Coastal shoreline buffer rules are designed to protect water quality

On Aug. 1, 2000, the state took a significant step to protect coastal water quality by requiring a 30-foot buffer for new development along coastal shorelines.

In recent years, the coastal region has been subject to several problems related to pollution from stormwater runoff. Algal blooms, fish kills, sediment plumes and shellfish closures were the result of upland pollutants finding their way into the state’s coastal waters.

Research has shown that a major factor in these problems is impervious surfaces, such as parking lots, houses and roads. These structures don’t filter runoff; they channel it into coastal waters.

The N.C. Coastal Resources Commission adopted the buffer rules to fight this pollution problem and increase protection of coastal waters.

What the rules say

The rules require a 30-foot buffer for new development along coastal shorelines in the 20 counties governed by the Coastal Area Management Act. The buffer is measured landward from the normal high water or normal water level.

The rules apply to all navigable waterways in the coastal counties, including upstream public trust shorelines. In some cases, large drainage ditches could be determined to be navigable.

The buffer requirement does not apply to the oceanfront, which has its own setback requirements.

Only structures with water-dependent uses may be built in the buffer zone. These include docks, boat ramps, bulkheads on eroding shorelines, and walkways to the water.

Property owners may cut vegetation inside the buffer, but land-disturbing activities are limited. A number of local governments already have regulations that meet or exceed these rules. Check with local officials or the nearest Coastal Management office for details.

Exceptions to the rules

A property owner may build a single-family house that encroaches into the buffer zone if the lot, tract or parcel of land is too small to accommodate the buffer, as long as the land was platted prior to June 1, 1999. The house must comply with the buffer to the maximum extent feasible.

At a minimum, the house must be located a distance landward of the normal high water or normal water level equal to 20 percent of the greatest depth of the lot. The house's footprint must not cover more than 1,200 square feet of ground.

If an existing non-water-dependent structure becomes damaged to the extent that it needs to be replaced, the property owner may rebuild the structure in its original footprint and to its original dimensions, if the land is too small to allow rebuilding outside the buffer zone.

Small lots

Another exception allows the construction of a house within the buffer on small undeveloped lots. The exception allows owners of these small lots to align their house with those of neighbors on adjoining lots. They must contain up to one-and-a-half inches of stormwater on site.

The exception applies to lots that meet each of the following criteria:

• 5,000 square feet or less in size (7,500 feet or less if an onsite septic system is required);

• platted prior to June 1, 1999;

• located between two existing waterfront residential structures, both of which are within 100 feet of the center of the vacant lot, and at least one of which encroaches into the buffer;
  OR

• located between an existing waterfront residential structure that encroaches into the buffer and a road, canal or other open body of water, both of which are within 100 feet of the center of the vacant lot.

• not located adjacent to approved or conditionally approved shellfish waters.

The CRC has adopted the above language as a temporary rule, and the permanent version took effect Aug. 1, 2002.

Exceptions for common uses

The buffer rules also contain exceptions for non-water-dependent structures and activities that commonly occur within 30 feet of the water along coastal shorelines but do not harm water quality.

The exceptions allow the following structures or activities:

• pile-supported signs that comply with local government standards;

• post- or pile-supported fences;

• elevated, slatted, wooden boardwalks that are 6 feet wide or less and for pedestrian use (they may be larger if they are to serve a public use or need);

• uncovered crab shedders that have elevated trays and no associated impervious surfaces except for those needed to protect the pump;

• unroofed decks and observation decks that are slatted, wooden and elevated and are 200 square feet or less in size;

• grading, excavation and landscaping with no wetland fill except when required by a permitted shoreline stabilization project (projects shall not increase stormwater runoff to adjacent estuarine and public trust waters);

• development over existing impervious surfaces, as long as the original impervious surface is not increased and the applicant designs the project to comply with the intent of the rules to the maximum extent feasible.

EMC’s buffer rule takes precedence in Neuse and Tar-Pamlico river basins

A provision in the CRC’s rules says that the buffer requirement will not apply to those coastal shorelines where the Environmental Management Commission adopts its own buffer standards. The EMC enacts regulations to protect water quality statewide. EMC buffer rules already exist in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico river basins.

Building inside the buffer

For any activity prohibited by the rules, a property owner may request a variance from the CRC. Variances may be granted for hardships and logical conflicts with the rules.

Buffer does not "take" property

Some property owners have expressed concern that the 30-foot buffer requirement constitutes a taking of their property because it restricts where they can build. The regulation itself does not constitute a taking.

The state Supreme Court has held that the appropriate standard for review of a regulatory takings claim is whether: 1) the regulations constitute a legitimate exercise of the police power; and 2) the affected property retains “a practical use and a reasonable value” after application of the regulation. The buffer rule is consistent with both of these criteria.

The buffer’s effectiveness

The buffer will play an integral part in protecting North Carolina’s coastal waters. The pollution addressed by the new buffer rules – nonpoint source pollution – is the primary cause of decline in our state’s coastal waters. All land-disturbing activities cause nonpoint source pollution. Maintaining a buffer adjacent to the estuarine and public trust shorelines will reduce the discharge of sediments and other pollutants.

Controlling nonpoint source pollution is an urgent need considering the rate at which our shorelines are being developed and the increase in seasonal and year-round populations in communities with estuarine and public trust shorelines.

History of the coastal shoreline rules

The 30-foot buffer requirement came about after more than two years of CRC discussions concerning ways to increase the protection of coastal water quality. In a unanimous vote in March 1999, the commission chose to set aside an earlier proposal, which would have called for a 75-foot buffer and other coastal shoreline standards, and focus instead on the 30-foot buffer requirement.

The CRC and Division of Coastal Management sought extensive public comment on the 30-foot buffer rule in summer 1999, conducting 40 public hearings in coastal counties. Nearly 400 people commented on the rule, voicing opinions both for and against it. The CRC adopted the buffer requirement in November 1999 after adding exceptions and other language recommended during the public hearings.

Coastal shoreline buffer rules

Information about the Estuarine Shoreline Protection Stakeholders

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