Important in this issue of our monthly newspletter is a press release on page 5 asking for public comment on the recent proposed change to the Ida Action Plan to not allow federal funding of elevations in Manville, along with MayorOnderko’s comments in a letter addressed to Honorable Governor Murphy. https://www.manvillenj.org/DocumentCenter/View/5923/MANVILLE-10_23
Through November 7, 2023, the public can submit comment on the Ida Action Plan amendment. The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) will review and consider all feedback received during the public comment period before submitting the amendment to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for approval. Under the amendment, Ida-impacted homeowners in certain areas of repetitive flooding in Manville will only be offered funding through the State’s Blue Acres buyout program and are not eligible for assistance to repair, rebuild, or elevate their home through HARP or the Small Rental Repair Program. Blue Acres is a program through which homeowners in flood prone areas can voluntarily sell their home to the State for fair market value so they can move out of harm’s way and the property can be turned into natural flood storage, open space, or parkland.
All Manville residents can submit public comments to the proposed amendment via email or regular mail. Commenters are able to submit comments to this proposed amendment (i) via email to DRMConstituentServices@dca.nj.gov (Subject: Ida APA 5); or (ii) via U.S. mail to the attention of Lisa Ryan, Division of Disaster Recovery and Mitigation, NJ Department of Community Affairs, 101 South Broad Street, P.O. Box 823, Trenton, NJ 08625-0823.
All comments must be received on or before the deadline of November 7th,, 2023 to be considered.