Legal Definitions - made land

Made land refers to ground that has been artificially created or significantly extended by human activity, rather than forming through natural geological processes. This typically involves adding fill material, such as soil, sand, rock, or construction debris, to an existing water body (like a bay, lake, or river) or a low-lying area (such as a marsh or wetland) to raise its elevation and create usable dry ground.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of made land:

• Coastal City Expansion: A rapidly growing coastal city decides to expand its downtown area to accommodate new high-rise buildings and a waterfront promenade. Engineers oversee a project to dredge sand from the seabed and deposit it along the existing shoreline, effectively pushing the coastline further out into the bay. This newly created land, now stable and suitable for construction, is considered made land because it did not exist naturally but was formed entirely through human intervention to extend the city's footprint.

• Industrial Park Development: A developer plans to build a large industrial park but the only available parcel of land is a low-lying, swampy area adjacent to a river. To make the land suitable for heavy construction and infrastructure, the developer brings in thousands of tons of dirt and gravel to fill the wetland, raising its elevation significantly above the water table. The resulting stable, dry ground where the industrial park will be built is made land, as it was transformed from an unusable natural wetland into buildable property by artificial means.

• Recreational Park on a Former Landfill: After a municipal landfill reaches its capacity and is properly capped and sealed, the city decides to repurpose the site. They cover the sealed landfill with several feet of clean topsoil, plant grass, trees, and construct walking paths and sports fields. This new public park, built on top of the accumulated waste and fill material, is an example of made land. The usable surface area for recreation was created by human activity on a site that was previously unsuitable for such purposes, demonstrating the artificial creation of land.