New Jersey finalizes higher elevation standards for the shore

This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk, bringing you news and solutions for our changing region.

From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.

Starting this summer, new homes in flood zones along the Jersey Shore will need to be built 4 feet higher.

The requirement comes from a new regulation the state finalized Tuesday to prepare coastal buildings for rising tides driven by climate change.

“If you construct something today, … we could expect that it will live through the end of the century,” said Marjorie Kaplan, co-director of the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center at Rutgers University. “So, it just seems prudent to be protective.”

The new standard reflects the upper range that scientists predict sea levels are likely to rise and land to sink along the coast of New Jersey by the year 2100.

The new rules require the first floors of new buildings in coastal flood zones to be elevated 4 feet above current requirements. The higher standard also applies to some buildings that are significantly renovated.

The rules also expand the coastal flood zone where these standards apply from 16% of the state’s land area to around 17%, state environmental officials said last fall.

Cape May Mayor Zachary Mullock worries the rules could burden some households or make it harder to renovate the historic Victorian-era homes that are typical of his town.

“It’s going to be very hard not to look like a house on stilts,” he said.

But Mullock said for new buildings, the higher standard makes “all the sense in the world.”

Cape May already requires new construction be built 2 feet above minimum standards. Mullock expects the additional cost of elevating a new home a couple feet higher would be minimal.

“It’s smart, building for the future,” Mullock said. “I mean, we know from the science that we are going to experience stronger storms, greater storm surge. We know that the state of New Jersey is sinking while the water’s rising.”