|
On May 1, 2025, the Board of Environmental Protection voted to adopt revisions to the Department’s Chapter 305, Natural Resources Protection Act – Permit by Rule Standards, and Chapter 310, Wetlands and Waterbodies Protection rules. The new rules took effect on June 17, 2025.
The Department will host a webinar on July 1, 2025, starting at 10 AM, to review the rule changes with interested parties. To register for the webinar, please click on this link.
Changes to Chapter 305 include:
- NRPA PBR applicants are no longer required to provide public notice to all property owners within 1,000 feet (but still must provide notice to immediate abutters and the municipal office).
- The NRPA PBR processing period has been extended from 14 days to 20 working days.
- Coastal wetlands are now delineated by the highest astronomical tide (rather than the highest annual tide).
- New activities are allowed through PBR to enhance climate resilience, including:
- Biodegradable stabilization materials may be used for shoreline stabilization under Section 8 and coastal sand dune restoration under Section 16-A.
- Riprap may be used for coastal shoreline stabilization to protect existing structures and public spaces, when meeting certain eligibility criteria and standards (including that the project cannot exceed 125 linear feet, cannot be higher than one foot above base flood elevation, and cannot exceed 400 sq. ft. below the high-tide line).
- Existing seawalls that are not located in coastal sand dune systems may be increased in height, up to one foot above base flood elevation, under a new Section 8-A.
- Beach scraping may be used for coastal sand dune restoration under Section 16-A.
- Piers and wharves located in coastal wetlands (except sand dunes) may be elevated in height if being replaced under Section 4, and principal and accessory structures located in or partly in most waterbodies may also be elevated in height if being replaced under this section.
Changes to Chapter 310 include:
- Placement of riprap or other structural shoreline stabilization measures is limited to a defined set of purposes, including public safety projects; protection of water-dependent structures, septic systems, farmland, or open spaces serving the public; or protection of dwellings, buildings, and other non-water dependent structures that are within 100 feet of the upland edge of an eroding bank or that are at risk of a landslide.
- If the project is not for one of the above purposes, riprap may still be placed at the toe of the slope to prevent undercutting of the bank, up to three feet high (and may be used in conjunction with biodegradable materials and vegetation), as long as the area is not a coastal bluff that is a significant source of sediment to the coastal wetland.
- An alternatives analysis is required to show that biodegradable materials and/or vegetation cannot practicably stabilize the shoreline. There is a rebuttable presumption that biodegradable materials and/or vegetation can practicably stabilize shorelines in environments with little or no wave/current/ice energy and on stable coastal bluffs.
Together, the rule revisions will:
- Allow new activities through permit-by-rule (PBR) to enhance climate resilience;
- Place limits on the use of hardened shoreline stabilization structures to ensure project impacts are reasonable and to address the cumulative impacts of such structures along the shoreline; and
- Encourage nature-based shoreline stabilization methods using vegetation and biodegradable stabilization materials.
The updated DEP rule language can be seen on the Maine Secretary of State's website at Department of Environmental Protection Rules | SOS.
|
