Md. Code Regs. 27.02.05.09

Current through Register Vol. 52, No. 1, January 10, 2025

Section 27.02.05.09 - [Effective until 1/20/2025] Buffer

A. Applicability. The provisions of this regulation may not be construed to require a buffer or a vegetated filter strip for an agricultural drainage ditch, if the adjacent agricultural land has in place a soil conservation and water quality plan as required in Regulation .07 of this chapter.

B. Criteria. In planning or proposing development on State-owned lands, the agency proposing the development shall use the following criteria:

(1) The agency shall measure the buffer at least 100 feet landward from the mean high water line of tidal waters, tributary streams, and tidal wetlands.

(2) Development activities, including structures, roads, parking areas, and other lot coverage areas, mining and related facilities, and septic systems, are not authorized in the buffer, except for those necessarily associated with water-dependent facilities or activities as defined in Regulation .04 of this chapter.

(3) The buffer shall be maintained in natural vegetation, but may include planted vegetation where necessary to protect, stabilize, or enhance the shoreline.

(4) Agriculture is authorized in the buffer, if, as a minimum agricultural best management practice, a vegetated filter strip of at least 25 feet, measured landward from the mean high water line of tidal waters or tributary streams or from the edge of tidal wetlands, whichever is further inland, is established, and if:

(a) The filter strip is composed of trees, shrubs, grass, or mixed vegetation and is managed as to provide water quality benefits and habitat protection consistent with the policies stated in COMAR 27.01.09.01.N oxious weeds, including Johnson grass, Canada thistle, and other invasive plants, such as multiflora rose, which occur in the filter strip, may be controlled by authorized means;

(b) The filter strip is expanded by a distance of 4 feet for every 1 percent of slope, for slopes greater than 6 percent;

(c) The filter strip is maintained until the agency or agricultural operation is implementing, under a soil conservation and water quality plan, a program of agricultural best management practices for the specific purposes of improving water quality and protecting plant and wildlife habitat, and if the portion of the soil conservation and water quality plan being implemented achieves the water quality and habitat protection objectives of the vegetated filter strip;

(d) The feeding or watering of livestock does not occur within 50 feet of the mean high water line of tidal water and tributary streams or from the edge of tidal wetlands, whichever is further inland;

(e) Clearing of existing natural vegetation in the buffer is prohibited; and

(f) Agricultural activities, including the grazing of livestock, do not disturb stream banks, tidal shorelines, or other habitat protection areas covered, as applicable, in this regulation or in Regulations .10-.13 of this chapter.

(5) The Buffer shall be managed to achieve or enhance the functions stated in COMAR 27.01.09.01B(1)-(5). Cutting or clearing of trees within the Buffer shall be prohibited, except that:

(a) Commercial harvesting of trees by selection or by the clear cutting of loblolly pine and tulip poplar may be permitted to within 50 feet of the landward edge of the mean high water line of tidal waters and perennial tributary streams, or the edge of tidal wetlands, provided that the cutting does not occur in the habitat protection areas described in Regulations .10-.13 of this chapter, and that the cutting is conducted pursuant to the requirements of Regulation .06 of this chapter, and in conformance with a Buffer management plan approved by the Forestry Programs and the Fish, Heritage and Wildlife Administration of the Department of Natural Resources. The plan shall be required for all commercial harvests within the Buffer, regardless of the size of the area to be cut, and shall contain the following minimum requirements:

(i) That disturbance to stream banks and shorelines shall be avoided;

(ii) That the area disturbed or cut shall be replanted, or allowed to regenerate in a manner that assures the availability of cover and breeding sites for wildlife, and reestablishes the wildlife corridor function of the Buffer; and

(iii) That the cutting may not involve the creation of logging roads and skid trails within the Buffer.

(b) Commercial harvesting of trees, by any method, may be permitted to the edge of intermittent streams provided that the cutting is conducted pursuant to the requirements of §B(5)(a), of this regulation.

(c) Cutting of trees or removal of natural vegetation may be permitted where necessary to provide access to private or government piers, or to install or construct a shore erosion protection device or measure, or a water-dependent facility, providing the device, measure, or facility has received all necessary State and federal permits.

(d) Individual trees may be removed which are in danger of falling and causing damage to dwellings or other structures, or which are in danger of falling and thereby causing the blockage of streams, or resulting in accelerated shore erosion.

(e) Horticultural practices may be used to maintain the health of individual trees.

(f) Other cutting techniques may be undertaken within the Buffer and under the advice and guidance of the Maryland Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources, if necessary to preserve the forest from extensive pest or disease infestation or threat from fire.

(6) When agricultural use of lands within the area of the Buffer ceases and the lands are proposed to be converted to other uses, the Buffer shall be established. In establishing the Buffer, management measures shall be undertaken to provide forest vegetation that assures the Buffer functions as set forth in the policies stated in COMAR 27.01.09.01B(1)-(5).

(7) The agency shall expand the Buffer beyond 100 feet to include contiguous, sensitive areas, such as steep slopes, hydric soils, or highly erodible soils, whose development or disturbance may impact streams, wetlands, or other aquatic environments. In the case of contiguous slopes of 15 percent or greater, the Buffer shall be expanded 4 feet for every 1 percent of slope, or to the top of the slope, whichever is greater in extent.

(8) The agency may request an exemption from the Commission, of certain portions of the Critical Area, from the Buffer requirements if it can be sufficiently demonstrated that the existing pattern of development in the Critical Area prevents the Buffer from fulfilling the functions stated in COMAR 27.01.09.01B(1)-(5). If an exemption is requested, the agency shall propose other measures for achieving the water quality and habitat protection objectives of the policies. An exemption shall also be requested from the Commission if the Buffer area is proposed to be used for industrial and port-related water-dependent facilities, water-use industries, and the intake and outfall structures of power plants and sewage treatment plants.

Md. Code Regs. 27.02.05.09

Regulation .09B amended effective February 8, 2010 (37:3 Md. R. 177); amended effective 48:18 Md. R. 694, eff. 9/6/2021; amended effective 49:3 Md. R. 139, eff. 2/7/2022