction conditions, subject to hand trimming
and thinning as authorized in the permit.
(d) Already existing impervious surfaces and
structures within the marshlands buffer area may remain and be maintained,
provided the replacement, modification or upgrade does not increase any
encroachment upon the required marshlands buffer in effect at the time of the
replacement, modification or upgrade.
(e) Marshlands buffers shall be designed,
installed and/or maintained sufficiently such that stormwater discharge to
coastal marshlands from the marshlands buffer is managed according to the
policy, criteria, and information including technical specifications and
standards in the Coastal Stormwater Supplement to the Georgia Stormwater
Management Manual, 1st Edition, April 2009.
(f) Nothing in this Rule shall be construed
to limit the power or authority of the Director of the Environmental Protection
Division.
(g) The Coastal
Marshlands Protection Committee, in its sole discretion, is authorized to grant
a permit that includes an exception to the 50-foot marshlands buffer if the
Committee finds that three conditions are met:
1. Application of the marshlands buffer
requirement will create a substantial hardship on the applicant; and
2. The purpose, function and treatment
capabilities of the marshlands buffer can be or has been achieved by
alternative means, such that the stormwater discharge to coastal marshlands
from the marshlands buffer is managed according to the policy, criteria, and
information including technical specifications and standards in the Coastal
Stormwater Supplement to the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual, 1st Edition,
April 2009, and is protective of water quality; and
3. Consistent with the purpose and reasonable
use of the proposed project, the smallest practicable encroachment into the
marshlands buffer is being utilized;
4. For purposes of this part, substantial
hardship means a significant, site-specific and demonstrable condition exists
that precludes the project from being constructed. The Coastal Marshlands
Protection Committee shall consider the following factors in their evaluation
of whether a substantial hardship exists:
(i)
If the applicant complies with the required marshlands buffer width, the
property cannot practicably be used for the proposed project. Merely proving
that the exception would permit a greater profit from the property shall not be
considered adequate justification for an exception; and
(ii) The substantial hardship results from
application of the marshlands buffer width to the property separately or in
conjunction with other factors such as unrelated deed restrictions, other
state, federal or local government restrictions or ordinances; and
(iii) The substantial hardship is due to the
physical nature of the applicant's property, such as its size, shape, or
topography; and
(iv) The applicant
or predecessor in title did not, by deed, covenant, or other voluntary act
after March 26, 2007, create a situation where the application of the
marshlands buffer would create a substantial hardship on the
applicant.
(5) Stormwater Management Standards for the Upland Component of the Project.
(a) There shall be no discharge of untreated
stormwater from developed or disturbed areas, whether surface or piped, to
coastal marshlands from the upland component of the project. The Committee is
authorized to waive this requirement if the Committee finds that the site or
project characteristics prohibit treatment, there is no practicable
alternative, and it has minimal adverse impact.
(b) In addition to the requirements of
Section (5)(a) above, discharged stormwater from the upland component of the
project shall be managed according to the policy, criteria, and information
including technical specifications and standards in the Coastal Stormwater
Supplement to the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual, 1st Edition, April
2009.
(c) As a component of the
stormwater treatment system, greenspace shall be retained and interconnected
where practicable and appropriate.
(d) The use of non-structural stormwater
management and stormwater better site design practices, such as those listed in
the Coastal Stormwater Supplement to the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual,
1st Edition, April 2009, shall be utilized to the maximum extent
practicable.
(6) Impervious Surface. Pervious surfaces shall be used to the maximum extent practicable, and total impervious area shall be minimized with the goal of achieving no more than 15% effective impervious cover where practicable taking into account existing structures that are part of the project and the available land area that is part of the upland component of the project.
(7) Required Information. The Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee shall establish an application checklist to assist applicants. A copy of the application checklist may be obtained by contacting the Committee at its administrative headquarters: Coastal Resources Division, One Conservation Way, Suite 300, Brunswick, Georgia 31520, 912-264-7218.
O.C.G.A. Title 12, O.C.G.A. § 12-5-285.
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