(a) The General Assembly finds and declares that: (1) The Chesapeake and the Atlantic Coastal Bays and their tributaries are natural resources of great significance to the State and the nation, and their beauty, their ecological value, and their economic impact all reach far beyond any one local jurisdiction; (2) The shoreline and adjacent lands, particularly the buffer areas, constitute a valuable, fragile, and sensitive part of this estuarine system, where human activity can have a particularly immediate and adverse impact on water quality and natural habitats; (3) The capacity of these shoreline and adjacent lands to withstand continuing demands, including climate change, without further degradation to water quality and natural habitats is limited; (4) Human activity is harmful in these shoreline areas, where the new development of nonwater-dependent structures and uses or an increase in lot coverage is presumed to be contrary to the purpose of this subtitle, because these activities may cause or amplify adverse impacts, of both an immediate and a long- term nature, to the Chesapeake and the Atlantic Coastal Bays, and thus it is necessary wherever possible to maintain a buffer of at least 100 feet landward from the mean high water line of tidal waters, tributary streams, and tidal wetlands; (5) National studies have documented that the quality and productivity of the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries have declined due to the cumulative effects of human activity that have caused increased levels of pollutants, nutrients, and toxics in the Bay system and declines in more protective land uses such as forestland and agricultural land in the Bay region; (6) Those portions of the Chesapeake and the Atlantic Coastal Bays and their tributaries within Maryland are particularly stressed by the continuing population growth and development activity concentrated in the Baltimore- Washington metropolitan corridor and along the Atlantic Coast; (7) The quality of life for the citizens of Maryland is enhanced through the restoration of the quality and productivity of the waters of the Chesapeake and the Atlantic Coastal Bays and their tributaries in a manner in which burdens and benefits are distributed equitably; (8) The restoration of the Chesapeake and the Atlantic Coastal Bays and their tributaries is dependent, in part, on minimizing further adverse impacts to the water quality and natural habitats of the shoreline and adjacent lands, and enhancing the natural resources in the Critical Area, particularly in the buffer; (9) The cumulative impact of current development and of each new development activity in the buffer is inimical to these purposes, and it is therefore imperative that State law protect irreplaceable State buffer resources from unpermitted activity; (10) There is a critical and substantial State interest for the benefit of current and future generations in fostering more sensitive development and more effective enforcement in a consistent and uniform manner along shoreline areas of the Chesapeake and the Atlantic Coastal Bays and their tributaries so as to minimize damage to water quality and natural habitats; (11) There is a critical and substantial State interest in developing policies and strategies to better mitigate, prepare for, and adapt to the consequences of climate change along the State's shorelines, including sea level rise, storm surge, precipitation-induced flooding, and other extreme weather events and to enhance the resilience of the State's shorelines by identifying, restoring, creating, and conserving existing natural and nature-based features; (12) There is a critical and substantial State interest in ensuring the equitable distribution of the benefits and burdens of development, restoration, mitigation, and conservation along the State's shorelines and in ensuring equitable representation and participation in these processes; and (13) The inclusion of incentive-based programs to ensure development is compatible with projected climate impacts and coastal hazards is vital to the State's goal of addressing climate resiliency. (b) It is the purpose of the General Assembly in enacting this subtitle: (1) To establish a Resource Protection Program for the Chesapeake and the Atlantic Coastal Bays and their tributaries by fostering more sensitive development activity for certain shoreline areas so as to minimize damage to water quality and natural habitats; and (2) To implement the Resource Protection Program on a cooperative basis between the State and affected local governments, with local governments establishing and implementing their programs in a consistent, uniform, and equitable manner subject to State and local leadership, criteria, and oversight.
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