SB 395

This bill would further provide for permits for shoreline restoration, including the use of living shoreline techniques, by riparian property owners in coastal areas. The bill would authorize riparian property owners to sever and use materials in their riparian rights use area and for the purposes of shoreline restoration without fee or charge by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources or the Department of Environmental Management when the source sediment is used for the construction of living shorelines in front of a property owner's riparian property

Relating to coastal areas; to further provide for permits for living shoreline restoration from the State Lands Division of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Management and for the use of source sediment by riparian property owners.

Section 1

(a) For the purposes of this act, the term "living shoreline" means shoreline restoration techniques for shoreline stabilization including, but not limited to, planting of native vegetation, the placement of wave attenuation structures, the placement of fill material, and other similar techniques designed to allow natural coastal processes to continue to operate and natural coastal features to be preserved. (b)(1) The purpose of this act is to encourage the use of living shoreline techniques in coastal areas in lieu of vertical seawalls or bulkheads and allow for the procurement of sand and source sediment without an associated navigational project. (2) The Legislature finds that sand and sediment material available for dredging within a property owner's riparian use area is the best compatible source material and provides the highest degree of success in living shoreline restoration and that the use of the material serves a public purpose to reduce erosion, improve and restore wildlife and fish habitat, and increase coastal infrastructure resiliency. (c) The State Lands Division of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Management shall issue permits without any charge or fee to a riparian property owner to dredge for sand and source sediment in front of the respective owner's riparian property, or immediately adjacent property with consent of the riparian owner of that property, when the sand and source sediment is to be used in front of the owner's riparian property for the construction of a living shoreline.

Section 2

The authority of this act is limited to property bounded by and touching the Gulf of Mexico proper, including the Mobile Bay and other bays, rivers, or creeks in connection therewith, located parallel to or south of Mobile River mile 0.0 as defined by the Army Corps of Engineers, which is more precisely located at Latitude 30 degrees 41.32848 minutes North, Longitude 88 degrees 02.39862 minutes West, and extending parallel to and due south from that point.

Section 3

The provisions of this act are supplemental and shall not be construed to repeal any other provision of law not in direct conflict herewith.

Section 4

This act shall become effective on the first day of the third month following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.