New Jersey Property Fax

DEP "Special Areas"

Wetlands and Category 1 Waters

Warning: An estimated 49% of all New Jersey Properties fall within a DEP “Special Area”.


Before you buy – Before you build

Are you or a client considering buying undeveloped land, building a home, putting on addition, building a garage? How about putting in a driveway or a pool. In every case, the presence of “DEP Special Areas” may affect where and whether you or your client can buy, build, or develop. In New Jersey and throughout the United States, “Special Areas” are protected on public and private property.

You purchase your dream property, plenty of land, a babbling brook flowing near the back of the property, aahhhh serenity now! You have plans, big plans. Expand the detached one car garage to a three car garage, put in a pool with patio and cabana. BUT WAIT! You apply for the permits and are told the stream near your property is a Category 1 stream. If the proposed plans are within 300 ft of the stream, designated as “special areas”, these areas are protected through various rules and regulations. Any major development defined as 1?4 acre increase in impervious surface or 1 acre of disturbance. Any area within 150 ft of the stream has much higher restrictions.

Many property owners have had projects rejected or modified because of “Wetlands”, which are commonly referred to as swamps, marshes, or bogs. However many wetlands in New Jersey are forested and do not fit the classic picture of a swamp or marsh. Virtually, all activities proposed in the wetland, including cutting of vegetation, dredging, excavation or removal of soil, drainage or disturbance of the water level, filling or discharge of any materials, driving of pilings, and placing of obstructions, within 150 feet of a wetland may be in a transition area and you may need a DEP transition area waiver. (See “Wetlands” below.)


Perform a Wetlands or Category 1 Search for peace of mind.

NJ Property Fax will initiate a search for possible Wetlands or Category 1 Waters, ie; “Special Areas” on your property. A report in pdf form is emailed to you within 24 hours, most reports are completed within a few hours. The report consists of the following map overlays:


  • Property Boundaries
  • Aerial Photography
  • Street Maps
  • DEP “Special Areas” (Wetlands or Category 1 Waters)

Wetlands - Questions and Answers (show/hide all)


Category 1 Waters ? Questions and Answers


Stormwater Management rules, Surface Water Quality Standards, Flood Hazard Area Control Act Rules (opens in a new window)


State?of?the?Art Technology

GIS ? Geographic Information Systems A Geographic Information System (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. GIS allows us to view, understand question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.

NJ Property Fax has all its Wetlands and Category 1 Waters Searches performed by Western Technologies Group, LLC. Western Technologies Group, LLC is a New Jersey mapping company leveraging 20 years of mapping experience, collections of parcel mapping, tax maps, filed sub?division maps and engineering drawings to identify, in real space, property boundaries in New Jersey. This geographic data helps WTG make accurate, timely and informed decisions. WTG is a leader in Tidelands, Flood, Wetlands and Category 1 Waters Searches, for hundreds of Title companies, banks, mortgage companies and Real Property professionals in the US.