NJDEP GIS - CAFRA Layers Data Downloads

NJDEP Digital Data Downloads in ArcView Shape file format:

CAFRA Layers

These files can be used with your GIS or can be viewed with a free GIS Data Viewer from ESRI called ArcExplorer.

The 1993 amendments to the Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA), N.J.S.A. 13:19-1 et seq., required that the rules implementing those amendments be closely coordinated with the State Development and Redevelopment Plan. In response to those statutory amendments, the Department in February 2000 adopted new rules for determining impervious cover limits and vegetative cover percentages for developments requiring a CAFRA permit based on the proposed development's location in a CAFRA center, CAFRA core, CAFRA node, Coastal Planning Area or coastal center. The CAFRA Planning Map identifies the boundaries of CAFRA centers, cores and nodes, Coastal Planning Areas and coastal centers

The Coastal Planning Areas and CAFRA centers, CAFRA cores, and CAFRA nodes are those planning areas, centers, cores and nodes, respectively that have been adopted by the State Planning Commission and reviewed and accepted by the Department for the purposes of CAFRA. In February 2000, the Department delineated and adopted coastal centers. The boundaries of coastal centers located on barrier islands, spits and peninsulas (non-mainland coastal centers) were not given an expiration date because the areas encompassed by the coastal center were already heavily developed. However, a 5-year expiration date was imposed on the boundaries of coastal centers located on the less developed mainland. Those coastal centers expired on February 7, 2005. The mainland coastal center boundaries were re-established by rule on February 6, 2006 and expired again on March 15, 2006 or March 15, 2007, based on the criteria at N.J.A.C. 7:7E-5B.6. On September 6, 2008, Governor Corzine signed the Permit Extension Act of 2008 (�Act�). Government approvals are defined in the Act to include center designations pursuant to CAFRA. Under the Act, the running of the period of approval for government approvals that were in existence during the extension period of January 1, 2007 through July 1, 2010, is suspended for the duration of the extension period. However, the Act does not extend any permit or approval, including center designation pursuant to CAFRA, within an environmentally sensitive area. For the purposes of CAFRA, environmentally sensitive areas are areas designated pursuant to the State Development and Redevelopment Plan as Planning Area 4B (Rural/Environmentally Sensitive), Planning Area 5 (Environmentally Sensitive), or a critical environmental site. As a result of the Act, the mainland coastal centers that expired on March 15, 2007 have been reestablished excluding those areas that are Planning Area 4B, Planning Area 5 or critical environmental sites.

The CAFRA Planning Map is comprised of a number of data layers. The NJDEP Coastal Planning Areas data layer and NJDEP CAFRA and Coastal Centers data layer described in detail below, contain the boundaries of the Coastal Planning Areas, CAFRA centers, cores and nodes, mainland coastal centers and non-mainland coastal centers. The data layers for the Coastal Critical Environmental Sites and CAFRA Urban Lands plus critical reference layers of Natural Heritage Program Priority Sites, Landscape Project Data and Permit Extension Act - Environmentally Sensitive Areas are used to modify the boundary of the mainland coastal centers as set forth at N.J.A.C. 7:7E-5B.6. In addition, wetlands, public open space and special water resource protection areas may further modify the boundary of a mainland coastal center. These data layers are described in the Coastal Zone Management rules, N.J.A.C. 7:7E-5B.6(e). The Environmentally Sensitive Areas Pursuant to the Permit Extension Act of 2008 data layer contains the environmentally sensitive areas identified in the Permit Extension Act that are not part of the reestablished mainland coastal centers. The Shawcrest/Hildreth Island data layer contains a depiction of the Shawcrest/Hildreth Island that is exempt from the Coastal Zone Management rules� Bay island rule. See N.J.A.C. 7:7E-3.21.

NJDEP Coastal Planning Areas - coast_pa.zip ( 3805 KB, 5179 KB unzipped)

The NJDEP Coastal Planning Areas data layer identifies the boundaries of the Coastal Planning Areas used in CAFRA permitting by NJDEP. The planning area boundaries were mapped by the NJ Office of Smart Growth as part of the 2001 State Development and Redevelopment Plan, and subsequent revisions, and have been reviewed and accepted as Coastal Planning Area boundaries by the NJDEP for the purposes of CAFRA

There are five types of Coastal Planning Areas: Metropolitan, Suburban, Fringe, Rural and Environmentally Sensitive Coastal Planning Areas. Each Coastal Planning Area has associated with it a corresponding, pre-determined impervious cover limit and vegetative cover requirement.

