Project Update: Locking in Our Timeline (and Beating the "Cliff")

It’s been a minute since our last building update, but we just got some news from our engineering team that puts our rebuild on the fast track!

For the past few weeks, we’ve been navigating a bit of a regulatory obstacle course. The state’s environmental protection agency is rolling out a massive set of new flood hazard rules (the "REAL" rules) this summer. If we get caught under the new regulations, we would be forced to push a few things higher than originally planned. Because our town strictly holds the line on a 35-foot maximum building height, adding those extra feet of flood elevation would break our current architectural design.

Fortunately, there is a "Legacy" provision that allows us to get grandfathered under the current rules, provided our application is completely finalized and submitted before the state’s July 20th 2027* deadline.

Here is where everything stands as of this week:

• The Architect: We met with the architect recently to coordinate the next iteration of our plans. They are finalizing our design revisions under the current "Legacy" parameters (FEMA + 1ft) and will have those ready to hand off during the first week of June.
• The Engineer: After a brief stretch of radio silence, our civil engineer got back to us with a huge update: they are officially targeting submission to the state within the next two weeks (right around June 10th)!
• The Buffer: Hitting a June 10th submission window is a massive win. It safely positions us ahead of the inevitable mad rush of thousands of applications hitting the state portal right before the July cliff. It also leaves us a solid 30-day "administrative safety net" just in case the state portal experiences technical glitches or requires any minor paperwork corrections.

What's Next?
Over the next few days, the engineer will be reviewing the final maps and sending them over to us for approval. At the same time, we are coordinating with our team to lock down anything else required for the application.

If all goes according to plan, our file will be officially logged and locked in with the state by mid-June. It feels great to finally have a concrete timeline and to watch all the pieces fall perfectly into place!

Stay tuned—the next time we update, we should hopefully be "pending approval."

* Update

On May 29, 2026 (the day this post was originally published), the NJ DEP announced they plan to extend the Legacy provisions of the REAL rule by one year. This is allow time for additional review. This doesn't have too much of an impact on our project, other than providing some cushion for our Legacy application. If it were to be deemed incomplete for some reason, we will have additional time to amend it.