Title 15

SECTION 923.21

923.21 Areas of particular concern.

§ 923.21 Areas of particular concern.

(a) The management program must include an inventory and designation of areas of particular concern within the coastal zone, on a generic and/or site-specific basis, and broad guidelines on priorities of uses in particular areas, including specifically those uses of lowest priority.

(b) In developing criteria for inventorying and designating areas of particular concern. States must consider whether the following represent areas of concern requiring special management:

(1) Areas of unique, scarce, fragile or vulnerable natural habitat; unique or fragile, physical, figuration (as, for example, Niagara Falls); historical significance, cultural value or scenic importance (including resources on or determined to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.);

(2) Areas of high natural productivity or essential habitat for living resources, including fish, wildlife, and endangered species and the various trophic levels in the food web critical to their well-being;

(3) Areas of substantial recreational value and/or opportunity;

(4) Areas where developments and facilities are dependent upon the utilization of, or access to, coastal waters;

(5) Areas of unique hydrologic, geologic or topographic significance for industrial or commercial development or for dredge spoil disposal;

(6) Areas or urban concentration where shoreline utilization and water uses are highly competitive;

(7) Areas where, if development were permitted, it might be subject to significant hazard due to storms, slides, floods, erosion, settlement, salt water intrusion, and sea level rise;

(8) Areas needed to protect, maintain or replenish coastal lands or resources including coastal flood plains, aquifers and their recharge areas, estuaries, sand dunes, coral and other reefs, beaches, offshore sand deposits and mangrove stands.

(c) Where states will involve local governments, other state agencies, federal agencies and/or the public in the process of designating areas of particular concern, States must provide guidelines to those who will be involved in the designation process. These guidelines shall contain the purposes, criteria, and procedures for nominating areas of particular concern.

(d) In identifying areas of concern by location (if site specific) or category of coastal resources (if generic), the program must contain sufficient detail to enable affected landowners, governmental entities and the public to determine with reasonable certainty whether a given area is designated.

(e) In identifying areas of concern, the program must describe the nature of the concern and the basis on which designations were made.

(f) The management program must describe how the management program addresses and resolves the concerns for which areas are designated; and

(g) The management program must provide guidelines regarding priorities of uses in these areas, including guidelines on uses of lowest priority.

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