CAPE MAY COUNTY ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY’S PROPOSED REAL/NJPACT RULES RESULTING FROM EO 100
Cape May County with the help of Lomax Environmental Consulting Group have taken significant steps to analyze the impacts on Cape May County of the REAL Rules proposed by New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). As outlined in the County’s Analysis and Maps, the Rules include higher regulatory building standards that will increase construction costs for public and private projects countywide, expand flood hazard areas impacting development and redevelopment opportunities including affordable housing, and may also result in increases to insurance premiums and decreased property values within those impacted zones, raising great concerns from Commissioner Director Desiderio and Board of Cape May County Commissioners, as well as the governing bodies of all 16 towns in Cape May County.
For those reasons, Cape May County, along with the 16 municipal governing bodies within the County’s jurisdiction have moved to adopt Resolutions Urging the State of New Jersey to consider a more thoughtful and incremental approach to implementing these rules, stressing the State to engage the Legislature to enact these rules through the legislative process rather than by Executive Order.
This analysis was prepared at the request of the County of Cape May and interest expressed by public and private stakeholders. It serves as a condensed synopsis of certain key regulatory implications which will result from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Protecting Against Climate Threats (NJPACT) Resilient Environments and Landscapes (REAL) Rules as originally proposed August 5, 2024 and later amended by the Notice of Proposed Substantial Changes (NOPSC) Upon Adoption to Proposed Amendments and New Rules, published July 21, 2025. This analysis follows a preceding memorandum, dated August 12, 2024, which evaluated the original NJPACT REAL rules proposal. The 273-page recent NOPSC to the prior 1,044-page rule proposal was officially released in Volume 57 of the New Jersey Register, dated July 21, 2025, in response to the 2,965 public comments received of which a two thirds majority expressed opposition to the initial proposal.
