Working group leans toward using Inland Wetlands law to add riparian buffer protections

The Riparian Buffers Working Group met to examine whether vegetated riparian buffers should be added to state law and, if so, whether to place protections under the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act or in municipal zoning rules.

Attorney Janet Brooks, who summarized relevant Connecticut case law, told the panel the key legal obstacle is the Connecticut Supreme Court's 2004 Riverbend decision and related precedent requiring agencies to demonstrate an "actual adverse impact" before regulating upland activities. Brooks said that, because environmental statutes are remedial and construed broadly, "because of the known ecological benefits to the riparian area from natural vegetative cover, agencies are authorized to impose a condition in a permit or in an enforcement order requiring such natural vegetative cover" within legislatively determined widths — language she proposed to avoid requiring expert proof of adverse impact in every permit proceeding.

Denise Savageau, chair of the Connecticut Council on Soil and Water Conservation and president of the Connecticut Association of Conservation Districts, said wetland agencies typically have the technical expertise to evaluate riparian conditions and to set site-specific requirements. She summarized the ecological functions buffers provide: trapping sediment and debris; supporting soil filtration and nutrient removal;…