The NH Shorefront Association is really staying on top of the current legislation in Concord. The proposed bill will hopefully change the Comprehensive Shoreland Protection act for the better, including the Name! The proposed name is "Shoreland Water Quality Protection Act." I really like the name change as it focuses us on what is most important, the water quality of our invaluable lakes.

Here is their latest update.

There are developments regarding two of the shorefront related bills:    Senator Bradley's bill, SB154, which makes a number of reforms to the Shoreland Protection Act, was amended and approved by the Senate Energy & Environment Committee in a unanimous vote of Ought To Pass (OTP).  Among many other changes, this bill clarifies and simplifies the standards and permitting requirements.

The NHSA Board and membership worked closely with Sen. Bradley and a number of others to edit this amended bill to simplify, clarify, and hopefully gain efficiency in the regulations to protect private property rights balanced with protections for water quality.  This bill also changes the name to the "Shoreland Water Quality Protection Act".  The full text of the amendment is not yet available on-line, however, we will issue an update soon as this bill will now move to Finance and the House.  More as this develops...

SB142 - which makes changes to the NH DES permit process to allow an "integrated permit process" for those projects which require multiple permits, was voted "re-refer" the bill for further study.  Click here for bill language.  The NHSA Board supports this concept, but believes that more work is necessary to better define the process and procedure.  This concept will be debated in the fall.