Shore towns push back against new DEP-mandated flood elevation building requirements
Politicians on both sides of the aisle say this would be devastating for residents and business owners.
New regulations set by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will require new homes and homes under major renovations at the Jersey Shore to be raised an additional four feet above FEMA flood standards.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle say this would be devastating for residents and business owners.
“This is incompetence. If this was necessary, it should have been done in 2013,” said Mike Caldarise, a mason contractor. “You take these projects that are already expensive and then you make them more expensive. What does that do? It always hurts people like myself.”
Resilient Environment and Landscape (REAL) rules are a group of building requirements set by the DEP in response to climate change and sea level rise.
“My concern about this policy is it would raise this home another four feet,” said Democratic Manasquan Mayor Michael Mangan.
“That new roof they're going to be putting on their house might mean that they actually need to now lift it,” said Republican Assemblyman Paul Kanitra, who serves the 10th district at the Jersey Shore.
Leading the pushback are bipartisan calls between local mayors and politicians, adding to lawsuits already filed by counties like Monmouth, Ocean, and Cape May, and appeals by building and business groups.
The REAL rules went into effect on Jan. 20, placing areas that never flooded in flood zones, and requiring extra elevation lifting to new and major construction projects.
Spring Lake is a town also fighting back. Under the new maps, the downtown would now fall under those regulations, meaning any major improvements on the homes or businesses would also require raising their elevation by several feet, changing the entire landscape.
A spokesperson from the NJ DEP would not comment on the challenges and lawsuits. Instead, they pointed News 12 to its website, showing studies the DEP used to base the building requirements. Kanitra says those studies are flawed.
“They hired the same group that did the original 2019 study and about a year or two ago they published a second study that showed the probability of that being accurate was almost incomprehensibly small,” said Kanitra.
Kanitra says the legislature could vote as soon as March 23rd on a bill that says the DEP acted without authority to pass these new regulations.
“This is a continued overreach by government. I like how local governments are fighting back for people like us. You rarely see it,” added Caldarise.
