https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIX/Chapter131/Section40

This document is a plain-language translation of the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act (WPA). It was written to assist those seeking to better understand the Massachusetts WPA. This document presents the actual text of the Act side by side with a plain language presentation.

Italics are used where a reasonable assumption is made, but clarification may be needed.

Helpful links may be included in certain words or phrases in the plain language sections.

Please note that this effort is a voluntary citizen activity, and the author doesn’t claim to be a legal expert. You should always consult a legal expert if you need advice on these matters, if you are able to. Lacking that, you should real the actual text yourself and at least discuss it with others. At some point, a forum of some type may be installed for that purpose on this web site.

TOOLTIPS: Some words are underlined, indicating that you may hover over the word for a tooltip containing a definition. If there is a link in the tooltip, you may click on the defined term to access the link.

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Actual text:

The term ”swamps”, as used in this section, shall mean areas where ground water is at or near the surface of the ground for a significant part of the growing season or where runoff water from surface drainage frequently collects above the soil surface, and where a significant part of the vegetational community is made up of, but not limited to nor necessarily include all of the following plants or groups of plants: alders (Alnus), ashes (Fraxinus), azaleas (Rhododendron canadense and R. viscosum), black alder (Ilex verticillata), black spruce (Picea mariana), button bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), American or white elm (Ulmus americana), white Hellebore (Veratrum viride), hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), larch (Larix laricina), cowslip (Caltha palustris), poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix), red maple (Acer rubrum), skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), sphagnum mosses (Sphagnum), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), black gum tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), sweet pepper bush (Clethra alnifolia), white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), willow (Salicaceae).

Actual text:

The term ”wet meadows”, as used in this section where ground water is at the surface for a significant part of the growing season and near the surface throughout the year and where a significant part of the vegetational community is composed of various grasses, sedges and rushes; made up of, but not limited to nor necessarily including all, of the following plants or groups of plants: blue flag (Iris), vervain (Verbena), thoroughwort (Eupatorium), dock (Rumex), false loosestrife (Ludwigia), hydrophilic grasses (Gramincae), loosestrife (Lythrum), marsh fern (Dryopteris thelypteris), rushes (Juncaceae), sedges (Cyperaceae), sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis), smartweed (Polygonum).

Actual text:

The term ”marshes”, as used in this section, shall mean areas where a vegetational community exists in standing or running water during the growing season and where a significant part of the vegetational community is composed of, but not limited to nor necessarily including all, of the following plants or groups of plants: arums (Araceae), bladder worts (Utricularia), bur reeds (Sparganiaceae), button bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), cattails (Typha), duck weeds (Lemnaceae), eelgrass (Vallisneria), frog bits (Hydrocharitaceae), horsetails (Equisetaceae), hydrophilic grasses (Gramineae), leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), pickerel weeds (Pontederiaceae), pipeworts (Eriocaulon), pond weeds (Potamogeton), rushes (Juncaceae), sedges (Cyperaceae), smartweeds (Polygonum), sweet gale (Myrica gale) water milfoil (Halcragaceae), water lilies (Nymphaeaceae), water starworts (Callitrichaceae), water willow (Decodon verticillatus).

Actual text:

The term ”Densely developed areas”, as used in this section shall mean, any area of ten acres or more that is being utilized, or includes existing vacant structures or vacant lots formerly utilized as of January first, nineteen hundred and forty-four or sooner for, intensive industrial, commercial, institutional, or residential activities or combinations of such activities, including, but not limited to the following: manufacturing, fabricating, wholesaling, warehousing, or other commercial or industrial activities; retail trade and service activities; medical and educational institutions; residential dwelling structures at a density of three or more per two acres; and mixed or combined patterns of the above. Designation of a densely developed area is subject to the secretary of the executive office of environmental affair’s approval of a city or town’s request for such designation. Land which is zoned for intensive use but is not being utilized for such use as of January first, nineteen hundred and ninety-seven or which has been subdivided no later than May first, nineteen hundred and ninety-six shall not be considered a densely developed area for the purposes of this chapter.

Actual text:

The term ”Mean annual high-water line”, as used in this section, shall mean with respect to a river, the line that is apparent from visible markings or changes in the character of soils or vegetation due to the prolonged presence of water and which distinguishes between predominantly aquatic and predominantly terrestrial land. The mean high tide line shall serve as the mean annual high water line for tidal rivers.

