New Jersey is set to enact what state officials and climate change mitigation advocates claim are nation-leading requirements to set higher elevation standards for most new or renovated projects in inland flood zones that are based on “predictive precipitation modeling” of flood impacts, not historic trends.

The Inland Flood Protection Rule had been proposed in June 2022 as an emergency standard by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection to take effect immediately, in the wake of major inland flood damage in the state from Hurricane Ida in 2021.The storm also caused 48 deaths in New Jersey and nearby states.

But the rule was pulled back from emergency status onto a slower track after business and development community advocates raised cost issues in compliance. 

Among groups opposing were the Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative (ELEC 825), NAIOP, New Jersey Association of Counties, New Jersey Builders Association, New Jersey Concrete and Aggregate Association, New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors, New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey Utilities Association and the Utility & Transportation Contractors Association. 

The 437-page final rule, set to take effect next month, maintains its original stance to elevate habitable first floors 2 ft above what now is indicated on state DEP flood maps and 3 ft higher than what federal FEMA maps show.

It also requires use of precipitation projections when calculating flood elevations; ensures that state permits to build in flood zones conform to construction codes and federal flood-insurance mandates; and requires use of best practices to manage runoff in current and future storms. 

"As a national model for climate adaptation and mitigation, we can no longer afford to depend on 20^th-century data to meet 21^st-century challenges," said Gov. Phil Murphy in a statement. He pointed to state reliance "on the most up-to-date science and robust stakeholder engagement to inform our most crucial policy decisions.”

DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said the rule “ensures that inland, riverine areas at significant risk are better defined and that new and reconstructed assets in these areas are designed and constructed to protect” against worsening flood risk. 

The state said the rule will apply to new or reconstructed construction but wil exempt any pending development that has not started construction if it is "administratively complete" in its permit application to DEP at the time the rule is officially adopted, a business community concern. 

“While we still need to review the adopted rule in greater detail, we are pleased to see that the DEP listened to the concerns of the business and development community regarding the unfair application of new standards to projects that were previously outside the flood hazard area,” said Ray Cantor, a spokesman for New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

To aid in flood risk determination and regulatory jurisdiction on specific parcels, DEP has launched a flood indicator tool.

"The inland flood rule will update flood data that we rely on and change the ways we build,” said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, New Jersey Sierra Cluib director. “To effectively deal with climate change, we must be cutting edge."

Jim Waltman, executive director at The Watershed Institute, said the rule indicates that New Jersey is "not just catching up with the data they have been using — which is way out of date — but projecting forward, using the best-available science, out to 2100.”  

New Jersey's approach to plan for flood impacts on private assets as well as on state assets is "pretty profound," said Laura Lightbody, director of the nonprofit policy group Pew Flood Prepared Communities Initiative, terming the rule "one of the most aggressive, comprehensive and rigorous ... out there that will really influence development decisions to incorporate risk.”