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The Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission: Government that Works
The Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission1 is an independent commission that was created by
the Legislature in 1974 to regulate activity in a 400 square-mile watershed that flows into the
Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park.2 The Commission is in, but not of, the DEP.3
The Commission protects the Park as a State and National Historic District, a recreational area for
over one-million visitors per year and as a drinking water source for approximately one-and-a-halfmillion
people.
Commissioners and Staff
The eight commissioners appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate are
not compensated for their time and work in any manner. They do not receive a salary or pension
credits, nor do they receive reimbursement for travel or any other costs associated with their
appointments.
Commission staff, when all positions are filled, consists of:
• An Executive Director
• An Administrative Analyst
• An Administrative Assistant
• Two engineers who each work one day per week.
Commission funding
The Commission is revenue neutral; it is funded by project-review fees. In FY 10, the Commission
ran a surplus in excess of $34,000.
The Commission’s stream corridor regulatory protections, along with its easement program, have
resulted in one of the largest riparian-corridor protections in the state. And it contains hundreds of
acres of stream corridor plant restorations, likely one of the largest restoration efforts undertaken in
NJ—again, at no cost to the State.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DEP REGULATORY PROGRAMS AND DRCC REGULATIONS
Overall Jurisdiction
DEP – has jurisdiction over projects with elements within flood hazard areas and riparian zones and/or
activities in freshwater wetlands, transition areas and open waters. The Flood Hazard Area regulations
specifically exempt canals from regulation. DEP may not regulate the entire project site.
DRCC – regulates the entire project site within the watershed of the Canal if a municipal approval is
required or if it is a public project.
Threshold for Stormwater Impact Review
DEP – regulates projects that add 0.25 acre of new impervious cover and/or 1 acre of disturbance.
DRCC – regulates projects that, cumulatively since January 1980, exceed 0.25 acre of impervious cover
or (for individual projects) 1 acre of disturbance. This threshold is analogous to how DEP tracks and
regulates CAFRA projects.
DEP – if a project is being built on an area of existing imperious cover, no water quality treatment is
required.
DRCC – if a project disturbs over 1 acre of existing impervious area, the applicant is required to address
water quality requirements. If the project site drains into the Canal, that threshold is lowered to 0.5 acre
of disturbance.
DEP – does not prohibit new sources of stormwater from entering water supplies. The D&R Canal is the
only water supply in the state that is not designated as a C 1 surface water classification.
DRCC – new sources of stormwater are prohibited into waterways that drain into the canal. If the
applicant demonstrates that this prohibits any development on the site then the discharged stormwater
must be treated to meet 95% removal of total suspended solids and other forms of water quality
improvements must be implemented as specified in the regulations. The Commission’s regulations have
given the equivalent or greater of C 1 protection to this water supply with a common sense approach.
Stream corridor buffers
DEP – wetlands buffers are 0’, 50’, or 150” depending on the type of wetland. Riparian buffers under the
Flood Hazard Area Regulations are 50’, 150’ or 300’ from the top of bank: 300’ for C1 streams, 150’ for
those streams that have trout production or habitat for threatened and endangered species and 50’ for all
other streams.
DRCC – stream corridor buffers consist of the 100-year floodplain plus 100 feet for all streams entering
the park. For those streams and areas that discharge into the Canal the stream corridor buffers are the
100-year flood plain plus 100 feet or 300 feet from the top of bank, whichever is greater.
Conservation Easement Monitoring
DEP - Conservation easements are required when an applicant is granted approval of a Transition Area
Averaging plan. DEP has no established program for monitoring the easements that they hold, nor to the
best of my knowledge even a database where they are tracked.
DRCC - The Commission requires Conservation Easements on stream corridor buffers for approved
projects. These easements are entered in to both a database and GIS coverage. The stream corridors
are inspected on a rotational basis and infractions resolved.
Protection of the Historic District (The Canal Park is both a State and Federal Historic District)
DEP – The State Historic Preservation Office only regulates projects involving Federal or State funding.
DRCC – reviews ALL projects, either public or private, within Review Zone A (1,000’ from the center line
of the Canal) for their potential impact on the historic district. There is less than a 5% overlap with
projects reviewed by both offices. Under the Commission’s regulations, this office coordinates any
reviews that overlap.
Review Time Frames
DEP – Flood Hazard Area regulations – 90 days with deemer clause (frequent requests for extension on
the 90th day). Freshwater Wetlands Protection Regulations – guidelines for various permits with no
deemer clause
DRCC – 45 days with deemer clause (only one missed deadline in the past 6 years due to a lack of
quorum).
D&R CANAL COMMISSION RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATION FOR ABOLISHMENT
Reasoning provided in Commissioner Martin’s EO 15 document for abolishing the Canal
Commission:
“Currently, DEP staff in the Land Use Regulation Program are responsible for permits and the Historic
Preservation Office protect the State Park, Canal and adjacent lands. The Division of Parks and
Forestry are responsible for operations.”
Statutory creation:
The D&R Canal Commission (Canal Commission) was created by statute to create a Master Plan for
the development of the D&R Canal State Park (Canal Park) and to implement a regulatory program to
ensure that government and private projects are designed to comply with the Master Plan. The Canal
Commission protects the Canal Park as a State and National Historic District, recreational area for
over one million visitors per year, and drinking water source for approximately one and a half million
people.
Commissioners:
The eight Commissioners appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate are
not compensated for their time and work in any manner. They do not receive a salary or pension
credits, nor do they receive reimbursement for travel or any other costs associated with their
appointments.
