Who is responsible for enforcing the Coastal Area Management Act in North Carolina?
As part of CAMA, the Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) designated Areas of Environmental Concern within the 20 coastal counties and set rules for managing development within these areas. The CRC s rules are administered by the N.C. Division of Coastal Management (DCM), a part of the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The Division of Coastal Management has 14 Coastal Management Representatives who monitor permitted development to ensure compliance with the CRC s rules. They initiate enforcement action when some person or legal entity undertakes development within an Area of Environmental Concern (AEC) without a valid CAMA permit or if any of their permitted work does not comply with an issued permit. The Division is currently putting a Compliance and Enforcement position in each of the four district offices who will be responsible for the majority of the monitoring and enforcement. In addition, there are over 75 Local Permit Officers (LPO s) within the local
