Shoreland act changes to take effect

New Hampshire Business Review looks at some changes to the onerous Shoreland Protection Act which take effect today. The Legislature has attempted to make the cumbersome law slightly less difficult for landowners.

• Contractors doing maintenance work will get a break on fees. On projects that go through permit by notification process (a relatively new option to speed the permit process up for those that don’t actually expand the footprint of an affected area) a flat fee of $100 for water quality improvement projects and $250 for all other projects. Fees used to cost $100 plus 10 cents per square foot, which added up on larger projects.
• Developers will be able to build multifamily housing on shoreland, provided that they meet septage and zoning requirement. The old shoreland act – with its limit of one household per 150 feet of frontage -- ruled that out.
• A number of smaller ponds will no longer be included under the act. That’s because the old law actually named bodies of water covering more than 10 acres that were covered. It turns out many of those bodies were actually under 10 acres. The new law drops the list, and just provides the 10-acre criteria.
• Determination of shorelines will no longer fluctuate based on flowage rights (for dammed-up bodies of water) but be based on single surface area. This might result in other ponds dropping off the list.
• Central business districts have another option in dealing with riverfront projects, giving them more flexibility.

Hearing landowners: Legislators are finally listening

The Union Leader editorializes about changes to New Hampshire's Shoreland Protection Act, and is glad landowners are standing up against a massive increase in the state's power over private property, and that lawmakers are listening:

In the last legislative session, lawmakers updated the act by piling on a whole bunch of new regulations. Property owners objected, saying the new rules were onerous, but they were ignored. Thankfully, it didn't take long for legislators to get the message that they had messed up.

Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth, has introduced a bill, which has already passed the Senate, to undo some of the regulations passed last year. It clearly needs to pass, though with amendments.

Current law does not allow people with homes on protected waterways to build walkways or driveways. It allows municipalities to seek exemptions for commercial or industrial construction, but not for residential construction. SB 134 changes these and other overly strict regulations.

Landowners upset at "Shoreland Protection Act"

John DiStaso reports in the Union Leader about the growing opposition from landowners over the consequences of changes to New Hampshire's Shoreland Protection Act:

Under the current law, the Department of Environmental Services "can come on to our land 'for cause' at any 'reasonable time,' unannounced and without permission, which is certainly an invasion of privacy," Peter Rice of the New Hampshire Shoreline Coalition told the House Resources, Recreation and Development Committee.

"Here we are planting the seeds of a big brother government that is unaccountable and outside any due process."

He said fines for those who violate the Shoreland Protection Act can run as high as $20,000, which, he said, "is completely excessive and not the New Hampshire way."