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Read this before you rely on it. This wizard is a plain-language orientation tool built from the published NHDES criteria. It is not legal advice, it is not a permit, and it cannot see your property. Site-specific factors — prime wetlands, shoreland conditions, existing structures, local ordinances and conservation commission requirements — can change the answer entirely. NHDES administers these rules and is the authority. Confirm with them, or let us do it with you.
The Three Paths, Briefly
Permit by Notification
The simplest route, available for qualifying seasonal docks under RSA 482-A:3, IV-a. Narrow criteria, but if you meet them there is no review period at all — it is an exemption you activate by filing, not a permit you wait for.
Standard Wetlands Permit
The full application. Required for permanent structures, for anything exceeding the seasonal criteria, and generally for expansions beyond an existing footprint. Permanent docks also face a published exposure test, and open pile is the standard design. The statutory clock runs 10 days to administrative completeness then 50 days to a decision on a residential-scale project, and it restarts each time the application is added to.
Dock Registration
For existing legal non-tidal structures. Registering exempts the structure from needing future NHDES repair or replacement permits for the registration term: five years, or until the property changes hands if sooner. Some material-only and “in the dry” repairs need no permit at all.
The full write-up, with the criteria set out in detail and the relevant citations, is on the NH dock permits page.