Democratic senators slam DEP for adopting FEMA's new flood elevation regs

Star Ledger ^

[SMGFan]

The state’s quick adoption of FEMA’s advisory flood maps was sharply criticized Monday by Democratic state senators who said some residents will needlessly spend tens of thousands of dollars to raise their homes to standards that could be eased. Calling the requirements adopted last month by the Department of Environmental Protection "insane," Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) asked scientists at a hearing in Toms River if the maps are "scientifically valid."

At least two scientists — who testified before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee — declined to answer, but Stewart Farrell, director of the Coastal Research Center of the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, said the maps are flawed when taking wave action into account.

"So why did we adopt them … if they’re not scientifically valid?" asked Smith, who has a Shore house in Lavallette that flooded during Hurricane Sandy. "Doing it on partial and preliminary information is insane."

In developing the maps’ elevation requirements, the Federal Emergency Management Agency relied on data about flooding with and without waves. Homes in the areas that could be damaged by wave action are required to be elevated higher and are subject to stricter — and more costly — building standards.

In all, it could cost $45,000 to $60,000 to raise a small house without any complications, general contractors and house-lifting companies have said.

Farrell testified the numbers based on flooding without waves have been vetted by scientists and deemed valid, but he said FEMA has not yet vetted its height requirements based on wave action.

[Vince Ferrer]

Because you have to adopt them before you can find out what is in them.

[cripplecreek]

I’ve got to at least partially agree with the democrats on this one.

My house started out above the flood zone and then was revised into it while even lower ground around it remained above the flood zone. Even my congressman was out here with a survey crew trying to decode it.

[Marie]

FEMA has said homeowners who do not meet the standards could pay up to $31,000 a year for flood insurance.

This is an INSANE amount of money! That's more than half of the median income in my area!! For INSURANCE?? Heck, that's 1/3rd of the cost of my LAND.

[WomBom]

OMG, the antidote to left wing thinking.... Self inflicted pain.

How does it feel libtard?

I have been waiting for a permit over in the Trenton area for four months because some a$$Jack wants to prove he is a valid part of the township government.

Meanwhile, dozens of subs can’t employ men or feed their families.

I feel sorry for my friends at the Jersey beach, but I am thrilled that this A$$hat is the victim of his buddies

[DaveinOK54]

As a Land Surveyor I can attest to this. They arbitrailly (it seems) revised many of the flood maps in 2012, all around the country to raise the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) to elevations that before were not in the flood zone. I have recieved many calls from irate land owners that are now having to pay for Flood Certificates to prove that their dwellings are not in the flood zones. The mortgage companys are looking at the new maps and requiring them to get flood insurance. The surveys and the insurance arn’t cheap. If you refi or your loan gets sold...look out. I don’t to flood certs, dealing with the feds is never a good idea and the regs look like a liability trap to me.

[Domangart]

You haven't lived until you have seen a row of two stories out in a cow pasture in north Sacramento with their roof hatches and life rafts.

[RetiredTexasVet]

Funny how those unelected progressive government regulators will even turn on their progressive friends and bite them in the a$$. Watch the 5 years of court battles begin and the Agenda 21 crowd win in the end. Already NYC is offering to buy up the un-rebuilt places (and they will make sure you can’t rebuilt without a court battle that takes years) and turn them into wild areas.

[piasa]

I’m sure some politically connected rich folks & foreigners will be around shortly to buy up all the prime coastal properties whose owners can no longer appease their mortgage companies’s requrements for at risk land.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

New Jersey! Figures.

I wonder if people need flood insurance when Gov. Christie does a “cannonball” into the ocean?

Just asking?

I wonder if Christie has “injured whale insurance”? Just asking.

I actually like Christie when he is sensible. Looks like he finally understood that Obama bitchslapped him in the Hurricane Sandy PhotoOp. Lots of handshakes but not much money or FEMA action for NJ.

Lesson learned, governor. You can’t trust a Democrat, esp. Obama.

[Pecos]

When I bought a house in the Atlanta area and applied for a VA loan, the numb-nuts in the VA office called me and told me that I would have to get flood insurance because the house was within a mile of the Chattahoochee River. I asked if he had looked at the property’s plat, which showed the lowest point on the property to be 150 feet above the 100 year flood plain. He got kind of quiet after that, and said I didn’t need to fill out any more forms.