Powerful NJ Democrat's push to undo climate rules takes center stage at Earth Day hearing

Property developers who oppose New Jersey’s new coastal development rules have found a powerful ally in state Senate President Nick Scutari — a Democrat who is seeking to deploy a rarely used legislative tool to undo agency regulations.

State regulators and environmental researchers say rising seas are driving up New Jersey’s coastal flooding risk, leaving much of the Garden State increasingly exposed. The new rules, set to fully take effect in July, aim to make communities from the Gold Coast along the Hudson River to the beach towns of the Jersey Shore safer as sea levels rise, basing restrictions on climate predictions instead of just current conditions.

But builders and the business industry fiercely oppose the regulations — known as the Resilient Environments and Landscapes, or REAL rules — and warn that they will slow new development. Scutari said the rules go too far in restricting coastal development. He’s introduced a resolution that would find the new rules violate legislative intent, and would force state regulators to either rewrite them or withdraw them.

“These regulations go far beyond what FEMA has been recommending and will drive up the cost of housing,” Scutari said in a statement. “They should be reconsidered and mirror the federal government’s recommendations for the last four years.”

Scutari’s resolution took center stage in Trenton on Wednesday – Earth Day – at a joint hearing of the state Senate and Assembly environmental committees.

Jersey City Mayor James Solomon said he generally supports climate adaptation efforts, but he wants to see significant changes to the rules because of affordable housing concerns. Solomon told lawmakers at the hearing that if the rules drive up development costs in Jersey City, those costs will inevitably be passed on to future tenants through their rent.

“ These rules are going to impact a huge chunk of both the existing housing stock in Jersey City and future development sites in Jersey City,” Solomon told Gothamist after his testimony at Wednesday’s hearing. “So it starts there that the impact is going to be pretty massive on Jersey City.”

The rules include exemptions for affordable housing development. But Solomon said Jersey City’s city planners have told him they don’t believe the exemptions were written in a way that gives certainty about what does and does not qualify.

“So a developer is saying, ‘Well, I want to build affordable housing. Well, I might get an exemption, but I really have no idea how that's going to work,’” Solomon said.

Sea levels are rising around the world as global warming melts glaciers and polar ice caps, and as hotter temperatures cause oceans to expand. New Jersey experiences sea level rise at twice the rate of the global average because the state’s land is sinking, according to Rutgers research.

Anthony Broccoli, a Rutgers climate science professor whose research helped inform how the DEP wrote the new rules, said higher sea levels make coastal storms more damaging.

“ Hurricane Sandy was an extreme example, producing five to nine feet of storm surge along much of the New Jersey coast,” Broccoli said at the hearing. “But even a strong winter storm, such as this year's late February snowstorm can produce 2 to 3 feet of surge. Coupled with a 3-foot rise in sea level, flooding approaching that caused by Hurricane Sandy would become a frequent occurrence.”

Sea level rise threatens all of the state’s coastal zone, including places far beyond the beach towns of the Jersey Shore. Nearly 1,800 miles of coastline wrap around the state, including tidal river stretches and bayside wetlands. More than 40% of municipalities are part of New Jersey’s coastal zone, including the state’s largest cities.

“Many of our traditional strategies for planning for future weather and climate events assume that they will look a lot like the events that we have experienced in the past,” Broccoli said. “Climate change invalidates this assumption. Instead, we must prepare for and adapt to conditions that will likely be quite different from what we have seen in the past.”

Former Gov. Phil Murphy put an emphasis on adapting New Jersey to sea level rise, ordering state regulators in 2020 to develop new rules for development in coastal flood zones.

Those rules came together over the course of years. An initial version was proposed in 2024, then substantially changed in 2025. The final version was officially adopted in the Murphy administration's final hours.

The new rules expand the regulated coastal zone to account for four feet of projected sea level rise, create a new “inundation zone” designation for land that is projected to eventually be underwater, enhance stormwater management requirements for development and revamp the state’s permitting scheme for coastal development.

Mark Mauriello, a former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection who now works for a developer, said the new rules are critical for ensuring responsible building in vulnerable areas. He added that the state’s Coastal Area Facility Review Act intended for regulators to periodically review and adjust coastal development rules — disputing Scutari’s claim that legislative intent was violated.

“ The legislature recognized the importance of DEP oversight of coastal development, and also that DEP has both the authority and the obligation to undertake rulemaking to ensure effective implementation of this statute,” Mauriello said at Wednesday's hearing.

Developers, business groups and local leaders particularly along the Shore have been fiercely opposed to the new rules since they were first proposed. Opponents have generally raised concerns that the rules put undue burdens and costs on new construction, which will eventually chill the demand for development in coastal areas.

The New Jersey Builders Association and the New Jersey Business and Industry Association in March appealed to the state courts to block the rules. Both groups sent representatives to testify at Wednesday’s hearing.

“ The department's own analysis contains a fundamental contradiction,” Jeff Kolakowski, the CEO of the builders association, said at the hearing. “It suggests the rules may generate compliance-related jobs, more jobs for consultants and engineers and mitigation professionals, but it fails to account for the broader economic reality that that's going to result in fewer projects. And that means fewer construction jobs and fewer homes being built.”

Opponents have also criticized the rules as being out of step with New Jersey’s affordable housing construction goals.

It’s unclear how Gov. Mikie Sherrill feels about the REAL rules. Her office did not respond to a request for comment.

Sherrill’s administration this week touted flood mitigation efforts, including expanding regional flood planning efforts and handing out roughly $15 million in grants for coastal ecosystem restoration projects.

Sherrill has said she wants to cut red tape and reform permitting processes generally, especially to encourage new energy and affordable housing development. Scutari said undoing the REAL rules would be in the spirit of those goals.

“As Gov. Sherrill has rightly indicated, some regulations have gone too far with impacts on business and, most significantly, that impede affordability for the residents of New Jersey,” Scutari said.

How Sherrill feels about the resolution will not matter if Scutari can get it passed, because governors cannot veto legislative review resolutions under New Jersey’s constitution.

But it’s unclear if Scutari will be able to get the votes he needs to pass the resolution. Right now only one other Democrat — state Sen. John Burzichelli of Gloucester County — is sponsoring the measure. The other sponsors are all Republicans. Democrats hold historically large majorities in both the state Senate and the Assembly.