This section applies to shoreline stabilization projects
using riprap or other structural stabilization materials. This section does not
apply to shoreline stabilization projects using only vegetation and/or
biodegradable stabilization materials.
NOTE: Other laws and rules may apply to shoreline
stabilization projects, including the Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act, Title 38,
Chapter 3, Article 2-B; Chapter 355, Coastal Sand Dune Rule s;
Chapter 335, Significant Wildlife Habitat; and Chapter 305,
Natural Resources Protection Act - Permit by Rule
Standards.
A.
General
Standards. The project must meet the general standards contained in
section 5.
B.
Project
Purpose. An applicant for a permit must demonstrate that the project is
a health or safety project or designed to protect one of the following:
(1) A legally existing water-dependent
structure such as a pier, wharf, dock, boat ramp, stormwater outfall, perimeter
drain outfall or stairway to the water;
(2) A subsurface wastewater disposal system
that is located 25 feet or less from the upland edge of an eroding bank, or
that is more than 25 feet from the upland edge of an eroding bank if the
Department determines the system is at risk of effluent breakout without
immediate shoreline stabilization;
(3) A residential dwelling, commercial or
public building or facility, driveway, road or other structure that is
essential for the current use of the property, that legally existed on the
parcel prior to January 1, 2026, or that is part of the permitted redevelopment
of impervious area that existed on the parcel prior to January 1, 2026, if that
structure is either:
(a) Located 100 feet or
less from the upland edge of an eroding bank and cannot be practicably
relocated farther than 100 feet from the bank, or
(b) At significant risk from a landslide as
demonstrated by geotechnical analysis, and the applicant has demonstrated that
the risk cannot be adequately mitigated by relocating the structure, if
practicable, or by installing riprap toe protection allowed under subsection
B(6), regrading the slope and planting vegetation, installing biodegradable
stabilization materials, or a combination of these techniques. The Department
may require the applicant to commission a third-party geotechnical analysis to
confirm the need for structural stabilization for landslide
prevention;
(4) An open
space that serves the public, such as a municipal park or concert
venue;
(5) Farmland as defined in
36 M.R.S.
§
1102(4); or
(6) Any other area, provided the project is
limited to no higher than 3 feet of riprap toe protection and will not inhibit
the natural transfer of sediment from a bluff that is a significant source of
sediment to a coastal wetland, as determined by the Maine Geological
Survey.
C.
Alternatives Analysis. As part of the alternatives analysis
required under section 9(A) of this chapter, the applicant must demonstrate
that the project purpose cannot be practicably achieved by the use of
vegetation and/or biodegradable stabilization materials. There is a rebuttable
presumption that vegetation and/or biodegradable stabilization materials can
practicably stabilize a shoreline that is subject to erosion in a low-energy
environment with little or no wave action, such as an open-water freshwater
wetland, great pond, marshland, protected cove, or area of extensive mudflats.
There is also a rebuttable presumption that vegetation and/or biodedgradable
stabilization materials can practicably stabilize a shoreline that is
classified as a stable bluff by the Maine Geological Survey. This subsection
does not apply when the project is a health or safety project or designed to
protect a water-dependent structure under subsection B(1) or a subsurface
wastewater disposal system under subsection B(2).
NOTE: For high-energy environments, such as an area mapped as
a high-velocity flood zone (VE zone) by FEMA or an area mapped as an unstable
or highly unstable bluff by the Maine Geological Survey, there is not a
rebuttable presumption that vegetation and/or biodegradable stabilization
materials can practicably stabilize the shoreline.
The Maine Geological Survey has created a Living Shorelines
Decision Support Tool to help applicants plan appropriate approaches for
shoreline stabilization, available online at:
https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mgs/hazards/living_shoreline/.
D.
Limitations.
Shoreline stabilization projects must be limited as follows:
(1) Actively eroding area. The project must
be limited to the area(s) where soils are exposed due to erosion from wave
action, currents, ice scouring or changes in water levels.
(2) Length. The length of the project may not
be longer than necessary to protect the structure or space that the project is
designed to protect under subsection B.
