A long road continues for NJDEP's revisions to Coastal Zone Management and Coastal Permit Program regulations. Commonly known as "CAFRA regulations," the rules govern issuance of CAFRA , Waterfront Development, and Coastal Wetlands permits. The revisions were prompted by a legislative mandate to "closely coordinate" the regulations with the New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan ("State Plan"), and were initially proposed in December 1998. Strong criticism led NJDEP to withdraw the regulations in March, followed by a re-proposal in August 1999. NJDEP currently is reviewing comments received on the re-proposal, and aims to publish final regulations near the new year.
The re-proposed regulations leave intact the 1998 proposal's plan for "close coordination"-- linking impervious cover and vegetative cover requirements for a site within the CAFRA area to that site's designation under the State Plan.
The re-proposed regulations do, however, introduce several significant changes on other issues. For instance, NJDEP revised the amount of impervious cover permitted for four of the five State Plan Planning Areas, including a 30% increase for CAFRA sites in a Metropolitan Planning Area under the State Plan. NJDEP also decided to consider State Plan boundaries as a basis for determining the boundaries of different growth areas under the CAFRA regulations, rather than automatically accepting the State Plan boundaries. Third, a new "sector permit" will allow streamlined CAFRA review where a municipality certifies to NJDEP that its ordinances will ensure development in accordance with the CAFRA regulations.
