The Floodplain Protection Program provides grants to acquire properties that have been damaged by, or may be prone to incurring damage caused by, storms or storm-related flooding, or that may buffer or protect other lands from such damage.
Donor Name: Bergen County Department of Planning & Economic Development
State: New Jersey
County: Bergen County (NJ)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/14/2023
Details:
The objective of the program is to acquire flood damaged properties, remove structures and permanently preserve the lands for recreation and conservation purposes.
The Bergen County Floodplain Protection Program involves the acquisition of floodprone homes and lands associated with the homes, from sellers and the demolition of the structures. The purchased property, cleared of all structures, is then maintained for open space purposes, in perpetuity, in order to restore and/or conserve the natural floodplain functions. Applicants to the Program (also known as Grantees) are responsible for oversight in ensuring and enforcing proper land use post preservation.
Goals of the Program
- Move Bergen County residents out of harm’s way from flooding events.
- Reduce the risk to first responders who conduct search and rescue operations.
- Reduce the risk of future property loss.
- Lower municipal costs for post-flood clean-up and repair of buildings and infrastructure.
- Lessen the ancillary impacts to local businesses.
- Add open space in neighborhoods.
- Create a permanent, self-sustaining solution to repeat flooding.
Priorities
- Work with municipalities to identify the residential properties in floodplains that are most susceptible to regular, chronic flooding.
- Restore and/or conserve the natural functions of floodplains.
- Leverage available acquisition funding from Federal and State programs.
Categories
- Federally Funded Projects
- Locally Funded Projects
Eligible Activities
Acquisition of flood-prone and flood-damaged structures, and the lands – buildings associated with these homes. Flood events that are eligible include:
- Overland water flow.
- Excessive land saturation due to cumulative rainfall or snowmelt.
- Slope failure, slope erosion or mudflow – public access to these properties may be limited due to public safety issues.
Eligible Properties
To be eligible for a floodplain protection grant, applicants (“Grantee”) must verify that the property is not needed as a part of an intended planned project. Acquisition may be from a willing seller or by condemnation for Locally Funded Projects. The most desirable method is purchase from a willing seller. Condemnation may be used to acquire property from holdout landowners after most properties in the project area have been obtained through voluntary sales. The use of condemnation will help reduce the checkerboard pattern of vacant lots and buildings due to those owners who did not wish to sell and/or move. Minimum eligibility criteria are:
- The property must be located in Bergen County.
- The property must be residential. Non-residential properties will be considered, if appropriate, and are located within a target acquisition area.
- Property must have sustained either severe repetitive loss (SRL) or repetitive loss (RL) as determined by FEMA, or, property must have sustained substantial damage (greater than 50%). Properties in the process of foreclosure or currently held by a bank post-foreclosure that meet the criteria in items 1-3;
- All incompatible easements or encumbrances can be extinguished;
- The property cannot be contaminated with hazardous materials at the time of acquisition, other than incidental demolition or household waste.
Eligibility Criteria
Any Bergen County municipal government and the County of Bergen.
For more information, visit Floodplain Protection Program.
