Coastal protection and development

ENVIRONMENTAL CODE
(Legislative Part)

Section 1: General provisions

V ° COASTAL

Article L321-1

   I. – The coast is a geographical entity which calls for a specific policy of development, protection and enhancement.
II. – The realization of this policy of general interest implies a coordination of the actions of the State and of the local communities, or of their groups, having for object:
1 ° The implementation of a research and innovation effort relating to the peculiarities and resources of the coast;
2 ° The protection of biological and ecological balances, the fight against erosion, the preservation of sites and landscapes and heritage;
3 ° The preservation and development of economic activities linked to proximity to water, such as fishing, marine farming, port activities, shipbuilding and repair and maritime transport;
4 ° The maintenance or development, in the coastal zone, of agricultural or forestry activities, industry, crafts and tourism.

Article L321-2

   The following are considered to be coastal municipalities, within the meaning of this chapter, the municipalities of metropolitan France and overseas departments:
1 ° Bordering seas and oceans, salt ponds, inland water bodies with an area greater than 1,000 hectares;
2 ° Bordering estuaries and deltas when they are located downstream of the saline limit of the waters and participate in the economic and ecological balances of the coast. The list of these municipalities is fixed by decree in the Council of State, after consultation of the municipal councils concerned.

ENVIRONMENTAL CODE
(Legislative Part)

Section 3: Extraction of materials

Article L321-8

   Extractions of materials not referred to in Article 2 of the Mining Code are limited or prohibited when they risk compromising, directly or indirectly, the integrity of beaches, coastal dunes, cliffs, marshes, mudflats, seagrass areas, spawning grounds , natural deposits of live shellfish and marine culture operations.
This provision may not, however, be an obstacle to dredging work carried out in ports and their channels or to those whose object is the conservation or protection of remarkable natural spaces.

ENVIRONMENTAL CODE
(Legislative Part)

Section 4: Shore access

Article L321-9

Article L321-10

   The other provisions relating to access to the shore are governed by Articles L. 160-6, L. 160-6-1, L. 160-7 and L. 160-8 of the Town Planning Code, hereinafter reproduced:
“Art. L. 160-6. – The private properties bordering the maritime public domain are encumbered on a strip three meters wide by an easement intended to ensure exclusively the passage of pedestrians.
The administrative authority may, by reasoned decision taken after opinion of the municipal council (s) concerned and in view of the result of a public inquiry carried out as in the matter of expropriation:
a) Modify the route or the characteristics of the easement, in order, on the one hand, to ensure, in particular taking into account the presence of obstacles of any kind, the continuity of the path of pedestrians or their free access to the shore of the sea, on the other hand, to take into account pre-existing local roads or rules; the modified route may exceptionally encumber properties not bordering the public maritime domain;
b) Exceptionally, suspend it.
Except in the case where the institution of the easement is the only way to ensure the continuity of the path of pedestrians or their free access to the sea shore, the easement instituted in paragraphs 1 and 2 above cannot encumber the land. located less than fifteen meters from buildings for residential use erected before January 1, 1976, nor encumber land adjoining residential houses and enclosed by walls on January 1, 1976. “

   “Art. L. 160-6-1. A right of way for pedestrians, transverse to the shore, may be instituted on existing private roads and paths for collective use, with the exception of those reserved for professional use, according to the procedure provided for in the second paragraph of article L. 160-6.
The purpose of this easement is to connect the public road to the sea shore or to the paths of immediate access to it, in the absence of a public road located less than five hundred meters and allowing access to the shore.
The provisions of article L. 160-7 are applicable to this easement. ”

“Article L. 160-7 -.. The easement established by Article L. 160-6 opens a right to compensation if the result for the owner a direct, material and certain.
The application for Compensation must, on pain of foreclosure, reach the competent authority within six months from the date on which the damage was caused.The
compensation is fixed either amicably or, in the event of disagreement, under the conditions defined in the second paragraph of article L. 160-5
The amount of the compensation for deprivation of use is calculated taking into account the previous usual use of the land.
The civil liability of the owners of land, roads and paths encumbered by the easements defined in Articles L. 160-6 and L. 160-6-1 cannot be incurred for damage caused or suffered by the beneficiaries of these easements. ”

“Art. L. 160-8. – A Council of State decree specifies the conditions of application of Articles L. 160-6 and L. 160-7 and fixes the date of their entry into force.
The decree provided for in the preceding paragraph also determines the cases in which the distance of fifteen meters fixed in Article L. 160-6 (paragraph 3) may, exceptionally, be reduced. “

ENVIRONMENTAL CODE
(Legislative Part)

Section 5: Structures connecting the islands to the mainland

Article L321-11

ENVIRONMENTAL CODE
(Legislative Part)

Section 6: Maritime transport of passengers to protected areas

Article L321-12