N.J. Admin. Code § 7:15-5.24

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 11, June 3, 2024

Section 7:15-5.24 - Delineation of sewer service areas

(a) Sewer service may only be provided to areas that are not identified as environmentally sensitive areas at (b) below, coastal planning areas listed at (c) below, or special restricted areas at (d) below, except as provided at (e) through (h) below. Nothing in this section shall preclude the wastewater management planning agency from excluding additional areas from sewer service based on local planning objectives, the lack of wastewater treatment capacity or other environmental concerns, including, but not limited to, source water protection.

(b) Environmentally sensitive areas shall be defined based on a composite geographic information systems (GIS) analysis, as any contiguous area of 25 acres or larger consisting of any of the following features alone or in combination:

1. Areas mapped as endangered or threatened wildlife species habitat on the Department's Landscape Maps of Habitat for Endangered, Threatened or Other Priority Species. The data are available as a download at the Department's webpage http://www.nj.gov/dep/gis/listall.html titled "Landscape Project Data";

2. Areas mapped as Natural Heritage Priority Sites, excluding those lands within the boundaries of these sites mapped in the "Urban Lands" layer extracted from the Department's 1995/97 and 2002 Land Use/Land Cover geographical information systems database as amended and updated. Both the Natural Heritage Priority Site data and the Urban Lands data are available as a digital data download at the Department's webpage http://www.nj.gov/dep/gis/listall.html titled "Natural Heritage Priority Sites";

3. Special water resource protection areas along a Category One waters and their tributaries established under the Stormwater Management rules, N.J.A.C. 7:8. Surface waters that are designated Category One are listed in the Surface Water Quality Standards at N.J.A.C. 7:9B. These waters can be determined using the download available on the Department's webpage at http://www.nj.gov/dep/gis/listall.html titled "Surface Water Quality Standards"; and

4. Wetlands as mapped pursuant to 13:9A-1 and 13:9B-25. This data is available as a download on the Department's webpage http://www.nj.gov/dep/gis/listall.html titled "Wetlands."

(c) The following coastal planning areas identified on the CAFRA Planning Map, available at http://www.nj.gov/dep/gis/cafralayers.html shall not be identified as sewer service areas:

1. Coastal Fringe Planning Areas;

2. Coastal Rural Planning Areas; or

3. Coastal Environmentally Sensitive Planning Areas.

(d) The following special restricted areas shall be excluded from the extension of new sewer service either through sewer service area mapping where local mapped information exists delineating these areas, or through narrative description in a wastewater management plan where a reliable mapping source does not exist:

1. Environmentally sensitive areas in which Federal 201 grant limitations prohibit the extension of sewer service;

2. Beaches as defined at 7:7E-3.22;

3. Coastal high hazard areas as defined at 7:7E-3.18; and

4. Dunes as defined at 7:7E-3.16.

(e) The applicant for a Water Quality Management plan amendment, including wastewater management plans, wastewater management plan updates or site specific amendments may rebut the presumption that the environmental data identified in (b) above is correct by providing the following information:

1. All of the information required at 7:15-5.26 for a habitat suitability determination that demonstrates that an area is not suitable habitat for endangered or threatened species;

2. A Letter of Interpretation issued by the Department pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:7A-8 to demonstrate that an area is not wetlands; or

3. Any other information that demonstrates that the Department's GIS coverage is inaccurate at a particular location.

(f) Any area identified in (d) above may be added to the sewer service area upon submission of the information listed at (f)1 and 2 below. Where areas identified in (d) above are excluded in the mapping of sewer service areas, a formal amendment or revision to the wastewater management plan and areawide WQM plan under 7:15-3.4 or 3.5, as appropriate, shall be required. Where the areas are excluded by narrative criteria only, the submission of the information listed in (f)1 and 2 below shall be sufficient to make the project consistent with the areawide WQM plan for the particular criteria addressed:

1. A mapping revision or grant condition waiver issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a project or site that would otherwise be subject to a 201 grant condition prohibiting the extension of sewers into environmentally sensitive areas; or

2. A CAFRA permit issued by the Department for a specific site and use approved under the Rules on Coastal Zone Management, N.J.A.C. 7:7E.

(g) Sewer service areas may include environmentally sensitive areas listed at (b) above provided:

1. The environmentally sensitive area is included either to allow infill development, or to remove undulations in the sewer service area boundary as necessary to create a linear boundary that relates to recognizable geographic features as allowed by 7:15-5.20(b)2; and

2. The Department determines that the environmentally sensitive areas included in the sewer service area are not critical to a population of endangered or threatened species, the loss of which would decrease the likelihood of the survival or recovery of the species in the State.

(h) Sewer service areas may include environmentally sensitive areas listed at (b) above provided it is designed to accommodate center based development and is an element of an endorsed plan approved by the State Planning Commission where:

1. The Department determines that the environmentally sensitive areas included in the sewer service area are not critical to a population of endangered or threatened species, the loss of which would decrease the likelihood of the survival or recovery of the species in the State;

2. The Department has determined that the endorsed plan adequately addresses the protection of environmentally sensitive areas located outside of the designated sewer service area; and

3. The wastewater management planning agency has identified an adequate wastewater management alternative in accordance with 7:15-5.25(a) through (c).

N.J. Admin. Code § 7:15-5.24