On February 19, 2013, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection published in the New Jersey Register the emergency adoption (effective January 24, 2013) and concurrent proposal of amendments to the Flood Hazard Area Control Act rules, N.J.A.C. 7:13.  http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/notices/20130219a.html  The emergency adoption and proposed rules concern the construction and reconstruction of buildings in flood hazard areas based on the most recent flood elevation data.  The proposed amendments seek to incorporate FEMA’s recently released advisory flood maps for the New Jersey coast.  The proposed rules are found at http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/proposals/20130219a.pdf.

The statement of the substance of the current proposal states:

The proposed amendments enable the use of the best available flood elevation data to determine the flood hazard area design flood elevation for a given site, including FEMA’s recently released advisory flood maps for New Jersey’s coast. The proposed amendments also incorporate FEMA mapping issued as final (effective) that is developed in partnership with the Department such that it depicts the Department’s flood hazard area design flood elevation and floodway limit; allow flood proofing measures to be used instead of elevating structures in certain, limited situations; and ensure consistency between the Department’s standards for elevating buildings in flood hazard areas with the building standards of the Uniform Construction Code promulgated by the Department of Community Affairs at N.J.A.C. 5:23.