Actual text:

The term ”River”, as used in this section, shall mean a natural flowing body of water that empties to any ocean, lake, or other river and which flows throughout the year.

Actual text:

The term ”Riverfront area”, as used in this section, shall mean that area of land situated between a river’s mean annual high-water line and a parallel line located two hundred feet away, measured outward horizontally from the river’s mean annual high-water line. This definition shall not create a buffer zone, so-called, beyond such riverfront area. Riverfront areas within municipalities with (i) a population of ninety thousand or more persons or (ii) a population density greater than nine thousand persons per square mile, as determined by the nineteen hundred and ninety federal census; (iii) that are within densely developed areas as defined herein; (iv) land in Waltham between the Charles river on the north, and the Crescent street and Pine street on the south, and the intersection of the Charles river and a line extended from the center line of Walnut street on the west, and the railroad right-of-way now or formerly of the Boston and Maine Railroad on the east; or (v) property located in the town of Milton shown on Milton assessors Map G, Block 56, Lot 13, located on 2 Granite Avenue shall be defined as that area of land situated between a river’s mean annual high-water line and a parallel line located twenty-five feet away, measured outward horizontally, from the river’s mean annual high-water line. The riverfront area shall not include land now or formerly associated with historic mill complexes including, but not limited to, the mill complexes in the Cities of Holyoke, Taunton, Fitchburg, Haverhill, Methuen and Medford in existence prior to nineteen hundred and forty-six and situated landward of the waterside facade of a retaining wall, building, sluiceway, or other structure existing on the effective date of this act. The riverfront area shall not apply to any mosquito control work done under the provisions of clause (36) of section five of chapter forty, of chapter two hundred and fifty-two or of any special act or to forest harvesting conducted in accordance with a cutting plan approved by the department of environmental management, under the provisions of sections forty to forty-six, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and thirty-two; and shall not include any area beyond one hundred feet of river’s mean annual high water mark: in which maintenance of drainage and flooding systems of cranberry bogs occurs; in which agricultural land use or aquacultural use occur; to construction, expansion, repair, maintenance or other work on piers, docks, wharves, boat houses, coastal engineering structures, landings, and all other structures and activities subject to licensing or permitting under chapter ninety-one and its regulations; provided that such structures and activities shall remain subject to statutory and regulatory requirements under chapter ninety-one and section forty of chapter one hundred and thirty-one or is the site of any project authorized by special act prior to January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-three.

Actual text:

The term ”Riverfront area boundary line”, as used in this section, shall mean the line located at the outside edge of the riverfront area.

Actual text:

The conservation commission, selectmen or mayor receiving notice under this section shall hold a public hearing on the proposed activity within twenty-one days of the receipt of said notice. Notice of the time and place of said hearing shall be given by the hearing authority at the expense of the applicant, not less than five days prior to such hearing, by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or town where the activity is proposed and by mailing a notice to the applicant and to the board of health and the planning board of said city or town. The conservation commission and its agents, officers and employees and the commissioner of environmental protection and his agents and employees, may enter upon privately owned land for the purpose of performing their duties under this section. No conditions shall be imposed, nor shall any determination be rendered by a conservation commission, in reference to this section, unless the conservation commission meets with a quorum present.

Actual text:

If after said hearing the conservation commission, selectmen or mayor, as the case may be, determine that the area on which the proposed work is to be done is significant to public or private water supply, to the groundwater supply, to flood control, to storm damage prevention, to prevention of pollution, to protection of land containing shellfish, to the protection of wildlife habitat or to the protection of fisheries or to the protection of the riverfront area consistent with the following purposes: to protect the private or public water supply; to protect the ground water; to provide flood control; to prevent storm damage; to prevent pollution; to protect land containing shellfish; to protect wildlife habitat; and to protect the fisheries, such conservation commission, board of selectmen or mayor shall by written order within twenty-one days of such hearing impose such conditions as will contribute to the protection of the interests described herein, and all work shall be done in accordance therewith. If the conservation commission, selectmen or mayor, as the case may be, make a determination that the proposed activity does not require the imposition of such conditions, the applicant shall be notified of such determination within twenty-one days after said hearing. Such order or notification shall be signed by the mayor or a majority of the conservation commission or board of selectmen, as the case may be, and a copy thereof shall be sent forthwith to the applicant and to the department.

