EXEMPT ACTIVITIES UNDER N.J.A.C. 7:13-2.5(a)

There are 14 classes of activities which, due to their limited scope and de minimis impact to flooding and the environment, do not require authorization under the Flood Hazard Area Control Act Rules. Each class of activities is qualified by conditions necessary to ensure that the activity is properly undertaken.

  1. Normal property maintenance, including the clearing, cutting, and/or removal of riparian zone vegetation, which is necessary to service, maintain, or ensure the continued safe use of a lawfully existing structure, easement, right-of-way, field, lawn, park, and/or garden.
  2. Repair of a lawfully existing structure.
  3. Removal of accumulated sediment and debris from a regulated water by hand.
  4. Removal of a major obstruction from a regulated water with machinery, such as a fallen tree, abandoned vehicle, furniture, and other large debris.
  5. Exploratory site investigation, including general land surveying, the installation of monitoring wells, and geotechnical and archeological investigation, such as undertaking soil borings or excavation for the purpose of obtaining information on subsurface conditions, determining the presence or extent of groundwater or contamination in subsurface, or obtaining seismic information.
  6. Storage of unsecured material.
  7. Placement, storage, or processing of hazardous waste and/or substances, solid waste, or recyclable materials, at a lawfully existing facility.
  8. Continuation of lawfully existing agricultural activities, such as grazing, harvesting, horticulture, irrigation, planting, tilling, viticulture, and watering on land that is actively farmed, and/or the commencement of new agricultural activities on land that is not actively farmed.
  9. Repair, maintenance, and/or dredging of the channel and/or embankments of the Delaware and Raritan Canal.
  10. Placement of one or more utility poles, such as telephone and electric poles, or structures on poles intended to facilitate travel safety along a public roadway or railroad, such as overhead signs, variable message signs, streetlights, and traffic signal equipment.
  11. Milling, repaving, repair, and/or resurfacing of lawfully existing pavement.
  12. The construction, replacement, repair, or removal of any dam that does not serve as a component of a stormwater management basin, as well as any regulated activity performed in association with the removal of a dam that does not serve as a component of a stormwater management basin.
  13. The placement or underground jacking of one or more underground utility lines.
  14. The removal of any lawfully existing fill or structure.