Cape May County Officials Denounce State's Proposed Flood-Control Rules

Cape May County resident Michael Butler held a colorful sign Friday that included a caricature of Gov. Phil Murphy wearing a crown, as to suggest that he is wielding king-like powers.

The sign summarized the anger that Cape May County officials are feeling about an executive order issued by the governor that would impose strict new regulations through the state Department of Environmental Protection to control construction at the Jersey Shore.

“Governance by Executive Order is Unfair,” the sign proclaimed.

Butler and his wife, Jeanne, who live in Lower Township, showed up at news conference organized by Cape May County officials to denounce the proposed regulations as a “misguided, overreaching set of mandates” that would harm the local economy.

“I think to make a change like this one by executive order is way out of bounds,” Butler said in an interview.

The NJDEP’s Resilient Environments and Landscapes regulations, known by the acronym REAL, are designed to protect the coast and other areas of New Jersey from climate change and rising sea levels.

Although they say they support protective measures for the coastal communities from rising sea levels, Cape May County officials argue that the REAL regulations are simply too harsh and would cripple shore development and homeownership.

“While climate change is a serious issue that requires attention, these regulations are not the answer. They are ill-conceived policies that, if implemented, will do far more harm than good, and will pose significant threats to the quality of life for the hardworking families of Cape May County,” said Cape May County Board of Commissioners Director Leonard Desiderio, who is also the mayor of Sea Isle City.

Desiderio maintained that the regulations would “devastate” the communities in Cape May County by suffocating them “under the weight of bureaucratic red tape.”

“This is not just bad policy, it is a seriously misguided plan that is being mandated with little regard for the realities and no consideration of the potential impacts,” he said.

Desiderio said the county is not considering litigation at this time to challenge the regulations in court. Instead, he said, he is counting on residents of Cape May County and other parts of the state to exercise their “people power” to pressure the governor into halting the regulations.

    Cape May County Board of Commissioners Director Leonard Desiderio calls the regulations "a seriously misguided plan."
  

The regulations are currently going through the public comment process and are scheduled to take effect later this year. One of the more controversial aspects of the regulations is a requirement that new construction in areas vulnerable to rising sea levels would have to be built 5 feet above existing Federal Emergency Management Agency flood elevation levels.

State, county and local officials who were part of the news conference contended that those requirements are based on unrealistic projections for rising sea levels through the end of the century.

They cited an analysis by Rutgers University showing that there is less than a 17 percent chance in the next 75 years that sea levels would rise to the level that would justify having homes and other new construction built 5 feet higher.

“The worst-case scenario is less than 17 percent. It’s ridiculous,” Butler said.

Cape May County Commissioner Bob Barr, an Ocean City resident, believes the construction requirements would simply make it too expensive for senior citizens and disabled people to live at the shore.

“These onerous regulations will, once again, put even more of a burden on these folks,” said Barr, who has cerebral palsy and is an advocate for the disabled. 

Cape May County officials called on the governor to slow down on the regulations. They want him to take an incremental approach toward rising sea levels based on more conservative flood projections in the state.

They also want the state Legislature to get involved with the regulations, rather than just have the governor approve them by executive order.

State Assemblyman Antwan McClellan, who represents the First Legislative District, including Cape May County and other parts of South Jersey, invited the governor to discuss the regulations with officials at the shore.

“Governor Murphy, come down to the real South Jersey. Come visit us,” said McClellan, who lives in Ocean City.

    State Assemblyman Antwan McClellan wants the governor to come to Cape May County to discuss the regulations.
  

Prior to the news conference, Desiderio held a closed meeting with mayors and other representatives of Cape May County’s 16 municipalities to discuss the REAL regulations.

North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello asserted that the NJDEP is trying to “bulldoze” the county and local communities into accepting the regulations.

“This approach doesn’t work. It will fail miserably,” Rosenello said, while predicting that the regulations would probably last only as long as the current NJDEP commissioner and Gov. Murphy are in office.

Middle Township Mayor Christopher Leusner said the regulations would hit homeowners the hardest by making it too expensive to build houses at the shore, including affordable housing projects.

“These proposed regulations are extreme,” Leusner said.

Cape May County and its 16 municipalities have adopted resolutions formally requesting the governor and the NJDEP to approve the construction restrictions on a gradual basis.

During the news conference, representatives of the Cape May County business community and the commercial fishing industry also lashed out at the REAL regulations. They predicted that the rules would cause serious economic harm if they are approved and called on the governor to withdraw them before any damage is done.

“As you have heard from others, the proposed rules will have a devastating impact on Cape May County’s economy. We have over $7 billion in annual revenues from tourism that will be impacted. Small and large businesses will be impacted by the cost of new rules on top of the existing regulations that smothers those that are trying to expand and grow,” said Barbara Stafford Jones, president of the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce.

Raymond Cantor, vice president of government affairs for the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, said the proposed regulations comprise 1,057 pages of “bad” rulemaking.

Cantor asserted that the regulations are so drastic that the NJDEP would force “a managed retreat from the shore” by making it too difficult to build new homes.

“Their purpose is not protection, it’s not resiliency, it’s to try to make it harder to live along the shore, to live along the coast, to live in our urban, coastal or river communities, and, ultimately, they want to force a managed retreat away from the shore. This is the first step in that process – to force a managed retreat,” he said.

    Cape May County is organizing a public campaign to oppose the regulations.