(3) Height. Unless the applicant provides
evidence, and the Department determines, that some or all portions of a project
must be built higher to achieve the project purpose, the project may not extend
higher than the following elevations:
(c) A
project along the shoreline of a great pond or open water wetland may not
extend higher than 2 feet above the normal high water line.
(d) A project along the shoreline of a river,
stream or brook may not extend higher than either the base flood elevation
mapped by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), or 2 feet above the
normal high water line, whichever is higher.
(e) A project along the shoreline of a
coastal wetland may not extend higher than one foot above the base flood
elevation mapped by FEMA.
E.
Vegetative Buffer. A
vegetative buffer at least 10 feet wide as measured perpendicular to the
shoreline and consisting of both native woody and herbaceous vegetation must be
planted along the upland edge of the stabilization project. If the buffer is
planted over a subsurface wastewater disposal system, the buffer may be
comprised entirely of herbaceous vegetation. No non-native species may be
planted. The Department may approve a reduction in the width of the vegetative
buffer if:
(1) The full buffer width is not
feasible due to the proximity of a structure to the upland edge of the eroding
shoreline;
(2) The area is already
well-vegetated with native woody vegetation or a mix of native woody and
herbaceous vegetation; or
(3) The
Department determines that the full buffer width is not practicable.
The buffer must be monitored and replanted as necessary to
achieve 85 percent survival after three growing seasons. The applicant must
submit photos to the Department documenting vegetative buffer survival or
re-planting annually for three years.
F.
Additional Standards. The
following additional standards apply.
(1) A
yard or other developed area may not be extended closer to the water as part of
a shoreline stabilization project.
(2) Rocks used for stabilization may not be
obtained from the shoreline or a protected natural resource, unless the rocks
are from a previously failed stabilization project.
(3) When sediment is excavated to allow for
stabilization in or adjacent to a coastal wetland, the excavated sediment must
be evenly distributed across the stabilization structure, if determined to be
feasible by the Department without increasing the area of the structure in the
coastal wetland.
NOTE: Evenly distributing the sediment on the stabilization
structure allows the sediment to naturally transfer to the wetland over time,
mimicking the natural transfer of sediment from the terrestrial to the marine
environment.
Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the Department from
establishing any additional reasonable requirement as a term or condition of
approval under Section 8 of this Chapter.
G.
Additional Application
Requirements. In addition to other application subsmissions required by
this Chapter, the application must include:
(1) A minimum of one photograph in an
orientation parallel to the shoreline and one photograph in an orientation
perpendicular to the shoreline from the resource landward along each 25-foot
section of shoreline where the activity is proposed, including a person or
another object in each photograph for scale. Photographs along a coastal
shoreline must be taken at or near low tide.
(2) Photographs and site plans showing the
structure(s) or space that the structural stabilization measure is designed to
protect.
(3) A scaled drawing and
at least two cross-sections of the proposed stabilization measure. The drawing
must clearly depict the property boundaries, the normal high water line or the
boundary o the coastal wetland, and the extent of any soil disturbance,
grading, vegetated areas, and stabilization measures to be installed, such as
the length along the shoreline, square footage of fill below the normal high
water line or within the coastal wetland, and height above and below the normal
high water line the boundary of the coastal wetland. The drawing must be
legible and drawn to a scale that provides a clear representation of distances
and measurements on the plan.
(4) A
plan for how machinery will access the project site. If work will be done below
the normal high water line or within the coastal wetland, the plan must
describe how machinery will access these areas.
(5) An analysis of the practicably of
relocating a structure if applicable pursuant to subsection B(3), including an
analysis of cost, technology, and logistics.
(6) An analysis of the practicability of
achieving the project purpose by using vegetation and/or biodegradable
stabilization materials, if applicable pursuant to subsection C, including an
analysis of cost, technology, and logistics.
Nothing in this subsection prohibits the Department from
requiring additional information from the applicant or imposing additional
conditions as set forth in Section 9 of this Chapter.
