New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
Chapter X - DIVISION OF WATER RESOURCES
Subchapter A - GENERAL
Article 1 - MISCELLANEOUS RULES
Part 660 - Tidal Wetlands-moratorium Permits
Section 660.1 - Definitions

Universal Citation: 6 NY Comp Codes Rules and Regs ยง 660.1

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024

The following terms when used in this Part shall have the following meanings:

(a) Act shall mean the Tidal Wetlands Act (article 25 of the Environmental Conservation Law, as from time to time amended).

(b) Alter shall mean the performing of any activity which directly or indirectly may have a significant adverse effect on the existing condition of any tidal wetland, including but not limited to any form of draining, dredging, excavation and removal, either directly or indirectly, of soil, mud, sand, shells, gravel or other aggregate; any form of dumping, filling or depositing, either directly or indirectly, of any soil, stones, sand, gravel, mud, rubbish or fill of any kind; erection of any structures or construction of any roads, the driving of any pilings or placing of any other obstructions, whether or not changing the ebb and flow of the tide.

(1) Alteration shall have a commensurate meaning.

(2) Ordinary and necessary maintenance and repair of existing structures and areas, including but not limited to docks, piers, wharves, pilings, dolphins and paved areas, shall not constitute an alteration where such activity does not directly or indirectly have a significant adverse effect on the existing condition of such wetland.

(3) The depositing or removal of the natural products of the tidal wetlands in the process of recreational or commercial fishing, shellfishing, aquaculture, hunting or trapping shall not constitute an alteration where otherwise legally permitted.

(c) Adjacent area shall mean any lands immediately adjacent to a tidal wetland which the commissioner may reasonably deem necessary to preserve in order to effectuate the policies and provisions of the act.

(1) Unless the commissioner shall otherwise determine in a particular case, such lands shall extend for a distance of 300 feet in any direction landward from the landward boundary of the tidal wetland or to an elevation of 10 feet above mean sea level, whichever is closer to such boundary. In those areas in which bulkheads or revetments exist at the edge of such wetland, such 300 foot boundary shall be measured from the seaward edge of any such bulkhead or revetment.

(2) Such lands shall extend for such farther distance as the commissioner may determine in a particular case where he finds that one or more activities on the lands in question may directly or indirectly cause an alteration to the existing state of such tidal wetland.

(3) Such lands shall not include such extensive or numerous areas as the commissioner may determine after public hearing to be not necessary to preserve in order to effectuate the policies and provisions of the act.

(4) Pending the determination of the commissioner in a particular case, the most recent, as of the effective date of this Part, topographical maps published by the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, having a scale of 1:24,000 shall be rebuttable presumptive evidence of such 10 foot elevation.

(d) Central tidal wetland permit administrator shall mean any employee of the department who is designated by the commissioner to act in such capacity.

(e) Chief administrative officer shall mean in the case of a city or a village, the mayor thereof, in the case of a town, the supervisor thereof, and, in the case of a county, the county executive, borough president or county legislative body, as the case may be.

(f) Commissioner shall mean the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation or his duly authorized representative.

(g) Department shall mean the Department of Environmental Conservation.

(h) Hardship shall mean a condition unique and peculiar to the particular situation of the petitioner, which tends to impose a serious financial burden on the petitioner. Such condition shall not have been one created as a result of a voluntary act of the petitioner. The fact that an increase or decrease in the value of real property may result from the moratorium shall not be evidence of hardship.

(i) Local tidal wetland permit administrator shall mean an employee of the department designated by the commissioner to act in such capacity within the jurisdiction of a regional office of the department. [FN*]

(j) Moratorium permit shall mean a written permit issued by the commissioner or the central tidal wetland permit administrator allowing the alteration of the state of any tidal wetland or any adjacent area prior to the effective date of the land-use regulations adopted by the commissioner pursuant to the act.

(k) Municipality shall mean a village, town, city, or county.

(l) Parties in interest shall mean:

(1) any person who files a petition pursuant to section 660.3 of this Part, files a notice of appearance and statement pursuant to section 660.4(a)(4) of this Part or is permitted to intervene as a party in interest pursuant to section 660.6(c)(2) of this Part; and

(2) any municipality or municipalities within the boundary of which the tidal wetland or adjacent area which is the subject of a petition for a moratorium permit is located.

(m) Person shall mean any individual, public or private corporation, political subdivision, government agency, department or bureau of the State, bi-State authority, municipality, industry, co-partnership, association, firm, trust, estate or any other legal entity whatsoever.

(n) Petition shall mean a petition for a moratorium permit filed with the local tidal wetland permit administrator pursuant to section 660.3 of this Part.

(o) Tidal wetlands shall mean and include the following:

(1) Those areas which border on or lie beneath tidal waters, such as, but not limited to, banks, bogs, salt marsh, swamps, meadows, flats or other low lands subject to tidal action, including those areas now or formerly connected to tidal waters; provided, however, that areas formerly connected to tidal waters shall not include former tidal wetlands which prior to the effective date of the act have been irreparably lost or despoiled as a result of dredging, dumping, filling, excavating, polluting and like activities and are no longer in their natural state.

(2) All banks, bogs, meadows, flats and tidal marsh subject to such tides, and upon which grow or may grow some or any of the following: salt hay (Spartina patens and Distichlis spicata), black grass (Juncus Gerardi), saltworts (Salicornia ssp.), sea lavender (Limonium carolinianum), tall cordgrass (Spartina pectinata and Spartina cynosuroides), hightide bush (Iva frutescens), Cattails (Typha angustifolia and Typha latifolia), groundsel (Baccharis Halmilifolia), marsh mallow (Hybiscus palustris); and

(3) The intertidal zone including low marsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora).

[FN*] Region I--Building 40, State University of N.Y., Stony Brook, N.Y. 11790 (516) 751-7900 (Nassau, Suffolk) * Region II--World Trade Center, New York, N.Y. 10047 (212) 488-2755 (New York City) * Region III--21 So. Putt Corners Rd., New Paltz, N.Y. 12561 (914) 255-5453 (Rockland, Westchester)

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