Christie Administration Announces Post-Sandy Planning Grant

TRENTON – In the Christie Administration’s ongoing effort to promote sound, sustainable long-term recovery from Superstorm Sandy, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Richard E. Constable III today announced the award of an $80,000 Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grant to Cape May County to develop long-range plans to become resilient in the event of future significant weather events.
“This grant will enable Cape May County to develop a Strategic Recovery Planning Report that will evaluate local planning goals and strategies and identify actions the county can take to reduce its vulnerability to future disasters,” said Commissioner Constable, whose department is administering many of the Sandy Recovery programs for the state. “It will also help the county perform a comprehensive county plan update.”
Cape May County suffered $33 million in losses due to Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, according to the county’s grant application. With approximately 96,000 permanent residents, the county’s population can swell to upwards of 810,000 on weekends during the height of summer tourism, which is the county’s main industry, Additionally, Cape May County’s commercial fishing industry is ranked second on the East Coast for volume of catch. Therefore, the county intends to utilize the grant to evaluate and develop plans for its local transportation infrastructure and economy.
The county will use $30,000 to develop its Strategic Recovery Planning Report. The other $50,000 will be utilized to update the County Comprehensive Plan, which is the guiding document of day-to-day planning decisions within the county, including but not limited to: subdivisions, site plans, roadways, sewers, water supply, open space and other needs that shape the living environment and quality of life. The update will incorporate new policies and priorities for addressing future storm events and long term resiliency in the County.
The Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grants are funded through Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery monies provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The $5 million program is available to each of the nine counties most impacted by Sandy as determined by HUD (Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Union) and all of the municipalities within those counties that have experienced a ratable loss of at least 1% or $1 million due to the storm.
To date, the DCA has received requests for Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grants from local governments for $4.7 million of the $5 million program fund. Applications for grants are still being accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis by the DCA’s Office of Local Planning Services, which is administering the program, until all funds are exhausted.
For more information on Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grants, go to http://www.nj.gov/dca/services/lps/pspag.html.