The adoption of these maps by the gov will force people to move off the barrier islands.

This is going to be devastating to the town and so many people. V does not mean victory...it means vamoose.....time to get out of town.

My wife and I purchased an old shore house two months before Sandy. We used up almost our entire savings putting a down payment on this "investment" in the city we love, then the rest of it on renovating. We opted to rehab our little shore house, keeping the feel of the neighborhood, instead of building yet another generic, two family condo like everybody else. Now, after spending all of our money and nearing the end of the rehab, we're hit with this. How many others are in this situation? Now we'll be forced out, at a loss and some builder will probably come in and wipe out everything we've tried to do. They'll buy up houses people cant afford to raise and Ocean City will become an island of condos with no shore personality and no year round residents.

What about those that were lucky and had no flooding? Do they paint the zones with a wide brush, so they can get into more wallets?

This is so sad to me. Our family (both sides!) has vacationed in OCNJ for 5 generations. My Grandparents owned a home there for many years. My Father's Uncle lived and died there, as well as a few other relatives. Ocean City was always our special, magical town. Our home away from home with annual family reunion vacations. The family bench on the boardwalk. Generations of children riding the fire engines and little boats (with REAL water!). Sadly the last few years many of us have not been able to afford to vacation in Ocean City. We have watched with sadness our little small paradise, our magical home away from home morph into something else. Something we can no longer take part in. Something we cannot share with the newest generation of children in our lives. There is a deep sadness and a hole in our souls that generations of something so precious and beloved has to come to an end. We never came to Ocean City for luxury. We came for love and family. The island has certainly changed. The magic has diminished, even if we had the resources. This new development removes any hopes of return.

Don't assume. Let the city figure it out.

i'm assuming the concept is that if all the houses get over elevation 11.8 , which I believe is the new elevation 10, that insurance coverage will be available to all at some sort of reasonable price. The extrapolation of Christie's sppeech is that if all the properties are built at the new "minimum" safe height , damage will be mitigated and the insurance companies can't cherry pick just what they want to insure.
Will check back in when they get this fleshed out, but very seldom is there not some wiggle room ( ie grandfathered rights etc ) .

Just a corollary to above, having been around this island and the real estate speculation for a long time , I would urge people who are fearful of this not to sell their homes in a panic. The real regs should be out quicker than usual and a reputable engineer or realtor wouldn't try to scare up business during this time of crisis for many.

I can just imagine the licking of chops going on - if people are forced to raise their homes the demand for this service will be much higher and so will the price. The shore, between the cost of flood insurance and the cost to raise your home, will be only for the wealthy. Once again, they'll win. We sacrificed a lot to have a little bungalow at the shore for our kids - we're certainly not rich - and I'm afraid now that we won't be able to retire there as we planned. Very sad for us and for everyone of moderate means. Was the governor thinking of all this when he made this announcement?

Does anyone know where the "V" zone is located?

http://www.region2coastal.com/sandy/abfe

Sam, click in the link above and zoom into Ocean City. You will see the proliferation of "V" zones all over the west side of the island.

Christie exceeds his power with his executive order. Isn't zoning the responsibility of local governments? And if the state does gets involved, shouldn't it be up to the state legislature (where we are represented) and not executive fiat. Christie orders should not be "law", they should interpret law.

By the way, instead of representing his constitutents best interest by fighting the FEMA maps, which FEMA admits are incorrect, he says we must implement them. This will lead to unnecessary costs on many projects (people will have to build at V zone standards, even though shouldn't be in this zone, and probably won't be after further review.) He claims he is helping, but will cause lots of aggravation and add more costs.

The most important reason to fight this overreach is because it sets up the precedent of state zoning of the coastal areas ( is CAFRA citywide coming?) that could have Environmentalist at the DEP stopping construction along the coast.

Thanks, Dean; however, the link did not give me a V map for OC or am I not looking at the right part.

Again, thanks.

Sam stclair....try this link and input your address...you should be able to view the map for your location.

http://www.region2coastal.com/sandy/table

http://fema.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=2f0a884bfb434d76af8c15c26541a545

This is the direct link to the O.C. map, you can zoom in or out as needed.

Take a look at Longport Boro's web site and tell me why this is not happening in OC

Folks, this is not an Ocean City nor is it a State of New Jersey or Gov. Christie plot against homeowners. The new FEMA maps are prepared by a Federal agency. Flood insurance is a federally backed program and is not required of everyone. It is only required if you have a mortgage that is backed by a federal agency.

Government at it's best! 4 years ago Ocean City's prior administration passes a "NEW" floor area ratio (better known as FAR) zoning ordinance. This ordinance forces homes to be lower to the ground due to "lower overall height requirments". In addition if you wished to have parking under your home, that would be considered a "floor" thereby requiring your 2nd living floor to be considered a 3rd floor which can only be a "dormer floor". Now that many homes were constructed "lower and without garages, and more importantly not in compliance with FEMA Base Flood Elevations people are screwed. FEMA admits to working on these maps for awhile, so when were they going to tell people??? There are new homes under construction in Ocean City at this very time that will not be compliant upon completion?

As a builder and a local homeowner I've spent endless hours with FEMA unerstanding the literature of grants and timelines offered. The house raising and flood elevations are a subject that wont be finalized for months to come. Hopefully we can have patience as Ocean City residents and be optimistic I know its tough financially and mentally Good Luck Everyone!