Jersey City Mayor James Solomon has joined the growing a list of public officials who are urging the state to end or drastically change the recently enacted NJDEP Resilient Environment and Landscapes (REAL) regulations.
“We are not asking the state to abandon climate preparedness, instead we are asking for rules to be reasonably tailored to the needs of cities like Jersey City,” the mayor wrote in a letter to Senate President Nicholas Scutari last week.
“Our top planning and infrastructure officials have reviewed the REAL regulations, and based on their analysis we believe that the rules—in their current form—would impose serious, unworkable burdens on development, rehabilitation, and renovation in Jersey City, critically including our efforts to build substantially more affordable housing.”
The controversial Land Use rules were adopted by Gov. Phil Murphy on his last day in office.
They include greatly increased elevation requirements, expanded flood maps, and stricter construction limits in flood-prone areas, known as Climate Adjusted Flood Elevation (CAFE) zones.
NJBIA and others in the business community, state lawmakers and local officials from both sides of the political aisle have argued the rules are too extreme and will increase construction costs, reduce property values, impede affordable housing, and constitute a "managed retreat" from the shore.
Last month, Assemblyman Paul Kanitra (R-1) and mayors from his 10th Legislative District sent a letter Friday to NJDEP Acting Commissioner Ed Potosnak demanding the rule be paused to await legislative action.
Also last month, NJBIA and New Jersey Builders Association filed a legal challenge against the Land Use rules the state’s Appellate Division of Superior Court.
All while Scutari filed a bipartisan resolution to repeal the rules, stating that they are inconsistent with legislative intent.
In a statement to POLITICO, Scutari said the rules – which call for new homes in expanded flood zones to build 4 feet above FEMA standards, among hundreds of other costly and cumbersome provisions – undermine Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s efforts to make New Jersey more affordable.
"As Governor Sherrill has rightly indicated, some regulations have gone too far with impacts on business and, most significantly, impede affordability for the residents of New Jersey," Scutari said.
NJBIA Deputy Chief Government Affairs Officer Ray Cantor said the resolution will have the full-throated support of NJBIA, New Jersey’s entire business community, as well as the more than 130 mayors who wrote to oppose.
"For 20 months, we showed numerous examples of how the DEP under the Murphy administration was going well beyond its statutory authority with its proposal,” Cantor said. “The process of developing the rule was fundamentally flawed and its provisions were too numerous and complicated to be merged into one regulatory framework.
In his letter to Scutari, Solomon said there was particular concern about the impact the rules will have on affordable housing.
“While the NJDEP has included a theoretical exemption for affordable housing projects, it is already apparent that the process to get such exemptions will be murky and onerous on top of a process that already includes numerous regulatory hurdles that increase costs,” Solomon wrote.
“In practice, the increased costs of construction and rehabilitation driven by these rules will make affordable housing development significantly harder to finance and build. We cannot accept a framework that treats affordable housing exemptions as a last resort rather than a genuine priority.”
