NJ DEPARTMENT of ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
WATER AND LAND MANAGEMENT

Notice of Public Hearing on Notice of Rule Proposal
Coastal Zone Management Rules
Proposal of Amendments and new rules, N.J.A.C. 7:7, Coastal Zone Management Rules; N.J.A.C. 7:7A,
Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act Rules; and N.J.A.C. 7:13, Flood Hazard Area Control Act Rules

PUBLIC NOTICE
Take notice that the Department of Environmental Protection (Department) is holding a public hearing for the proposed amendments and new rules in the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Rules, Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act (FWPA) Rules, and Flood Hazard Area Control Act (FHACA) Rules to require electronic submission of applications for all general permit authorizations, individual permits, water quality certificates, freshwater wetland transition area waivers, and any flood hazard area verifications that are submitted in conjunction with an application for a general permit authorization, individual permit, or transition area waiver. The notice of proposal was published in the New Jersey Register on August 3, 2020, at 52 N.J.R. 1522(a).

The Department will be holding a public hearing on Friday, September 25, 2020, at 10:00 A.M.  The hearing will be conducted virtually through the Department’s video conferencing software (that is, Microsoft Teams).  A link to the virtual public hearing will be provided on the Department’s Division of Land Resource Protection’s website (https://www.nj.gov/dep/landuse/news.html).  The hearing will remain open until all testimony has been heard.

If you are interested in providing oral testimony at the virtual public hearing, please email the Department at kim.springer@dep.nj.gov  no later than 5:00 P.M. Wednesday, September 23, 2020, with your contact information (name, organization, telephone number, and email address).  You must provide a valid email address so the Department can send you an email confirming receipt of your interest to testify orally at the hearing and provide you with a separate option for a telephone call-in line if you do not have access to a computer that can connect to Microsoft Teams.  Please note that the Department will take oral testimony at the hearing by alphabetical order of the testifying person’s last name, and that this hearing will be recorded.  Written comments will be accepted through October 2, 2020.

The Department encourages electronic submittal of comments at https://dep.nj.gov/rules/comment-on-dep-rulemaking-2/. In the alternative, comments may be submitted on paper

Gary J. Brower, Esq.
ATTN: DEP Docket No. 03-20-07
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Office of Legal Affairs
Mail Code 401-04L; PO Box 402
401 East State Street, 7th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08625-0402

Please refer to the original notice of proposal for detailed information regarding the proposed rules.  The notice of proposal may be viewed or downloaded from the Department’s website at https://dep.nj.gov/wp-content/uploads/rules/proposals/20200803a.pdf.