Get ‘The Wrap,’ our take on the news of the week, in your inbox every Tuesday. Sign up at https://bit.ly/HeraldNewsletters.
Nov. 13-19
Flood Zone Expansion
A federal advisory panel has recommended that the Federal Emergency Management Agency expand the areas that are considered to be at high risk of flooding. If adopted, the recommendation would significantly increase the number of properties required to purchase flood insurance.
The Technical Mapping Advisory Council was created by Congress in 2012 to bring expert opinions to the task of improving the National Flood Insurance Program. The advisory council is comprised of experts from various federal agencies along with state-level flood officials.
The recently released 2023 report argues that the threat of current and future flooding has increased. It further states that the best way to combat the increased threat is to “embed” consideration of the expanded flood risk “into routine land use and design practices.”
The National Flood Insurance Program began when private insurers backed away from covering flood risk in the 1960s. For decades the program was almost the only game in town. The private market is coming back and the Insurance Journal says that any expansion of the flood zone areas would make it “more important than ever that private insurers step in to provide capacity.”
Statistics show that the private insurance market has grown dramatically since 2016. In 2022, 77 private companies wrote 32% of the business, with $4.09 billion in direct premiums written.
The consequences of an expansion of the high-risk flood areas would be significant since property owners in those areas would be required by law to carry flood policies if their property is secured by a federally backed mortgage.
Offshore Wind Redux
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities voted Friday, Nov. 17, to seek bids for an offshore transmission facility, which could be used by multiple wind farms seeking to move power from the turbine farms to onshore connections to the electrical grid.
The board called the recent Orsted decision to abandon its Ocean Wind 1 and 2 projects “a setback,” with Board President Christine Guhl-Sadovy reaffirming that “offshore wind is and continues to be the economic development opportunity of a generation and remains a key tool in climate change mitigation.” The vote constituted a major reaffirmation of the state’s push into offshore wind following Orsted’s decision.
One purpose of the transmission facility is to minimize the impact on shore communities by having a single shore crossing for the onshoring of wind power.
While the Board of Public Utilities acted, the Southern New Jersey Development Council, a nonprofit development advocate with membership from eight southern New Jersey counties, released a statement of support for the state’s offshore wind initiative, calling it “a shining example of responsible environmental stewardship and economic revitalization.”
Climate Report
The Fifth National Climate Assessment released Tuesday, Nov. 14, states that extreme weather events produce about $150 billion in damages in the United States each year. From 2018 to 2022 the nation has experienced a climate-related disaster costing over $1 billion in damages every three weeks.
The report speaks of both climate risks and opportunities with the motivation for action being that “each increment of global warming that the world avoids – through actions that cut emissions or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – reduces the risk and harmful impacts of climate change.”
The message is that there is no immediate return to the past. Climate change efforts are directed at avoidance of an otherwise more destructive future.
In parallel with the issuance of the report, the White House announced $6 billion in new investments to provide funding for infrastructure improvements, clean energy and climate resilience. Almost $4 billion of that total will go to modernizing the U.S. electrical grid, with the remaining $2 billion for community grants. A big focus of the report was on the need to proceed with a constant eye on what the report calls environmental justice for communities that bear a disproportionate impact of climate change harm.
A major theme of the report was the need to “accelerate current efforts and implement new ones that involve more fundamental shifts in systems and practices.” The acceleration is needed because “current efforts and investments are insufficient to reduce today’s climate-related risks and keep pace with future changes in the climate,” the report states.
Happenings
Signs of a maturing short-term rental market could have an impact on the county’s real estate prices as the increase in available properties outstrips the rise in demand.
A pedestrian was hit by a car and killed in Rio Grande and a woman was hit by a car attempting to cross Route 47.
Upper Township has increased the potential fine for unauthorized dumping to $10,000 and a possible 90 days in the county jail.
Due to overcrowding in Atlantic County, Cape May County juveniles requiring detention will be sent over 150 miles north to a Bergen County facility.
Despite attempts by employees and their union to stave off a privatization of the Crest Haven Nursing Home, the county has approved a lease of the facility with Allaire Health Systems.
Sea Isle City has received state approval to move ahead with a construction bid process for its planned new Community Center. The city will also see new sand on its beaches beginning in the spring.
Avalon is exploring changes to the policies and fees that govern at the borough-owned Avalon Sport Fishing Center.
Five members of a family face charges of witness tampering in a domestic violence case in which one of them was also indicted for first-degree attempted murder.
Dennis Township has assured residents that the senior center is not closing down.
A Wildwood police officer disarmed a juvenile armed with a knife after the 15-year-old threatened to kill his brother.
Construction is nearly complete for a new dune built to protect the North Wildwood Beach Patrol headquarters. The construction is the latest twist in an ongoing dispute between the city and the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio announced that Sea Isle City has regained its Level 3 status in the FEMA Community Rating System, reinstating the 35% discount for federal flood insurance premiums for city property owners.
The East Lynne Theater Company has been granted the authority to name its theater that will be housed in the Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church.
The family of a young girl who claims she was injured by a cow in the county zoo’s petting area is suing the zoo and the county.
Shawcrest residents have turned to the Lower Township governing body for help in resisting a rent increase.
A Spout Off item raised questions about the county budget. The Herald responded to explain the area of concern.
The Cape May County Technical High School welding program has set students up in a high-demand field, with some already recruited for the workforce after high school graduation.
While some school board elections were uncontested, there was plenty of drama in some of the races, with two sitting board presidents failing to gain reelection, a budget question voted down and an entire slate of incumbents losing in Middle Township.
Fifty-eight police horses and their law-enforcement riders from New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts paraded on the streets and sands of Cape May City recently as part of the largest mounted unit training in the state’s history.
Spout Off of the Week
North Cape May – The “Christmas Elves” have arrived along the road to Douglass Park in North Cape May. Counted 18 trees decorated so far. Welcome Christmas 2023.
Read more spouts at spoutoff.capemaycountyherald.com.
