Dietrich tells DEP they are too strict too soon
TRENTON — Cape May City Manager Paul Dietrich told the Department of Environmental Protection that proposed climate change regulations are too strict too soon.
“Our towns have understood the need to build higher and be more resilient for years, but these proposed regulations just go a little bit too far at one time,” he said during the DEP’s third and final online public hearing Sept. 19 regarding the proposals.
Dietrich was formerly the engineer for Upper Township.
Known as Protection Against Climate Threat (PACT) and Resilient Environmental and Landscapes (REAL), the regulations would raise the required height of first floors in new construction and create new flood inundation zones.
Jennifer Moriarity, assistant commissioner for DEP’s watershed and land management program, said key components to the regulations are adjusting coastal flood hazard areas to account for rising sea levels and storm surge that would extend jurisdictional area farther inland and require higher first floor elevations or flood-proofing for buildings and elevated roadways.
Dietrich, who also is engineer and floodplain manager, said as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Community Ratings System, he organized the largest multi-jurisdictional program for public information in the nation. It included 15 communities in Cape May and Atlantic counties and six in Ocean and Monmouth counties.
Dietrich said most towns he worked with already had a freeboard (extra height added to a building’s lowest floor to protect it from flooding) of 2 to 3 feet, which is more than the current state standard of 1 foot.
He said most homes at the shore are rebuilt much more frequently than inland locations in the state.
“Considering a planning horizon of 75 years and a freeboard of 5 feet is too much, too quickly, and is not needed for residential construction,” Dietrich said. “A more phased-in approach would be more practical and economical. This would allow towns to properly plan for sea level rise in their communities.”
Requiring homes to elevate an additional 5 feet of freeboard would put newer and substantially improved homes out of scale and proportion to their neighboring properties, he said.
Dietrich suggested requiring 3 feet of freeboard at this time and re-evaluating the amount of sea level rise in 2050, which would allow communities sufficient time to adapt for resilient residential construction.
He said the more important role for state government should be to elevate critical evacuation routes and help towns elevate critical municipal facilities. Dietrich said the proposed requirement for critical facilities to have dry access would be nearly impossible for any of our shore communities.
“It is definitely impossible for Cape May County to have dry access because the three major evacuation routes, the Garden State Parkway, State Road 47 and State Road 50 all currently flood and are impassable during a 100-year storm,” he said.
He said by 2100, many shore homes may have been rebuilt or had substantial improvement two or three times. Senior citizens and other under served persons may find their homes included the flood hazard area and incur substantial costs to bring them into compliance when they make substantial improvements to their homes.
Dietrich said Cape May has an additional hurdle being the only National Landmark City in the nation.
“Having to elevate homes in Cape May by 5-feet will put them out of character with the national historic district designation and this could jeopardize our historic standing with the National Park Service and state Historic Preservation Office,” he said.
Robert Mullock, founder of the Cape May Point Science Center, said the DEP should be commended for taking action to protect shorelines, residences and businesses during a time of sea level rise.
He said a goal should be set for a state dune and marine forest, a recognition of expansion and creation of islands and an improved sewage treatment system minimizing aquifer and groundwater depletion to prevent sinking of ground elevations.
As a part of beach replenishment, the construction of a protective dune system should be included.
“Properly constructed dunes will naturally grow and be held in place by trees and other vegetation,” Mullock said.
He said Cape May Point, using rock filled gabions covered with sand and planted with vegetation over the past 40 years, has gone from zero dunes to 8- to 10-foot dunes that have grown naturally to 20 to 30 feet tall and even more so in width.
The cost of the dunes has been minimal as trees capture the wind-blown sand in storms, helping build the dunes, Mullock said.
Horseshoe Island and Champagne Island began naturally growing from shoals to islands, he said.
A system should be developed to capture and utilize the stream of sand that flows from north to south along the coast to create continuous beach replenishment, he said.
He called the flowing sand a “tremendous free resource which often ends up in Delaware Bay.”
Cape May County Chamber of Commerce President Barbara Stafford Jones said the chamber recognizes climate change is real and its effects will have profound effects on the county, but also suggested in a gradual approach.
“It is our position that the NJPACT-REAL regulations need to be redrafted in a way that offers a more adaptive management approach to climate impact resilience,” she said. “The NJPACT initiative should not take a snapshot approach to implement abruptly and should not view local communities as a homogenous statewide landmass.”
She said regulations should not be implemented as a “catch all, unfunded mandate that seeks to hinder development activities of all sorts.” Jones said regulations should be fluid to be commensurate with the latest science.
“As written in the rules, the Inundation Risk Zone will carry the consequence of very likely putting coastal communities at a disadvantage for future state infrastructure funding and it must be understood that while the NJDEP states that development will not be prohibited in the Inundation Risk Zones, the cost will be prohibitive for many year-round residents to live in these newly targeted areas and only serve to drive out economically vulnerable populations from the coast,” she said.
Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock said he had concerns with the impact of the proposed regulations on existing structures. He said under current FEMA guidelines, citing a resident in their 80s who would reach 50% of their home’s value if they replaced their roof and windows, would require the home to be lifted.
“What I’m asking for is major exceptions, hardships,” Mullock said.
Jennifer Coffey, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, said the DEP has been working with Rutgers University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for 15 years and the science used by the DEP for PACT-REAL is sound.
Coffey said the sea level rise predictions are based on moderate emissions scenarios and an 83% likelihood that the area will have at least 5 feet of sea level rise by 2100.
“Moderate emissions scenarios means that we will reduce greenhouse gas emissions below what they are today,” she said. “By all measurable accounts, we are failing at doing that. We are failing at meeting the Paris Agreement, we are failing at meeting all of the benchmarks.”
If officials were planning for the worst-case scenario, they would be planning for 9 feet of sea level rise, Coffey said.
“This isn’t a choice between paradise and the apocalypse. We don’t get to 2100 and flip the switch and say, ‘Oh, my goodness, all of a sudden all of the changes are happening,’” she said. “The changes are happening incrementally from now until 2100.”
According to the National Center for Environmental Information, New Jersey has had 72 confirmed weather/climate disaster events from 1980 to 2024 with losses exceeding $1 billion each, Coffey said.
Lower Township has scheduled an informational meeting on the PACT-REAL at 7 p.m. Oct. 7 at Lower Cape May Regional High School, 687 Route 9 in Erma. According to a release, the new regulations would affect 67% of Lower Township residents. Maps will be available to show the proposed changes.
– By JACK FICHTER/Sentinel staff