Crime & Safety

Brick Getting One Of State's Biggest Superstorm Sandy Recovery Grants: $470,000

The "Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grants" will put into effect comprehensive long-range plans designed to help the township's recovery.

Brick Township will get $470,000 in grants to help the municipality continue to rebuild after Superstorm Sandy - one of the largest storm-recovery grants awarded by the state, according to state Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Richard E. Constable,.

The “Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grants” will put into effect comprehensive long-range plans designed to help the township become more resilient in the event of future significant weather events, according to a DCA news release.

These grants are the second Post-Sandy Planning Assistance funds that Brick has received. The township was awarded its first planning grant in April 2013, and used the $30,000 grant to complete a Strategic Recovery Planning Report, according to the release.

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The report serves as the township’s comprehensive guide for planning initiatives it takes moving forward to recover from Sandy, and reduce its vulnerability to future disasters. The second round of planning grants now enable Brick to proceed with planning initiatives based on the strategies detailed in its Strategic Recovery Planning Report.

The $470,000 grant is the largest grant awarded to a local government in the Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grant Program.

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“As New Jersey continues to recover from Sandy, the planning that Brick Township is undertaking will identify opportunities to build local resilience and promote growth that is sustainable even in hazardous conditions such as those experienced during and after the storm,” said Constable, whose fepartment is administering many of the Sandy Recovery programs for the State. “We applaud Brick Township for pursuing these worthwhile projects and look forward to hearing of their successful completion.”

Four neighborhoods in Brick were heavily impacted by Sandy: the Shore Acres area, Bay Harbor and Cherry Quay neighborhoods, Barrier Island area and the Princeton and Midstreams neighborhood.

The grants will fund the study and preparation of neighborhood plans that will include resiliency techniques for flood prone areas, as well as design standards and capital improvements to be made within each of the neighborhoods.

In addition, the grants will fund:

· Amendments to the township’s master plan and zoning ordinance that will assist the community in recovery from the storm and provide additional resiliency techniques to respond to future storm events;

· The development of a green building design and sustainability element of the Township’s master plan;

· The creation of a Hazard Mitigation Plan that will identify and assess the various flooding hazards within the Township, as well as the associated vulnerabilities to those hazards. This plan will also identify alternative mitigation actions that can be implemented to reduce the Township’s risks resulting from exposure to flooding hazards;

· The development of a Capital Improvement Plan to focus municipal capital investments as they relate to resiliency; and

· The streamlining of the township’s permit application process.

The Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grants are funded through Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery mony provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The grants are currently available to each of the nine counties most impacted by Sandy as determined by HUD (Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Union) and all of the municipalities within those counties that have experienced a ratable loss of at least 1 percent or $1 million due to the storm.

The program provides funding in two phases. The first phase is producing a Strategic Recovery Planning Report. To date, the DCA has approved 49 Post-Sandy Planning Assistance Grants to assist local governments in completing this planning report.


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