Last week the Governor revealed the first of his rebuilding policies in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. His Emergency Order adopting the FEMA advisory base flood maps does not require DEP to adopt the mapping for its regulatory programs and only applies to the coast. Instead the Emergency Order applies to elevation and rebuilding codes only.
Without adaptation into the DEP regulatory programs, homeowners could choose not to conform with the standards and pay higher insurance premiums. We all end up paying higher insurance premiums and put more people in harm’s way. This leaves families vulnerable to the next storm and could jeopardize compensation families receive from FEMA. Until the mapping is adopted into the DEP regulatory programs, the agency can give out development approvals in areas that flood under FEMA without elevation protections. The state will be approving projects where they will not be able to get flood insurance or mortgages risking rebuilding our coast and our economic recovery.
The emergency order only applies to the coast, not statewide. It does not include inland areas that experienced major flooding in Hurricane Sandy such as the Meadowlands or areas that traditionally flood such as along the Passaic and Raritan Rivers like Manville and Little Falls. Besides the coast, all other counties will still use the old maps that have not been updated in some cases since 1980.
In his statement the Governor said if homeowners do not adhere to the standards, the financial risk will be on the homeowners through higher insurance premiums, but the rest of the state will be paying for it too. As they rebuild in vulnerable areas, they increase the risk of insurance pools around the state. The taxpayers are paying for the rebuilding through FEMA and without standards that money will wash to sea with the next storm and they will expect more federal funding to rebuild again. If their house gets destroyed the bill is on the taxpayers as well as costs for any damage to adjoining properties.
The Governor also announced the DEP will streamline the permitting process to rebuild homes faster without DEP review. The DEP will only sign off on the project after it is completed, potentially opening a Pandora’s box of problems and violations. This could cost municipalities, homeowners, and tax payers millions as FEMA only reimburses projects that meet environmental regulations.
This is backwards; the Governor wants to build first and review later. By waiving the standards people may be waving good bye to their home in the next storm. The Governor is relaxing environmental standards and requirements which in turn actually puts people and property in harm’s way and ends up causing more problems than it solves.
New Jersey has not fully updated its FEMA flood mapping since 1980 as these updates will limit development in flood prone areas. FEMA is currently revising mapping for our state’s coastal communities based on the impacts of Hurricane Sandy and those maps should be available this summer. The new FEMA maps will be based on Hurricane Sandy but do not take into account sea level rise or the impacts of a Category three Hurricane which can hit New Jersey. The Christie administration must commit to adopting those maps in the DEP regulatory programs when they become available so we rebuild the shore better and smarter. Failure to adopt these maps will put people and property in harm’s way.
The Administration has opposed updating the flood mapping as it would limit development in flood prone areas. There are regulatory programs that limit develop in flood prone or flood hazard areas including Water Quality Planning, Flood Hazard Area, storm water and CAFRA coastal development rules. By not adopting the updates FEMA maps, these regulations are based on outdated maps that do not show the increase in flooding in New Jersey and more flood prone property. By not adopting these maps we are promoting overdevelopment in areas that flood, putting people and property in harms ways.
During the press conference, the Governor said he did not think New Jersey should include green building codes in the rebuilding process. However now is the best time to implement green building codes, as Louisiana did following Hurricane Katrina, because it not only helps reduce pollution and energy use but helps save people money.
The Governor’s rebuilding policies did not include measures to address or reduce climate pollution and prepare New Jersey for the future impacts of sea level rise and storm surges. The National Climate Assessment released this month predicts that by 2100, 1-in-10-yeat coastal flooding could triple to occur once every three years as a result of sea level rise. Rutgers predicts sea levels could rise by 11-25 inches by 2050 and could potentially increase by as much as 67 inches in 2100. We need to begin adaptation and hazard planning to better protect and move people and property out of harm’s way in preparation for such projected events.
The Governor has had an anti-environmental agenda trying to weaken environmental regulations through the waiver rule, weakening DEP rules, and pulling out of RGGI. He is now using Hurricane Sandy as a cover to weaken protections further through this emergency order and the DEP Administrative Consent Order (ACO) that allows infrastructure to rebuilt in the same place that was just destroyed.
The Governor did not address where we should not rebuild or where we should offer buyouts to homeowners. Now is the best time outline a master plan for rebuilding our shore, before people begin rebuilding in the most vulnerable areas. This should include establishing a stable source of funding for the Blue Acres Program to meet the demand. The Blue Acres program helps purchase flood prone properties and move the families out of harm’s way. Through the Blue Acres program we can create new flood storage areas along rivers and restore floodplains. Updating the FEMA mapping would qualify more homes for Blue Acres funding.
