The Coastal Area layer is a 1:24,000-scale, polygon feature-based layer that includes the land and waters that lie within the Coastal Area as defined by Connecticut General Statute (C.G.S.) 22a-94(a).  Activities and actions conducted within the coastal area by Federal and State Agencies (i.e., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE), DEP regulatory programs, and state plans and actions) must be consistent with all of the applicable standards and criteria contained in the Connecticut Coastal Management Act (C.G.S. 22a-90 to 22a-113). A subset of the Coastal Area, the Coastal Boundary, represents an area within which activities regulated or conducted by coastal municipalities must be consistent with the Coastal Management Act.

As defined in this section of the statutes, the Coastal Area includes the land and water within the area delineated by the following:  the westerly, southerly and easterly limits of the state's jurisdiction in Long Island Sound; the towns of Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Norwalk, Westport, Fairfield, Bridgeport, Stratford, Shelton, Milford, Orange, West Haven, New Haven, Hamden, North Haven, East Haven, Branford, Guilford, Madison, Clinton, Westbrook, Deep River, Chester, Essex, Old Saybrook, Lyme, Old Lyme, East Lyme, Waterford, New London, Montville, Norwich, Preston, Ledyard, Groton and Stonington.  This layer includes a single polygon feature defined by the boundaries described above.  Attribute information is comprised of an Av_Legend to denote the coastal area.  Data is compiled at 1:24,000 scale. This data is not updated.

The Coastal Area layer is 1:24,000-scale data. It depicts the location of the Connecticut Coastal Area as defined by Connecticut General Statute C.G.S. 22a-94(a). Use this layer to show the Coastal Area.  Use this layer with other 1:24,000-scale map data such as the Coastal Boundary, Town Boundaries, Roads and Trails, Airports, Railroads and other base map data derived from the USGS 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle maps and compiled at a 1:24000 scale.  Not intended for maps printed at map scales greater or more detailed than 1:24,000 scale (1 inch = 2,000 feet.)

publication date

None. The data is in the public domain and may be redistributed.

None. No restrictions or legal prerequisites for using the data.  Note, the data is not intended for maps printed at map scales greater or more detailed than 1:24,000 scale (1 inch = 2,000 feet.)  Once acquired, any modification made to the data must be noted in the metadata. When printing this information on a map or using it in a software application, analysis, or report, please acknowledge the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection as the source for this information.

Information encoded about the Coastal Area is limited.  Use the Av_Legend attribute to denote the coastal area.  The CAREA_FLG attribute also designates the coastal area and is represented by a "T" (True) value.  The remaining attributes are software generated and include identification, area, and length attributes.  

Coastal Area represented as a single polygon

This layer consists of a single polygon that was derived from polygons in the Towns layer, which is also published by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection.  The Towns layer depicts Connecticut town boundaries and the state jurisdiction line in Long Island Sound at 1:24,000 scale.  Polygon features conform to the following topological rules. Polygons are single part. There are no duplicate polygons. Polygons do not self overlap. Polygons do not overlap other polygons.  The tests of logical consistency were performed by the State of Connecticut using ESRI ArcInfo software to maintain feature topology in ArcInfo coverage format. The data is topologically clean. The ArcInfo Clean function was repeatedly used following edits to verify topology and enforce a minimum distance between vertices of 4 feet (fuzzy tolerance) and a minimum allowed overshoot length of 10 feet (dangle length).

The Coastal Area layer is complete in the sense that it accurately reflects the coastal area as defined in Connecticut State Statute 22a-94(a).  This data is not updated.

There is only one polygon feature in the Coastal Area Layer.  The Av_Legend attribute value is "In coastal area", CAREA_Flg holds the value of "T" (True for coastal area), and the Shape_Area and Shape_Length attribute values are automatically calculated.  The attributes have valid values.

The horizontal positional accuracy of this data complies with the United States National Map Accuracy Standards for 1:24,000 scale maps. According to this standard, not more than 10 percent of the locations tested are to be in error by more than 1/50 inch (40 feet) measured on the publication scale of a USGS 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle map. 

Coastal Area

Geographic information sytem (GIS), computer-aided drawing or other mapping software is necessary to display, view and access the information.

The data distributor does not provide custom GIS analysis or mapping services. Data is available in a standard format and may be converted to other formats, projections, coordinate systems, or selected for specific geographic regions by the party receiving the data.