FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, September 25, 2014

Christie Administration Announces Post-Sandy Planning Grant to Hoboken

Grant Will Help Sandy-Impacted Local Government with 
Long-Term Recovery and Resiliency Planning



Trenton, NJ – New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Richard E. Constable, III, today announced the award of $100,000 in Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grants to Hoboken to put into effect comprehensive long-range plans designed to enable the City to become more resilient in the event of future severe weather events.

These are the second Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grant funds that Hoboken has received. Hoboken was awarded $200,000 in planning grants in October 2013 to conduct planning initiatives outlined in its Strategic Recovery Planning Report, which the City prepared using its own resources.

Hoboken’s Strategic Recovery Planning Report evaluated the impact of Superstorm Sandy on its residents, businesses, infrastructure, public safety and open space/recreation sectors. The report serves as a guide for planning strategies the City takes moving forward to recover from Sandy and to reduce its vulnerability to future disasters.

The $100,000 grants announced today will finance a Southwest Rehabilitation Area Redevelopment Plan and a North End Rehabilitation Area Redevelopment Plan. The plans will include resiliency techniques for flood prone areas by comprehensively addressing flash flooding and coastal flooding, while complying with the City’s recently adopted Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance. The plans will also address building and design standards; recommend improvements to parking, public transit, recreation, community facilities and public spaces; analyze historic structures and preservation that may be necessary; address provisions for affordable housing units; and identify any necessary environmental remediation.

"We applaud Hoboken for being proactive in planning for the long-term and developing ways to make their community better able to withstand potential future natural disasters," said Commissioner Constable, whose Department is administering many of the Sandy Recovery programs for the State. "By taking full advantage of the Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grant Program, the City has demonstrated its commitment to finding solutions to the very specific challenges they are facing."

In addition to the $100,000 in grants announced today, Hoboken is using the $200,000 in planning assistant grants it received in October 2013 to:

  • Update its Hazard Mitigation Plan, which will identify and assess the various flooding hazards within the city, as well as the associated vulnerabilities to those hazards. The plan will also identify alternative mitigation actions that can be implemented to reduce the city’s risks resulting from exposure to flooding hazards.

  • Prepare a Capital Improvement Plan to focus municipal capital investments on public facilities, critical community facilities and municipal infrastructure.

  • Develop Resilient Community Design Standards specific to flood hazard areas that would set standards for flood resiliency at the street level for public, residential, commercial, industrial and mixed use buildings.

  • Develop Codes, Ordinances and Standards to provide for a comprehensive update and revision to the municipal stormwater management plan and stormwater management ordinance, which will have strong linkages with the municipal master plan, reexamination report, green infrastructure strategic plan, green building environmental sustainability element, and flood damage prevention ordinance. Green infrastructure best management practices will be incorporated into all of the ordinances.

  • Develop an Open Space, Recreation and Historic Preservation Plan in the context of flood hazard mitigation and municipal resiliency that identifies parks, playgrounds, open spaces and recreational facilities where green infrastructure can be installed for stormwater detention, retention and management. The plan will also analyze and evaluate the city’s stock of historic sites and buildings for update of the municipal historic preservation plan and will recommend methods to preserve and flood proof historic sites in the flood hazard area.

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 grants are currently 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.

The DCA has so far approved $6.2 million in Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grants. 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.