REALsmart

the league for real smart growth

68 So. Main Street, Phillipsburg, N.J. 08865 ~ Phone & Fax 908.454.4141

October 9, 2006

Dear Commissioner Jackson:

Twenty seven environmental groups have signed on to an effort to bring full enforcement of the 300-foot buffer for C-1 creeks as allowed by a NJ Supreme Court ruling. There are over 1600 stream segments pending C-1 upgrade where DEP staff have already determined the streams meet the "exceptional" criteria in the rules for C-1 designation.

In a letter to NJDEP's Larry Baier on August 9, 2006, we ask serious questions about enforcement of this rule and hope for an answer very soon.  While waiting for this response, we bring to your attention the following information requests. Since the NJDEP has based its policy on this information, we expect it is readily available and can be provided within two weeks. If any aspect requires an OPRA request, please inform via this e-mail address.

1. Please provide all scientific references you used to support your assertions about buffer functions in agricultural areas.

2. Provide a comprehensive listing of all Special Water Resource Protection Areas (SWRPA) encroachment applications submitted to the NJDEP. Identify the status of these applications.

3. Please provide formal NJDEP staff guidance regarding the administrative processing of applications which involve regulated uses in SWRPA.  Your response should address the following concerns:

Ø      Public notification procedures

Ø      Administrative reviews of projects with SWRPA encroachments

Ø      Fees for application

Ø      State how and when these projects are listed in the NJDEP Bulletin

Ø      Public hearing procedures

Ø      Application appeal procedures

Ø      State when the Administrative procedures were established. Identify administrative review personnel in the Division of Watershed Management and the Division of Land Use Regulation.

4. Provide NJDEP technical guidance for the review of SWRPA encroachment applications. Provide a copy of the technical methodology used to document and assess SWRPA conditions and functional values. State names and qualifications of the individuals who developed the technical methodology. Also, provide the scientific literature used to develop technical methodology.

5. Identify the Technical personnel in the Division of Watershed Management and the Division of Land Use Regulation. Also, state the nature and extent of SWRPA encroachments evaluation training these individuals received. Identify the names and qualifications’ of the instructors.

6. State how NJDEP coordinates its SWRPA encroachment reviews with municipalities and other interested agencies.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this request.

Sincerely,

(Signed by the same 27 Environmental Groups that signed the July 1, 2006, letter to NJ DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson)

Cc. Senator Leonard Lance

Mark Mauriello, Assistant Commissioner

Debbie Mans, Governor’s Office

Lawrence Baier, Watershed Management Director