To create this statewide tidelands layer, the following additional processing steps were undertaken: The riparian claims lines were first selected from each individual tidelands map and appended together using the ARCINFO APPEND command. A polygon layer was created from this appended layer by using the CLEAN command with the polygon option. This was done so that areas claimed under the riparian law could be easily identified in the composite layer. Once cleaned, an attribute, STATUS, was added to the .pat of the coverage. All areas being claimed under the riparian law, i.e. all areas mapped as being now or formerly flowed at below mean high water in each of the individual tidelands maps, could then be identified, and given the STATUS value of 'CLAIMED'. All other polygon areas were given a STATUS value of 'UNCLAIMED' to indicate that these areas were not flowed at or below mean high water, and are not part of the NJ riparian claim. Once all of the polygons in the appended riparian coverage were evaluated and attributed, the grid with all of the individual tidelands map boundaries and map identifiers was joined with the polygon claim coverage using the ARCINFO UNION command (JOIN option; .01 fuzzy tolerance). This coverage was checked to insure that all areas within the tidelands grid boundaries were properly attributed with the correct STATUS value. Following this check, the layer was converted to a shapefile for posting and distribution. Users of this combined statewide tidelands layer are cautioned that this layer is to be used as a reference layer only. Only the actual promulgated tidelands maps, at the production scale of 1:2400, can be used to locate the legally valid tidelands riparian claim line.
This layer was initially created as a composite of the individual tidelands maps at 1:2400 scale and the riparian claims lines. The topological errors from the tidelands grid layer were introduced into this dataset when the composite was made. Since the claimed and unclaimed areas broken up into grids, it was not possible to get an accurate measure of the area symbolizing data was cumbersome. To update the statewide tidelands layer, the following processing steps were performed: The dissolve geoprocessing tool was used to aggregate the claimed and unclaimed features into a single polygon. This successfully removed a majority of grid outlines. The integrate geoprocessing tool was used to initially fix the integrity of the feature boundaries due to gaps or overlapping features. Setting a small xy tolerance of 0.005 helped make feature boundaries coincident while preserving the original shape. The dissolve geoprocessing tool was used again to aggregate the claimed and unclaimed features into a single polygon. The remaining area's that were affected by the topological errors of the grid itself were manually modified by hand. In order to perform the manual changes, the topologically affected areas had to be clipped out and stored in a temporary polygon feature class. The corresponding clipped area was erased from the primary set. In order to fix the topological errors in the temporary feature class, additional vertices were added or existing vertices were removed to make boundaries coincident. Once all changes were made to the temporary feature class, it was appended back into the primary feature class and dissolved to aggreate claimed and unclaimed features. Dissolving the features based on claim status introduced additional errors due to the max number of vertices that can be stored in a single feature. Features with too many vertices are automatically split into multiple parts. This was resolved by breaking the claimed and unclaimed areas into regions. The regions are based on the tidelands regions map which can be found here: https://www.state.nj.us/dep/gis/digidownload/images/tidelands/tide_regions.gif. The regions feature class was created using the topologically fixed tidelands grid layer and dissolving grids based on region name. The union geoprocessing tool was used to compute the geometric union of the regions layer and tidelands area. The dissolve tool was run an additional time to dissolve features based on region and status. The layer was checked to insure that all topological errors were removed. The integrity of the claimed boundary was checked against the original layer to ensure that no major changes were made to the boundary shape.
The original tidelands delineation of Tidelands Map 077-1968 was modified on March 10, 2014, within map blocks 081-1970 and 082-1970. The 1972 filed wetlands upper wetlands boundary line (UWB) replaced the 1977 aerial photography source in the northeastern portion of the block to predate artificially change. A photographic review showed this area of the shoreline was artificially filled between March 15, 1974 and July 19, 1977, the dates of the aerial photography. The 1972 source was used because there is no change in the shoreline (based on an examination of aerial photography) between 1972 and 1974. The 1972 wetlands base map 077-1968 upper wetlands boundary line identified the area out shore of the line as high vigor spartina alternaflora or “A”, which always grows below the elevation of mean high water. The 1974 source was used as a collateral source to show the site was not filled until after March 15, 1974, which is within the 40-year period before the date of the map filing and therefore meets the requirement of the 1981 Constitutional Amendment. This map was refiled with the Borough of Stone Harbor and the County of Cape Map on March 14, 2014, one day before the 40- year window closed on March 15, 2014. It should also be noted that all other delineations on this map were filed before November 1982 when the 1981 Constitutional Amendment went into effect, and those tidelands delineations remain fully in force. Note: The Constitutional Amendment, adopted in the general election of November 3, 1981, precludes the State from asserting a claim to formerly flowed tidelands, which may have been dry of the mean high tide for 40 years. Tidelands claims that cannot be asserted because the filling of a watercourse occurred more than 40 years prior are deemed to be time-barred. Digital updates to these areas were performed on this data layer in February 2019. Map 077-1968, updated in 2014, was scanned and georeferenced to match the surrounding unchanged claim line areas. The new claim line areas were then digitized and joined to the remainder of the existing line. The out of date line areas were removed.