Oh, sure rebuild and then just wait for your taxes and flood insurance to skyrocket.
Jersey shore is finished,done,gone. They are forcing us out.

Mr. Governor Christie:
I am not one to write many letters but at this time I have to. We are now on 123+ days since Sandy hit our neighborhood and still confusion reigns. Toms River and the State of NJ have done a fine job of confusing everyone as to what we can or can not do.
I see the news and they are putting in piling's for the Seaside Heights boardwalk and we can't even get one telephone/electric pole on Coolidge Ave(ocean side)after 123 days. I believe the township is forcing us to leave by there actions or should I say no action.
A lot of money has been flying around from the disaster but we are not being helped with any of it. We are on our own except for the out of state ministries that have been coming in and helping us.
My only request of you is to force JCP&L into putting up some poles on our streets so that we can get electric to the house's so that we can rebuild on our own. A little pressure on Toms River township would help also!
Ortley Beach, NJ

I think just the opposite. With many new and newly renovated homes I think the shore will become more of a full time community. No need to have 2 house anymore. With internet and work from home people can easily live fulltime at beach now. There is a train if you want to go to the city, yes it is long but if you do not have to do it everyday it is not bad. Not happy the way it happened but in 5 years or less the beach will be the place to live.

Error-filled maps, "overkill" elevation mandates, and exorbitant annual insurance costs... FEMA is FUBAR. It's doing more damage to the Shore than Sandy ever did! Congress must amend the 2012 Biggert-Waters Act so NJ doesn't have to bail out FEMA's debt from its Katrina mess. Facebook.com/StopFemaNow.

Meeting this Sat. Feb. 23rd, 3-4 PM, at 708 Fischer Blvd. (Belly Busters Restaurant), Toms River. Bring a friend. Save yourself $100,000 and help save the Shore!

Why not put the grants on hold until the maps are corrected, it's like fixing your car on a bad estimate. It would probably save grant money because when the maps are fixed, most will be brought out of v zone and height requirements will be reduced, making repairs cheaper...why replace the engine if you just needed a tune up?

Jersey stupid ! that is my assessment of Gov Donut .......... Ruin the shore ! Crazy FEMA map which is nothing more than more waste of money elevating .Houses on the mainland back from the open bay are not in a v-zone and I would like FEMA to publish the "scientific method" they used on the maps. Most money should be spent on the barrier island to erect stronger dunes or seawalls .Floodgate is right why put new tires on a car with a broken engine !

Why is the Gov ignoring the fact that FEMA will not give grants to raise homes if the work is done before the homeowner is approved?

Can I get grant money to build an Ark? I wouldn't be surprised.

It's amazing FEMA can be horrible at what they do and still stay in business,.do you know they are sending victims of Katrina bills because they feel they gave them too much?!? True story, it's happening now. I still feel they used their best team of interns and a box of crayons to draw these maps!

Question, these grants are for primary residents only (which I could understand).
But how many shore homes are actually second home owners.

of course he doesnt want you to wait. he wants those property taxes to triple once those house are raised. the state is desperate.

Why would you listen to this guy. He has screwed you.

Atlantic City Press recently....NO GUARANTEES.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/grants-for-lifting-homes-in-little-egg-harbor-township-not/article_cae6ea68-797f-11e2-ac5f-001a4bcf887a.html

Here is when I'll raise my house:
Government will have to knock on my door and demand I elevate.
After that the government will have to fight it out with the lawyer I hire cause its cheaper to hire a lawyer than to raise my house.
After exausting all appeals.....note this could take a decade or two......I'll consider elevating at that time. Or I just might sell that piece of dirt to the highest price a developer will give me. By that time my kids will be grown and I will be ready to retire and leave this god forsaken state.
Until all that happens I have fixed the house back to the condition it was before the storm and I will live there until they force me to elevate.....if they can. If I have to pay off my mortgage and go without flood insurance in the future so be it. That risk is far less costly than elevating my house.

JIM FULCOMER
Under the governor's executive order, the proposed FEMA changes, and the projected insurance increases, it will be very difficult for many middle class and lower middle class residents with mortgages to keep their homes. We need to persuade the governor to rescind his executive order and persuade our federal and other state elective representatives to fight these changes with vigor. So keep on sending them letters. Otherwise, these changes will do much more damage than super storm Sandy.

Exactly! "...persuade federal representatives to fight these changes with vigor." Why should NJ have to bail out FEMA's Katrina debt and support its huge bureaucracy? Because of the misguided 2012 Biggert-Water Act. That's why you'll face $30,000-per-year insurance premiums! More info at Facebook.com/StopFemaNow.

Important meeting this Sat., Feb. 23rd, 3-4 PM at 708 Fischer Blvd. (Belly Busters Restaurant), Toms River. No matter where your shore property is located, FEMA has forced its value to drop significantly, due to its astronomically expensive plans. Bring a friend to the meeting. Let's get FEMA off our backs and out of our bank accounts. "Stop FEMA Now."

Here are the insurance rate tables. Not sure why this has not been published many times or given to me by the insurance agent. It took a bit of searching to find.

http://www.nfipiservice.com/Stakeholder/pdf/bulletin/w-12028.pdf

Who is this man kidding? I live in a hurricane prevention built house on the western side of Barnegat Bay. It is on 10' pilings just for starters and now Fema wants it to move up to 13'. Governor, taxpayers pay for those grants and I wouldn't dream of asking them to raise this house that I lived in through the storm and saw stay bone dry just to go along to get along.

