Chapter 21 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following section:-

Section 68. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:-

“Scenic river”, a river that is included in the national wild and scenic rivers system pursuant to the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, as codified in 16 U.S.C. §§ 1271 to 1287, inclusive.

“Scenic river commission” or “commission”, a commission established to manage the scenic river; provided that, for the North river the scenic river commission shall be North river commission established pursuant to section 62 of chapter 367 of the acts of 1978; and provided further, that if there is no commission established to manage a particular scenic river, the department shall serve as the commission for the purposes of this section.

(b) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, no person shall construct any building within 1,000 feet of a scenic river without first obtaining a building permit from the scenic river commission. All other permits, including those permits required by general or special law or ordinance, shall be obtained after a scenic river building permit has been issued.

(c) The department shall promulgate regulations to implement this section.