Before we can rebuild the Jersey Shore we need to know where we can build and if the state does not adopt the updated FEMA maps into the DEP regulatory programs, we are going to be putting more people at risk by creating more danger and more flooding. We will not be able to build the Shore smarter or better if we do not have a foundation based on science and these FEMA maps.
We are on 10' pilings and did absolutely everything the American Association of Architects has worked up for those very badly and chronically hit areas down south. Today my husband found out that even though we stayed through the storm and the house was dry, we now have to build up four more feet to satisfy what Berkeley Township wants.
I finally looked at the new fema map and on the photograph layer found that our house now with a black mark, was rated based on an empty lot that we did buy and build on. Out of date is not the word for the data being used. And our beach has tripled because the Army Corps of Engineers dumped zillions of tons of sand on the beaches of the rich and famous of LBI. The sand thought better of that and came in the inlet and graced us with a much larger beach than is shown on the Fema map.
I wrote to Fema and they say they got their data from Berkeley Township but the town says it's Fema's stuff. And Governor Christie says let's all jump aboard on these truly pie in the sky pilings that our house proved we do not need. Structural engineers are saying people in our situation would be endangering the stability of a very strong house if we went through the mandates of this town which the Governor also supports.
People on our local payroll don't seem up to the job so the town has hired a not inexpensive engineering firm to determine the fate of the displaced as well as those who made it through the storm. From where all of us in my neighborhood sit, we are being programmed to fail by people from fema, the State, the County and the Town and if this continues on between the empty strip malls and the terrain that looks like a war zone, Bayville and Berkeley will just sink further in the list of good places to live. Meanwhile better run towns like Lacey and Belmar and many others are busy maxing out all of the grant money around while they are also busy trying very hard to help those who were hurt so badly.
The despair caused by the mismanagement and overreaction to a one in a hundred year storm is literally taking years of people's lives. There are no straight answers coming from anywhere and no a single dime has been paid to any of my neighbors.
It's time for the truth. I would love to hear from any and all of our representatives or people we are paying to mismanage all of this to find out what the ultimate goal is. We out here have all paid our very high taxes on time, we have no children in the school system and basically get once a week garbage pick up and three day late snow removal for all the bucks we send to Town Hall. My question is simple. Who are you folks working for and please if you want us gone which is what we feel, just confirm it so we can go on with our lives elsewhere. It's no wonder NJ is a major laughing point for the rest of this nation. Things are a mess. Things are corrupt. No one is trying to change that atmosphere and it is smothering many decent people.
I trusted them and their "expertise" prior to making an offer on my home....I say we all sue.
I trusted them and their "expertise" prior to making an offer on my home....I say we all sue. ...
You have been a patient man. Over 100 days of patience. I was fed up with FEMA a few weeks ago. And so have over 300 people who LIKE www.Facebook.com/StopFemaNow . We are a grass roots organziation who are pushing our politiicians to get FEMA to get us the updated flood maps, lower the new flood insurance rates and be responsive to us.
Here's my bottom line on this: Regardless of where you live or conduct business, your investment needs to be, is required to be, protected by insurance. Dependent upon location/risk, you obtain coverage as you see fit (as approved by your lender) at the agreed upon rate(s). When you need to make a claim, the insurance company provides the payout based upon that coverage and that's it. No FEMA, no SBA, no "hardship cases", no nothing, just the private insurance payout. Basically, what you (agreed to by your lender) contracted for with the insurance company. The ball would solely be in the property owners/small business, lenders and the Insurers court, not governments. Governments would now basically only be required to enforce local codes, rebuild their own infrastructures and have few responsibilities for the home/business owners claims/damages. Re: risk taking. Why should the government be responsible to subsidize the rebuilding of areas affected by natural disasters, that are built in "bath tubs". Re: Katrina damages in New Orleans.
Clearly you live in a bubble all your own, because if it was all as you claim the insurance providers would have understood the risk they put themselves at when the wrote the policy and be prepared to pay accordingly however that is not how it actually works. The insurers do prepair themselves not to cover the insured losses but to look for way to not meet their obligation to their customers because they have more important obligations to the share holders so they look for all possible ways to get out of paying on what they promised to pay, although the insured paid as agreed; the insurance company does not.