310 Mass. Reg. 10.30

Current through Register 1523, June 7, 2024

Section 10.30 - Coastal Banks

(1)Preamble. Coastal banks are likely to be significant to storm damage prevention and flood control. Coastal banks that supply sediment to coastal beaches, coastal dunes and barrier beaches are per se significant to storm damage prevention and flood control. Coastal banks that, because of their height, provide a buffer to upland areas from storm waters are significant to storm damage prevention and flood control.

Coastal banks composed of unconsolidated sediment and exposed to vigorous wave action serve as a major continuous source of sediment for beaches, dunes, and barrier beaches (as well as other land forms caused by coastal processes). The supply of sediment is removed from banks by wave action, and this removal takes place in response to beach and sea conditions. It is a naturally occurring process necessary to the continued existence of coastal beaches, coastal dunes and barrier beaches which, in turn, dissipate storm wave energy, thus protecting structures of coastal wetlands landward of them from storm damage and flooding.

Coastal banks, because of their height and stability, may act as a buffer or natural wall, which protects upland areas from storm damage and flooding. While erosion caused by wave action is an integral part of shoreline processes and furnishes important sediment to downdrift landforms, erosion of a coastal bank by wind and rain runoff, which plays only a minor role in beach nourishment, should not be increased unnecessarily. Therefore, disturbances to a coastal bank which reduce its natural resistance to wind and rain erosion cause cuts and gullys in the bank, increase the risk of its collapse, increase the danger to structures at the top of the bank and decrease its value as a buffer.

Bank vegetation tends to stabilize the bank and reduce the rate of erosion due to wind and rain runoff. Pedestrian and vehicular traffic damages the protective vegetation and frequently leads to gully erosion or deep "blowouts" on unconsolidated banks. Therefore, any project permitted by 310 CMR 10.30 should incorporate, when appropriate, elevated walkways.

A particular coastal bank may serve both as a sediment source and as a buffer, or it may serve only one role.

When a proposed project involves dredging, removing, filling, or altering a coastal bank, the issuing authority shall presume that the area is significant to storm damage prevention and flood control. This presumption may be overcome only upon a clear showing that a coastal bank does not play a role in storm damage prevention or flood control, and if the issuing authority makes a written determination to that effect.

When issuing authority determines that a coastal bank is significant to storm damage prevention or flood control because it supplies sediment to coastal beaches, coastal dunes or barrier beaches, the ability of the coastal bank to erode in response to wave action is critical to the protection of that interest(s).

When the issuing authority determines that a coastal bank is significant to storm damage prevention or flood control because it is a vertical buffer to storm waters, the stability of the bank, i.e., the natural resistance of the bank to erosion caused by wind and rain runoff, is critical to the protection of that interest(s).

(2)Definition.

Coastal Bank means the seaward face or side of any elevated landform, other than a coastal dune, which lies at the landward edge of a coastal beach, land subject to tidal action, or other wetland.

WHEN A COASTAL BANK IS DETERMINED TO BE SIGNIFICANT TO STORM DAMAGE PREVENTION OR FLOOD CONTROL BECAUSE IT SUPPLIES SEDIMENT TO COASTAL BEACHES, COASTAL DUNES OR BARRIER BEACHES, 310 CMR 10.30(3) THROUGH (5) SHALL APPLY:

(3) No new bulkhead, revetment, seawall, groin or other coastal engineering structure shall be permitted on such a coastal bank except that such a coastal engineering structure shall be permitted when required to prevent storm damage to buildings constructed prior to the effective date of 310 CMR 10.21 through 10.37 or constructed pursuant to a Notice of Intent filed prior to the effective date of 310 CMR 10.21 through 10.37 (August 10, 1978), including reconstructions of such buildings subsequent to the effective date of 310 CMR 10.21 through 10.37, provided that the following requirements are met:

(a) a coastal engineering structure or a modification thereto shall be designed and constructed so as to minimize, using best available measures, adverse effects on adjacent or nearby coastal beaches due to changes in wave action, and

(b) the applicant demonstrates that no method of protecting the building other than the proposed coastal engineering structure is feasible.

(c) protective planting designed to reduce erosion may be permitted.

(4) Any project on a coastal bank or within 100 feet landward of the top of a coastal bank, other than a structure permitted by 310 CMR 10.30(3), shall not have an adverse effect due to wave action on the movement of sediment from the coastal bank to coastal beaches or land subject to tidal action.

(5) The Order of Conditions and the Certificate of Compliance for any new building within 100 feet landward of the top of a coastal bank permitted by the issuing authority under M.G.L. c. 131, § 40 shall contain the specific condition: 310 CMR 10.30(3), promulgated under M.G.L. c. 131, § 40, requires that no coastal engineering structure, such as a bulkhead, revetment, or seawall shall be permitted on an eroding bank at any time in the future to protect the project allowed by this Order of Conditions.

WHEN A COASTAL BANK IS DETERMINED TO BE SIGNIFICANT TO STORM DAMAGE PREVENTION OR FLOOD CONTROL BECAUSE IT IS A VERTICAL BUFFER TO STORM WATERS, 310 CMR 10.30(6) THROUGH (8) SHALL APPLY:

(6) Any project on such a coastal bank or within 100 feet landward of the top of such coastal bank shall have no adverse effects on the stability of the coastal bank.

(7) Bulkheads, revetments, seawalls, groins or other coastal engineering structures may be permitted on such a coastal bank except when such bank is significant to storm damage prevention or flood control because it supplies sediment to coastal beaches, coastal dunes, and barrier beaches.

(8) Notwithstanding the provisions of 310 CMR 10.30(3) through (7), no project may be permitted which will have any adverse effect on specified habitat sites of rare vertebrate or invertebrate species, as identified by procedures established under 310 CMR 10.37.

310 CMR 10.30

Amended by Mass Register Issue 1272, eff. 10/24/2014.