State delays flood rules that split homeowners, environmentalists

NIKITA BIRYUKOV/ NEW JERSEY MONITOR – The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will delay the implementation of controversial new flood rules adopted on the final day of Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration by a year to give regulators more time to make amendments.

The move to walk back regulations that set new elevation requirements, expanded state flood maps beyond federal counterparts, and created new rules for wetland protection and stormwater management was announced Friday and follows a joint legislative hearing last month where local officials and business groups decried them as unduly restrictive …