Bristol, PA Environmental Rules: Coastal Development (2026)

Bucks County is an inland county located in southeastern Pennsylvania along the non-tidal Delaware River, well upstream of any tidal or marine waters. The county has no Atlantic Ocean, Gulf, or Great Lakes shoreline and is not within any federally designated coastal zone, so there is no county-level coastal-development ordinance and no state coastal permitting program applies. Pennsylvania participates in the federal Coastal Zone Management Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1451 et seq.) through the PA DEP Coastal Resources Management Program, but PA's approved coastal zone covers only (1) the Lake Erie Coastal Zone in Erie County and (2) the Delaware Estuary Coastal Zone, which extends from the Delaware-Pennsylvania state line upstream only to the head of tide at the Falls of the Delaware near Trenton, NJ — the river border between Morrisville Borough (Bucks County) and Trenton marks the upstream terminus of tidal influence. Bucks County sits entirely upstream of that head-of-tide line, placing the county outside the PA Coastal Zone. Riverfront and waterway activity within Bucks County is therefore regulated under: (1) PA Code Title 25 Chapter 105 (Dam Safety and Waterway Management, 25 Pa. Code §§ 105.1 et seq.), administered by PA DEP, which requires permits for dams, fills, dredging, bulkheads, docks, stream crossings, and other obstructions or encroachments in 'regulated waters of this Commonwealth' (watercourses, streams or bodies of water and their floodways); (2) the PA Floodplain Management Act of 1978 (Act 166, 32 P.S. §§ 679.101 et seq.), which delegates floodplain regulation to each of the 54 Bucks County municipalities based on FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs); (3) Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) docket review under the 1961 Delaware River Basin Compact for projects with substantial water-resource impact within the basin; and (4) Chapter 102 Erosion and Sediment Control permits administered locally by the Bucks County Conservation District. Property owners considering riverfront construction, bulkheads, docks, or shoreline stabilization on the Delaware River, Neshaminy Creek, Tohickon Creek, or other Bucks County waterways should apply for the appropriate PA DEP Chapter 105 permit (Joint Permit Application) rather than any coastal-zone permit, and confirm floodplain compliance with the host municipality.