In The Midst Of Another Major Flood, Murphy Administration Touts A “Buyer Beware” Policy
DEP Relies On Market Disclosure Of Risks As A Diversion From Stricter Regulation Of Risk
Murphy Administration’s “Let Them Eat Cake” Approach Is Completely Out Of Touch With Flood Victims
It’s All Your Fault – You Bought Or Rented The Wrong Home
Just when hundreds of NJ families are suffering from another devastating major flood, the Murphy Administration issued a self congratulatory press release touting new real estate market flood risk disclosure tools:
TRENTON – To address New Jersey’s increasing flood risks under climate change, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette, Department of Community Affairs Acting Commissioner Jacquelyn A. Suárez, and Division of Consumer Affairs Acting Director Cari Fais today unveiled new and enhanced tools and technologies designed to provide prospective homebuyers and renters with critical information needed to make better informed decision on where they choose to live and how best to protect their property from flood damage.
The measures, which include the publication of new and enhanced property disclosure forms notifying prospective buyers and tenants of a property’s known flood history and potential flood risks, as well as the launch of a user-friendly internet look-up tool searchable by mailing address that identifies properties in flood hazard areas, implement provisions of flood risk disclosure legislation signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy in June 2023. Pursuant to the law, sellers and landlords will be required to use the new forms, which are now available on the Division of Consumer Affairs and Department of Community Affairs websites, beginning on March 20, 2024.
Did you get that? New forms! New websites! Are you kidding me?
The Murphy DEP is completely out of touch with basic landscape reality and indifferent to the suffering of flood victims.
A “buyer beware” approach is totally inadequate response to massive flooding and it essentially blames the victim. This is what you get from a Governor who is a former Goldman Sachs Man and a DEP Commissioner who is a former corporate lawyer.
We don’t need more reliance on real estate markets – which are creating the over-development driven flooding nightmare in New Jersey
We need stricter DEP regulation to stop the destruction of natural landscapes (forests, wetlands, steam buffers, steep slopes, and lands that absorb rainfall) and massive new funding to “strategically retreat” from flood hazard areas and restore natural landscapes.
Last summer, the Legislature cancelled a scheduled hearing on climate driven extreme weather issues, which could have shed light on these issues (see: Legislators CANCEL Controversial Climate Hearing).
At that time Legislators (Senior Smith) scheduled the hearing, I wrote (among other things) to specifically warn about DEP’s over reliance on real estate market disclosure to manage flood risks:
1. Reliance on risk disclosure, voluntary market exchange, and consumer “buyer beware”
Current DEP Commissioner LaTourette has testified to the legislature, most recently during budget hearings, and made press remarks, in support of disclosure of risk information to consumers as an effective policy tool, as opposed to DEP land use regulatory restrictions. see:
- NJ to push for public backing on climate action with new regulations (NJ Spotlight, 10/14/20)
- DEP warns environmentalists not to prejudge climate regulation review (NJ Spotlight, 10/27/20).
“Although developers and builders fear the new rules will tighten limits on where they can build in coastal and inland areas, the regulations are unlikely to do that, LaTourette said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. …
“We’re not at a point, nor do we think it’s our role, to tell people: ‘Don’t build here, you shouldn’t build there, you can’t do that,’” LaTourette said. “It is about making folks assess their risk and recognize the risk they are taking on. We are not saying: ‘You cannot build in a future flood-risk area.’ We’re saying that in a future flood-risk area, you need to at least do what you do now in an existing flood-risk area, which is: assess the risk, and notice that risk. It will forever live in the deed record of that property.”
I suggest that the FEMA damage claims data, particularly repeat claim data, suggests that such a policy is misguided and ineffective.
In addition to market forces and risk disclosure, we need legislative and regulatory mandates, including new policies of “managed strategic retreat”, repeal of right to rebuild, and land use restrictions based on the 1,000 year storm event (at a minimum).
And so it goes.
Deja vu all over again (hit that link and check out the photo – State Climatologist Robinson has aged!)