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Commission reissues preapproved variance allowing living shorelines instead of bulkheads
Summary
The commission voted to reissue a five-year preapproved variance that lets qualifying living shoreline projects use minor fill without the full variance process, aligning permitting limits with Corps of Engineers nationwide permit thresholds and requiring native plants and monitoring.
The Mississippi Advisory Commission on Marine Resources voted to reissue a five-year preapproved variance that authorizes limited "living shoreline" projects in coastal wetlands without the full variance and public-notice steps that previously applied.
Resource Management staff member Willa Grantley told commissioners the variance implements an alternative to traditional bulkheads and riprap for qualifying residential projects and brings living shoreline projects to parity with bulkhead permits. She described the rule change as an update to "Mississippi Administrative Code 22 Part 23" permitting and said the department has issued about 10 to 15 of these authorizations in recent years.
Grantley said project parameters include a maximum of 500 linear feet of shoreline, and that other limits align with Corps of Engineers nationwide-permit thresholds: projects may extend no more than 35 feet or 25% of the width of the waterway where applicable. She said applicants must use native plants, monitor and remove invasives, and that shoreline accretion from projects will not change property boundaries; GPS points for mean high water are recorded when needed.
"We recommend reissuance of preapproved variants for projects that meet the parameters and limitations of the waiver for living shorelines," Grantley told the commission. Commissioners asked technical questions about mudflats and restoration sites; Grantley said living shoreline projects can be appropriate where marsh has been lost and restoration is feasible, but staff will evaluate habitat tradeoffs.
A commissioner moved, another seconded, and the commission approved the reissuance. Recorded in the meeting transcript were two affirmative votes and the chair declared the motion carried.
The variance had been originally authorized in October 2020; staff said coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Secretary of State's office occurred during the initial implementation and will continue. Notices were published in the Sun Herald and sent to county governments; no public comments were recorded in the department's outreach summary for this reissuance.
The measure clarifies permit processing for small-scale living shoreline projects while preserving Corps-aligned limits and biological safeguards, officials said.
