ELR Citation: ELR 20086
No(s). A-3847-03T3 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. Apr 12, 2006)

The court upholds a New Jersey regulation that creates a 300-foot buffer on each side of water bodies designated as "Category 1" waters and their associated perennial or intermittent streams. Category 1 waters exhibit exceptional characteristics that require special protection. The regulation falls within the scope of the state agency's statutorily delegated authority, and there was an adequate factual basis to support the creation of the 300-foot buffers. The state agency used not only water quality, but habitat and other values in prescribing the buffer size. And the building association challenging the regulation contested neither the technical and scientific justification for such protective measures nor the need for some regulation in the area.