Commission staff:
Canal Commission staff consists of three full time employees and two engineers that work one day
per week.
Commission funding:
Two years ago the Legislature amended the statute to provide the Canal Commission with the ability
to charge fees. The Canal Commission is now revenue neutral, as its funding is provided by the fees
charged for the review of projects.
Regulatory program:
Reviews of development projects are completed within 30 days after receiving an application. The
Canal Commission is required by statute to make a decision on a complete application within 45 days
or the application is automatically deemed approved. Since the Canal Commission meets only once
a month, the majority of decisions are made in time frames significantly less than 45 days. In the 30-
year history that the regulations have been in place, less than 10 projects have been automatically
approved because the Canal Commission did not meet its statutorily mandated 45-day clock. This
track record is unparalleled among any other regulatory agency in the State.
Development projects are reviewed for their impact on stormwater runoff, stream corridors, and
visual/historic impacts on the D&R Canal and the Canal Park. The EO 15 report asserts that this
permitting can be accomplished by DEP’s Land Use Regulation Program. However, there is less
than a 10% overlap of projects requiring review by both the Canal Commission and the Land Use
Regulation Program. Even for those projects requiring both reviews, the DEP may not review all the
impacts of a project that the Canal Commission does. The Canal Commission’s regulations are more
protective of water quantity and quality and also more comprehensive than DEP’s regulations. For
example, the Canal Commission’s regulations prohibit new discharge of stormwater into the Canal
and waterways that feed into the canal. The minor overlap of development impacts that are reviewed
by both agencies could easily be addressed by including the Canal Commission in the pilot program
the DEP is developing to delegate stormwater reviews to municipalities. This approach was
suggested during the Permit Efficiency Review Task Force.
The Canal Commission’s stream corridor regulations are more comprehensive than comparable rules
at DEP. The protection of these corridors is critical to improving and maintaining water quality
entering the Canal and Canal Park, and to allow these areas to continue to store and mitigate storm
water that may contribute to flooding. The Commission holds Conservation Easements for these
corridors prohibiting any future development on them, a land preservation technique that involves no
expense to the State of New Jersey. Currently the Commission has preserved and monitors over
5,000 acres of riparian buffers in the drainage basin of the canal.
The EO 15 report asserts that the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) protects the Canal Park
and adjacent land. However, the SHPO’s authority is limited to only those projects that use State or
federal funding and are located within the Canal Historic District. For example, a private developer
could build a modern high rise building on private property on the banks of the Canal, thereby
destroying its historic setting, because the SHPO does not have the authority to regulate it. The
Canal Commission’s review authority for historic impact covers a greater area surrounding the Canal
Park and reviews all projects, both private and governmental. In fact, less than 10% of the projects
reviewed by the Canal Commission are reviewed by the SHPO for their impact on the Canal Park’s
historic character. Because of this much larger review authority, the Canal Commission’s protective
actions have greatly enhanced the Canal Park as one of New Jersey’s natural and historic jewels, not
only because the park itself is being protected, but because the Canal Commission helps preserve
the historic context of lands adjacent to it.
The Canal Commission coordinates the actions of several State agencies, four counties, and 22
municipalities adjoining the Park. This coordination guides proposed development in and adjacent to
the Park and its drainage basin based on a regional Master Plan, to ensure that individual projects
and interests do not adversely affect this regional resource.
A primary purpose of the Commission is to have citizen oversight of public and private projects that
impact the Canal Park and its water supply for 1.5 million residents of New Jersey. Impartial
oversight of public projects, particularly those proposed by the DEP, cannot be accomplished without
the current separate authority housed at the Commission. Without this separation, the state would be
reviewing its own projects for consistency and we would lose the impartial decision-making currently
in place.
Because it is regional and yet small, the Commission’s regulatory program is flexible enough to try
new techniques. As a consequence the Commission was the first agency in the State to regulate
stormwater runoff regulations on a watershed basis—protecting the downstream communities from
their upstream neighbors; it was the first agency to protect a historic resource on a regional basis;
and it was the first to require protection of riparian buffers along streams. The Commission is
repeatedly told by applicants that its regulatory program is the most efficiently run program in the
State.
Canal Park Improvements:
Although the EO 15 report’s assertion is correct in that the Division of Parks and Forestry is
responsible for the Canal Park’s operations, since 1974 the Canal Commission has generated in
excess of $20 million in direct improvements to the Canal Park through its regulatory and planning
program. In 2009 alone, the following improvements were made to the park through mitigation
required by the Canal Commission for project approval: restoration of the East Millstone Canal
House by Canal Walk developers, a negotiated $2 million contribution for a reproduction historic
swing bridge from the DRJTB Commission; restoration of the Hanover Street Canal House by
Thomas Edison College; improvements at the 5-Mile Lock access area and funding for pedestrian
bridge at Easton Avenue by PSE&G; and NJTA stream corridor mitigation.
These projects could not have been accomplished with the Division of Parks and Forestry’s budget
for capital improvements. The Canal Commission has also forged a path with its sister agencies to
complete improvements that would not have happened without its leadership, such as the pedestrian
bridge over Route One and the “missing link” path segment in Trenton that now makes the Canal
Park a continuous 60-mile recreational path.
Since the Canal Commission was created in 1974 central New Jersey has experienced explosive
growth, yet the view from the Canal Park towpath remains much like it was in the 19th century. That
is because the Canal Commission set standards for development in the canal corridor that no other
regulatory agency will be able to maintain or match. Abolishing the Canal Commission will not save
New Jersey taxpayers any money and it will certainly lead to a degradation of central New Jersey’s
most used and greatly loved Park.