The Town of Barnstable’s Wetlands Buffer Zone Regulation Summary acknowledges that accelerated sea level rise will result in increased coastal erosion processes and impact land erosion, storm drainage, flooding and wetland loss. To address these impacts, the Town of Barnstable requires fifty-foot buffer zones for any land subject to flooding, inundation by groundwater, surface water, tidal action, or coastal storm flowage.

In the Conservation Commission’s Regulation Summary, revised in 2006, the Commission established additional performance standards requiring fifty-foot undisturbed buffer zones between wetland areas and development in order to limit site disturbance. Sites where buffer zones are less than fifty feet are subject to mitigation planting requirements.