Actual text:

If a conservation commission has failed to hold a hearing within the twenty-one day period as required, or if a commission, after holding such a hearing has failed within twenty-one days therefrom to issue an order, or if a commission, upon a written request by any person to determine whether this section is applicable to any work, fails within twenty-one days to make said determination, or where an order does issue from said commission, the applicant, any person aggrieved by said commission’s order or failure to act, or any owner of land abutting the land upon which the proposed work is to be done, or any ten residents of the city or town in which said land is located, may, by certified mail and within ten days from said commission’s order or failure to act, request the department of environmental protection to determine whether the area on which the proposed work is to be done is significant to public or private water supply, to the groundwater supply, to flood control, to storm damage prevention, to prevention of pollution, to protection of land containing shellfish, to the protection of wildlife habitat or to the protection of fisheries or to the protection of the riverfront area consistent with the following purposes: to protect the private or public water supply; to protect the ground water; to provide flood control; to prevent storm damage; to prevent pollution; to protect land containing shellfish; to protect wildlife habitat; and to protect the fisheries. The commissioner of environmental protection or his designee also may request such a determination within said ten days. The party making any such request shall at the same time send a copy thereof by certified mail to the conservation commission, board of selectmen or mayor which conducted the hearing hereunder. If such party is other than the applicant, a copy of such request shall also be sent at the same time by certified mail to the applicant. Upon receipt of such request the department shall make the determination requested and shall by written order issued within seventy days of receipt of such request and signed by the commissioner or his designee, impose such conditions as will contribute to the protection of the interests described herein; provided, however, that said department shall notify the applicant within thirty days of the receipt of such request if his application or request is not in proper form or is lacking information or documentation necessary to make the determination. Such order shall supersede the prior order of the conservation commission, board of selectmen or mayor, and all work shall be done in accordance therewith, but in no event shall any work commence until ten days have elapsed following the issuance of said order. In the case of riverfront areas, no order issued by a conservation commission, board of selectmen, mayor, or the department shall permit any work unless the applicant, in addition to meeting the otherwise applicable requirements of this section, has proved by a preponderance of the evidence that (1) such work, including proposed mitigation measures, will have no significant adverse impact on the riverfront area for the following purposes: to protect the private or public water supply; to protect the ground water; to provide flood control; to prevent storm damage; to prevent pollution; to protect land containing shellfish; to protect wildlife habitat; and to protect the fisheries, and (2) there is no practicable and substantially equivalent economic alternative to the proposed project with less adverse effects on such purposes. An alternative is practicable and substantially economically equivalent if it is available and capable of being done after taking into consideration: costs, and whether such costs are reasonable or prohibitive to the owner; existing technology; the proposed use; and logistics in light of overall project purposes. For activities associated with access for one dwelling unit, the area under consideration for practicable alternatives will be limited to the lot; provided, that said lot shall be on file with the registry of deeds as of the August first, nineteen hundred and ninety-six. For other activities including, but not limited to, the creation of a real estate subdivision, the area under consideration shall be the subdivided lots, any parcel out of which the lots were created, and any other parcels that are adjacent to such parcel or adjacent through other parcels formerly or presently owned by the same owner at any time on or after August first, nineteen hundred and ninety-six or any land which can reasonably be obtained; provided, that an ownership interest can reasonably be obtained after taking into consideration: cost, and whether such cost is reasonable or prohibitive to the owner; existing technology; the proposed use; and logistics in light of overall project purposes. At any time prior to a final order of determination by the department, any party requesting a determination may in writing withdraw the request, and such withdrawal shall be effective upon receipt by the department. Notwithstanding the withdrawal, the commissioner or his designee may continue the determination if he notifies all parties within ten days of receipt of the withdrawal. A copy of such order shall be sent to the applicant, to the conservation commission, board of selectmen or mayor which conducted the hearing hereunder. As used in this section the words ”wildlife habitat” shall mean those areas subject to this section which, due to their plant community composition and structure, hydrologic regime or other characteristics, provide important food, shelter, migratory or overwintering areas, or breeding areas for wildlife.