NJDEP CAFRA and Coastal Centers - coast_cafracen.zip (0.25 MB, 0.43 MB unzipped)

This data layer is a depiction of the boundaries of CAFRA centers, CAFRA cores, CAFRA nodes, mainland coastal centers, and non-mainland coastal centers used in CAFRA permitting by the NJDEP. CAFRA centers, cores and nodes are those centers, cores and nodes, respectively, that have been adopted by the State Planning Commission and reviewed and accepted by the Department for the purposes of CAFRA. The Department delineated mainland and non-mainland coastal centers, based in part on centers identified in the 1992 State Development and Redevelopment Plan, where the State Planning Commission had not yet designated centers. Delineations were digitized over 1991 orthophotography at a minimum scale of 1:12,000. 1995 orthophotography was used to spot check ground conditions. Certain mainland coastal centers expired on March 15, 2007 in accordance with the Coastal Zone Management rules at N.J.A.C. 7:7E-5B.6. However, the Permit Extension Act extended their expiration until July 1, 2010 subject to certain conditions. As a result, the expiration of the following 12 mainland coastal centers was extended until July 1, 2010: Egg Harbor coastal town, Egg Harbor Township; Town Bank/North Cape May coastal town. Lower Township; Cape May Court House coastal regional center, Del Haven coastal village, Goshen coastal hamlet, Green Creek coastal hamlet, Rio Grande coastal regional center, Swainton coastal hamlet, and Whitesboro/Burleigh coastal village, Middle Township; Barnegat coastal town, Barnegat Township; Toms River coastal regional center, Toms River Township; and Lakewood coastal regional center, Lakewood Township. The mainland coastal centers of West Atlantic City coastal town, Egg Harbor Township and Schellenger's Landing coastal town and Villas coastal village, Lower Township expired on March 15, 2007. These coastal centers are located wholly within environmentally sensitive areas identified under the Act and therefore their expiration was not extended. The official description of the mainland coastal center boundaries is the written description posted on the Department's Permit Extension Act web page http://www.nj.gov/dep/opppc/extension.htm. The description of the non-mainland coastal center boundaries is the written description in Appendix 3 of the Coastal Zone Management rules, N.J.A.C. 7:7E. Boundaries of centers, cores and nodes within the CAFRA area were clipped from the 2001 State Plan Policy Map (cenline2, nodes and cores shape files), as amended through April 24 2008 and form the boundaries of CAFRA centers, cores and nodes.

Coastal Critical Environmental Sites (Coastal CES) - coast_ces.zip (0.03 MB, 0.07 MB unzipped)

A Coastal Critical Environmental Site is a Critical Environmental Site (CES) adopted by the State Planning Commission that is within the CAFRA area, and that has been reviewed and accepted by the Department for the purposes of mainland coastal centers in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:7E-5B.6. A CES is generally an area which has some significant environmental factors associated with it, but which is too small to be delineated as a separate environmental planning area as part of the State Plan Policy Map. Critical environmental sites, and the process used to identify and map them, are discussed in more detail on the Office of Smart Growth website, http://www.state.nj.us/dca/osg/plan/stateplan.shtml, under the selection 'Color Exhibits and the State Plan Policy Map'. The process for the Department to review and accept a CES adopted by the State Planning Commission is set forth at N.J.A.C. 7:7E-5B.6

Any area within the boundaries of a mainland coastal center that is also part of a Coastal CES, is not considered part of the mainland coastal center. While there are CESs in all regions of the state, Coastal CESs as adopted by the Department in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:7E-5B.6 are only used for the purposes of mainland coastal centers. Therefore, the NJDEP has selected only those CES polygons located within the mainland coastal centers for inclusion in the Coastal CES layer provided here.

Unlike Coastal CES, which must be reviewed and accepted by the Department for use in CAFRA permitting, all critical environmental sites designated pursuant to the State Development and Redevelopment Plan are part of the Environmentally Sensitive Area defined by the Permit Extension Act of 2008, within which no approvals are extended. See discussion of Permit Extension Act of 2008 above.

CAFRA Urban lands - urb02caf.zip (14.03 MB, 32.03 MB unzipped)

Urban lands are characterized by intensive land use where the landscape has been altered by human activities. These areas were mapped as part of the 2002 statewide land use/land cover. The specific land uses included in the general urban land category are listed below. Descriptions of each of these categories, as well as full documentation for the land use/land cover mapping project, is available at http://www.nj.gov/dep/gis/supfiles.html.

For purposes of determining whether a mainland coastal center contains a Natural Heritage Program priority site, the CAFRA Urban Lands layer is to be used in conjunction with the Natural Heritage Program priority sites layer as described above. The CAFRA Urban Lands data layer was created by first reselecting all urban land use polygons from the statewide land use/land cover layer, and placing these urban polygons in a separate data layer. All urban polygons within the CAFRA area, and within a 1000 foot buffer of the CAFRA area, were included in the CAFRA Urban Lands data layer. A 1000 foot buffer was chosen in order to clearly represent all urban land use polygons potentially affecting any NHP priority site within the CAFRA area. See N.J.A.C. 7:7E-5B.6.

