[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 15, Volume 3]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 15CFR923.21]

[Page 201-202]
 
                  TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND FOREIGN TRADE
 
CHAPTER IX--NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT 
                               OF COMMERCE
 
PART 923--COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM REGULATIONS--Table of Contents
 
                   Subpart C--Special Management Areas
 
Sec. 923.21  Areas of particular concern.

    (a) The management program must include an inventory and designation 
of areas of particular concern within the coastal zone, on a generic 
and/or site-specific basis, and broad guidelines on priorities of uses 
in particular areas, including specifically those uses of lowest 
priority.
    (b) In developing criteria for inventorying and designating areas of 
particular concern. States must consider whether the following represent 
areas of concern requiring special management:
    (1) Areas of unique, scarce, fragile or vulnerable natural habitat; 
unique or fragile, physical, figuration (as, for example, Niagara 
Falls); historical significance, cultural value or scenic importance 
(including resources on or determined to be eligible for the National 
Register of Historic Places.);
    (2) Areas of high natural productivity or essential habitat for 
living resources, including fish, wildlife, and endangered species and 
the various trophic levels in the food web critical to their well-being;
    (3) Areas of substantial recreational value and/or opportunity;
    (4) Areas where developments and facilities are dependent upon the 
utilization of, or access to, coastal waters;
    (5) Areas of unique hydrologic, geologic or topographic significance 
for industrial or commercial development or for dredge spoil disposal;
    (6) Areas or urban concentration where shoreline utilization and 
water uses are highly competitive;
    (7) Areas where, if development were permitted, it might be subject 
to significant hazard due to storms, slides, floods, erosion, 
settlement, salt water intrusion, and sea level rise;
    (8) Areas needed to protect, maintain or replenish coastal lands or 
resources including coastal flood plains, aquifers

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and their recharge areas, estuaries, sand dunes, coral and other reefs, 
beaches, offshore sand deposits and mangrove stands.
    (c) Where states will involve local governments, other state 
agencies, federal agencies and/or the public in the process of 
designating areas of particular concern, States must provide guidelines 
to those who will be involved in the designation process. These 
guidelines shall contain the purposes, criteria, and procedures for 
nominating areas of particular concern.
    (d) In identifying areas of concern by location (if site specific) 
or category of coastal resources (if generic), the program must contain 
sufficient detail to enable affected landowners, governmental entities 
and the public to determine with reasonable certainty whether a given 
area is designated.
    (e) In identifying areas of concern, the program must describe the 
nature of the concern and the basis on which designations were made.
    (f) The management program must describe how the management program 
addresses and resolves the concerns for which areas are designated; and
    (g) The management program must provide guidelines regarding 
priorities of uses in these areas, including guidelines on uses of 
lowest priority.