No. CS/HB 1297
Filed under Environment & Water.
Beach Management; Requires DEP to review certain data when designating certain beaches as critically eroded & in need of restoration & nourishment; requires that certain beaches be designated as critically eroded; authorizes Secretary of Environmental Protection to require coastal local governments to develop specified plans.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDA beach must be designated 'critically eroded' -- qualifying it for state restoration funding -- if its local government has a funding plan, holds a perpetual easement requiring shoreline maintenance and retreat management, and the beach has geology causing repeated inland flooding or structural damage.
Before designating any beach as critically eroded, DEP must now review data on beaches that have been repeatedly, preemptively repaired using private, local, state, and federal funds to stop or slow erosion.
The DEP secretary may require coastal local governments to write local strategic beach management plans covering flooding, property values, sensitive lands, and recommendations from coastal engineers and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Low-lying land just inland of a dune or beach that has repeatedly flooded from a connected stormwater system, or spent long stretches under a local emergency declaration, now counts toward designating an area of critical state concern.
AIIf a local government has a funding plan for the state's beach management plan, holds a perpetual easement requiring it to maintain shoreline parcels and manage shoreline retreat, and the beach's geology causes repeated inland flooding or structural damage, DEP must designate that beach as critically eroded rather than deciding case by case.
AIBefore designating any beach as critically eroded, DEP must review data on beaches that have been preemptively and repeatedly repaired using private funding, local government funding, and state and federal grants to stop or mitigate erosion.
AIThe DEP secretary may require coastal local governments to develop local strategic beach management plans covering shoreline recreational facilities, research centers, flooding, property values, sensitive lands, and recommendations from coastal engineers and the Army Corps of Engineers.
AILow-elevation land just inland of a dune or beach that has been repeatedly breached or overtopped through a connected stormwater system is added to the resources considered when designating an area of critical state concern, a status carrying strong state land-use oversight.
AIThe state's comprehensive strategic beach management plan may now incorporate these new local strategic beach management plans alongside regional plans when recommending which critically eroded beaches most need funding.