Urban Land Use Categories:
Airport Facilities	1440
Athletic Fields (Schools)	1804
Cemetery	1710
Commercial/Services	1200
Former Military, Indeterminate Use	1214
Industrial	1300
Industrial/Commercial Complexes	1500
Major Roadway	1410
Military Installations	1211
Mixed Residential	1150
Mixed Urban or Built-Up Land	1600
Other Urban or Built-Up Land	1700
Phragmites Dominate Urban Area	1741
Recreational Land	1800
Residential, High Density or Multiple Dwelling	1110
Residential, Rural, Single Unit	1140
Residential, Single Unit, Low Density	1130
Residential, Single Unit, Medium Density	1120
Stadium Theaters Cultural centers and Zoos	1810
Stormwater Basin	1499
Transportation/Communication/Utilities	1400
Upland Rights-of Way Developed	1462

NJDEP Shawcrest/Hildreth Island, New Jersey - ShawcrestHildreth.zip ( 19 KB, 52 KB unzipped)

This data is a depiction of the Shawcrest/Hildreth Island. Shawcrest/Hildreth Island has been mapped by the Department for the purposes of permitting under the Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA), N.J.S.A. 13:19-1 et seq. and more specifically, applying the Bay island rule (N.J.A.C. 7:7E-3.21) contained in the Coastal Zone Management rules (N.J.A.C. 7:7E) as adopted on April 8, 2008. Shawcrest/Hildreth Island is exempt from the Bay island rule.

Additional Critical Layers

Environmentally Sensitive Areas pursuant to the Permit Extension Act of 2008 - Download Page

On September 6, 2008, Governor Corzine signed the Permit Extension Act of 2008 (�Act�). Under the running of the period of approval for government approvals that were in existence of January 1, 2007 through July 1, 2010, is suspended for the duration of the extension period. However, the tolling provided for in the Act does not extend the government approval more than six months beyond July 1, 2010. The Act does not extend any permit or approval within an environmentally sensitive area. The following are defined as environmentally sensitive areas: areas designated pursuant to the State Development and Redevelopment Plan as Planning Area 4B (Rural/Environmentally Sensitive), Planning Area 5 (Environmentally Sensitive), or a critical environmental site; the Highlands Region as defined in section 3 of P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-3) but shall not include any area designated for growth in the Highlands regional master plan adopted by the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council pursuant to P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-1 et al.); and the pinelands area designated in section 10 of P.L.1979, c.111 (C.13:18A-11) but shall not include any growth area designated in the comprehensive management plan prepared and adopted by the Pinelands Commission pursuant to section 7 of the "Pinelands Protection Act," P.L.1979, c.111 (C.13:18A-8). This data layer used in conjunction with the NJDEP CAFRA and Coastal Centers data layer identifies the environmentally sensitive areas of the mainland coastal centers that were not reestablished under the Act.

Landscape Project Data - Download Page

Endangered and threatened species are species identified on official Federal or State lists of endangered or threatened species, or under active consideration for State or Federal listing. The NJDEP, through the Endangered and Non-Game Species Program, has mapped habitats throughout the state that are considered critical to the maintenance of these endangered and threatened wildlife species, and ranked the habitats according to their level of importance. This mapping project, identified as the Landscape Project, and the process used to map and rank the habitats, is described fully at http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/landscape/index.htm.

Any area within the boundaries of a mainland coastal center that has been given a Rank of 3, 4 or 5, for any one of the habitat layers, is not considered part of the mainland coastal center. See N.J.A.C. 7:7E-5B.6.

Natural Heritage Priority Sites - Download Page

The original Natural Heritage Program priority sites layer was created by the Natural Heritage Program (NHP) to identify the best habitats for rare plant and animal species and exemplary natural communities through analysis of information in the NJ Natural Heritage Database. A full description of the priority sites can be found at http://www.nj.gov/dep/gis/stateshp.html#PRIORITY.

In some cases, urban lands are included within the boundary of a Natural Heritage Program priority site. Because urban lands are characterized by intensive use and the landscape has been altered by human activity, they are excluded from Natural Heritage Program priority sites for the purposes of CAFRA within mainland coastal centers. These urban lands are mapped in the CAFRA Urban Lands layer as described below. Any area within the boundaries of a mainland coastal center that is also part of any identified NHP priority site, and which is not urban land as described below, is not considered part of the mainland coastal center. The NHP priority sites data layer can be used in conjunction with the CAFRA Urban Lands data layer described below, and the NJDEP CAFRA and Coastal Centers data layer, to identify those areas that are not considered part of a mainland coastal center. See N.J.A.C. 7:7E-5B.6.

Copyright © State of New Jersey, 1996-2009 Department of Environmental Protection P. O. Box 402 Trenton, NJ 08625-0402 Last Updated: October 21, 2009