You abdicated your responsibility to Fema which has no current data about my home and I am not about to pay $2500 in monthly flood insurance when I see my neighbors get zilch out of it for what they suffered.

Governor you are running for another office and to clear you desk you just dumped all of the people on your beloved shore and no one but no one trusts a word you say. Those pollsters sure didn't call anyone involved in the Sandy mess that gets worse by the day. Thanks a whole bunch for pushing the middle class right out of NJ never mind the shores of 10' deep Barnegat Bay.

Dont wait for the money? Start paying to rebuild now and hope to be reimbursed? Sorry, Governor, like they said in that movie, 'Show me the MONEY!'

No one should have to raise their home. This is nothing but a money grab that was stated many times before. Build the barrier islands and dunes properly, this breach would not have occurred to begin with.

I'll ask again if anybody can help I do not see $25,000 rates in the link above The link might be wrong or I am not reading right just a regular house with 250000 of coverage and 100000 contents can anybody give rate for 2 ft above BFE Thanks

Hey Gov: find a way to get the dunes fixed in areas of private beaches! conflicting information so the gov says ignore it & pour money? Rebuild at same height now and elevate later and hope no storm hits between gaps in dunes? elevate now and hope you will get paid for completed work? 2nd homes only qualify for funds funds from HMG that first the county and city are spending furiously? Flood rate map grids no one can read? if you have $ to elevate now go do as the Gov says. it seems to make more sense to 1 wait for the dunes to be fixed at private beaches; 2: renovate existing structure and make the most of it hoping no major storm comes and wipes dunes away again; then 3: in another 2 years when the flood maps are finalized take out a big loan and rebuild 4 feet above BFE to get least expensive rates, then 4: sell the house because we can no longer afford the large mortgage and flood insurance rates and are too old to climb the tall stairs to get into the house so sell to some fat cat who can buy it for cash so they do not have to pay the flood insurance; then 5: drive down every couple of years to see how well all of the small businesses and the boardwalks are surviving now that only the very wealthy own the remaining houses. yeah its confusing as can be, this is the best sense I can make of it: Governor focus on getting the dunes fixed so that at least we can enjoy the last few years before only FEMA executives and high ranking politicians can afford to be here.

@ Qrtley Larry, I understand completely what you are sayingand agree by and large. What I can't seem to fathom is why a secondary house at the at the same BFE of the primary residence next door pays a higher rate for flood insurance, but receives less preferential treatment in the so-called "rebuilding" process. And, that is just one of the flaws in the legislation that is using flood insurance increases to bail out the NFIP. Why don't we just call it what it is--a shakedown

www.stopfema.now

ok i will raise my home even tho only crawl space and garage damage..but i better get that grant you say i can get governor or there is no way i can afford to do it..please dont turn out like my apps to fema which were all turned down,,i was told to get loans at the bank uh i dont want a loan at age 62

I'm with Duffer (regarding raising my house) but I would add one more requirement to my list. Actually, I think it would be number 1. When OC raises City Hall, the Firehouses, Police Station and Public Schools and all other municipal/public property is raised. Until then, sit back and enjoy the summer breezes coming our way :-).

I have no idea what the grounds for impeachment are for the Governor but the more I see this article, the more I realize that his advice to just go ahead and build if taken seriously, would financially ruin possibly hundreds if not thousand of families. This remark of his is beyond irresponsible and I am concerned that in his rush to put a happy face on a very dismal situation that he contributed to heavily, that he has crossed a serious line.

I can't imagine any serious financial planner saying what our lawyer Governor is. To put any money at risk without knowing exactly how high pilings have to be, what the specific insurance ramifications will be for those who suffered relatively little damage, and to know if his property tax cap is still going to be in place, is to be downright foolish. You can go ahead, he says, and neglects to mention the obscene insurance premiums and taxes people with heads for math would demand to know right up front.

And this "Be Patient" stuff is wearing very thin. I don't even know if my neighborhood is going to be permitted to come back or will the rules and recurring new expenses make it a spot that only the One Percenters could even think of moving into.

We need the truth from the Governor, our Mayors, Fema, & insurance companies so that we can take straight information to financial folks who will hopefully attempt to protect us from what seems to be a potential scam that the Governor is leading way too many people into.

Thank you foggyworld for defending summer residents. So many people seem to have a grudge against those who own a second home in the area. We pay over $18,000 a year in taxes to Brick as residents of Mantoloking Shores, and our children do not attend school there. We contribute to the local economy in a big way during the summer months. We were able to purchase the second home, but we can't afford to raise our home or pay new exorbitant flood insurance rates either.

Wow how am I suppose to believe anything the governor says. He publicly stated at the 100th township meeting in stafford that he was going to make an example of me what insurance companies cannot get away with treating people wrongly and not paying us. He even gave me his card to call which I did spoke to his staff they stated they told me they would call me back they never called. I called and called and called and they avoided speaking to me. Don't believe anything absolutely nothing. He doesn't give a dam about any of us. He stated he is losing sleep worrying about us lol. We are losing sleep not having our homes put together.

Supposedly there are strings attached to that grant money. I would not want to have a deed restriction placed upon my property.

I feel bad for the people that lost there main house at the shore. I have had a property in BHW for 22 years and I am so tired of hearing that all the benefits go to the primary residence. I pay just at much tax money as the person that lives next to me that is full time actually I pay more because I get no rebate and I pump my money into the local community and surrounding areas. I lost my house and my personal items just like the primary residence did. What form of relief does my family get.