NJAFM Year in Review – 2014-2015

  • New Administrator – Greg Westfall began in early April 2015.
  • Statistics:

Membership

340 active members (as of 11/12/2015) broken out as follows:

Agency – 14

Corporate – 36

Individual – 181

Local Officials – 100

Students - 9

Certified Floodplain Managers – 265

Conference Attendance –

Year / Number of Attendees
2010 / 217
2011 / 236
2012 / 226
2013 / 308
2014 / 318
2015 / 350

Training

  • Sponsored with Bergen County OEM and FEMA the FEMA 936 course on Floodproofing Existing Non-residential structures in Bergen County for 40 people.
  • Sponsored CFM Training on January 28th and 29th in Mt. Laurel, NJ for 17 people.
  • Sponsored with the Rutgers Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve CFM Training on April 15th and 16th in Tuckerton, NJ for 19 people.
  • Co-sponsored with Bergen County and FEMA the FEMA 273 course Managing Floodplain Development through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) on August 10-13th attended by 18 people
  • Co-sponsored with Bergen County and FEMA the L936 course on Floodproofing Non-Residential Buildings and Retrofitting Residential Buildings on August 26 attended by 31 people.

Partnership

  • Board members, officers and others have a good relationship with the following groups:

-Jacque Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve

-New Jersey Construction Officials Association

-New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors

Legislative

  • Supported continued funding of NJDEP water programs with reallocation of the Corporate Business Tax to open space
  • Testified and provided written comment on Coastal Zone Management Rule
  • Supported elevation contractor bill
  • Participated in NJ Climate Adaptation Alliance
  • Represented NJAFM at Urban Water Solutions Group meetings
  • NJAFM passed resolution and provided supportletters on the new Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (EO 13690) to NJ Congressional Delegation; and co-signed OP-ED in Star Ledger
  • Testified before NJ Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee on bill A4185 to integrate hazard mitigation and municipal master planning; met with NJ League of Municipalities to find common ground
  • Provided support letter for proposed Rutgers Coastal Climate Risk and Resilience Traineeship (CCRR) grant application
  • Attended meetings and provided comment letter on proposed changes to the State Flood Hazard Area Control Act Rule; educated NJ League of Municipalities who submitted comments too
  • Attended Resilience Professionals Retreat hosted by JC-NERR

Outreach

  • Spoke at Pennsylvania flood conference in Philly on CRS successes in NJ
  • Organized and spoke at NJ League of Municipalities Conference on CRS
  • Interview on WHYY National Public Radio on two year anniversary of Sandy
  • On panel covering CRS at NJ Land Trust Rally
  • Worked with several reporters through the year on a multitude of issues, provided background and quotes
  • Was on resiliency panel at American Planning Association, NJ chapter annual conference
  • Appeared on NJ Climate Change 101 video production
  • Panelist at NJ Spotlight (policy news source) roundtable at the Wyndham, Trenton, NJ
  • Speaker at historic building issues in urban floodplains at NJIT
  • Keynote speaker at FEMA/Middlesex County Resilient Communities session on elevated structures
  • Nominated Oklahoma Chapter for 2015 ASFPM Outstanding Chapter Award 2015; they won
  • Talk given at Sustainable Jersey Summit
  • Signed a partnership agreement for reciprocal treatment for membership attendance, exhibit space and promotion of respective conferences with the New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors (NJSPLS). May be working with other organizations that have an interest in collaborating with NJAFM
  • Issued a Spring (May) and Summer (August) quarterly Chapter newsletters to members
  • Met with Climate Central regarding their flood risk assessment tools on July 1st
  • Collaborated with NJ-AWRA, ASCE- NJ Central and Southern Branches in announcing courses, seminars and workshops of interest to NJAFM floodplain managers
  • Sent out Call for Abstracts for this Conference to Building Officials, Professional Surveyors, Planners, ANJEC, Sustainable Jersey and New Jersey Future.
  • Development, review, printing and distribution of the Quick Guide to Floodplain Management in New Jersey (also paid for this, right?)
  • Thanks go out to the following organizations for assisting NJAFM on Conference outreach:

-Association of State Floodplain Managers

-New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors

-NJ Emergency Preparedness Association

-New Jersey Building Officials Association

-County Emergency Management Coordinators

-Rutgers New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance

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