Flood hazard areas adjacent to rivers are subject to flooding in severe fluvial storms. They are also critical elements of the coastal ecosystems, providing flood storage capacity, physical and biochemical water filtration, primary productivity, and wildlife habitats.
For these reasons, the preferred rule is to preserve those flood hazard corridors that are in an undeveloped state with native or adapted forest vegetation for conservation purposes and to allow limited exceptions for water dependent uses, infill, and uses for which there is no feasible alternative location.
The location acceptability for a site under this rule applies only to flood hazard areas which have not been disturbed by filling. Sites subject to this rule, therefore, tend to be in a more natural state than sites subject to the filled water's edge rule. Accordingly this rule is more restrictive, discouraging development which would unnecessarily disturb vegetation, and requiring water dependency within 100 feet of a navigable water body.
The development of one or two single-family homes or duplexes within an undeveloped portion of a flood hazard area that is within 100 feet of a navigable water body is conditionally acceptable provided specific design and construction standards are met to ensure that the building does not exacerbate flooding or put the inhabitants at risk.
N.J. Admin. Code § 7:7-9.25