New Jersey
Department of Community Affairs

Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery
(Hurricane Irene) 

Action Plan Substantial Amendment
For Hurricane Irene

Substantial Amendment Notice #4
March 15, 2017

State of New Jersey Substantial Amendment to the SFY2013 Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program Action Plan (Hurricane Irene)

The Department of Community Affairs is proposing a substantial amendment to the State of New Jersey Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery, CDBG-DR (Hurricane Irene) Program Action Plan for SFY2013. The amendment addresses budget changes to the Passaic County and Statewide categories.

Summary of Substantial Amendment:

New Jersey received an allocation of $15,598,506 in CDBG-DR funds for the purpose of assisting the communities most impacted and distressed by Hurricane Irene. The 2013 NJ Community Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program Action Plan identified Passaic County as the eligible entity and recipient of 80% of the CDBG-DR Funds.  The remaining 20% was available, through a competitive application process for recovery efforts Statewide.  This grant provided a 5% administrative fee resulting in $14,818,581 being available for program activities.  Based on this, DCA prepared and submitted an estimated spending plan and the CDBG-DR Action Plan on July 23, 2012 to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which was approved on September 28, 2012.

Based on HUD’s unmet needs and information obtained from several community forums held in Passaic County, the NJ CDBG-DR Action Plan based its Passaic County (80%) allocation/budget on projects identified by nine municipalities that were impacted by the storm. In all, eleven projects were formally submitted to NJDCA under one application.

Applications for grants from the Statewide funding category were received through a competitive process. NJDCA conducted a technical assistance workshop on January 8, 2013 to inform the Statewide applicants of the rules, regulations, and procedures of the Statewide allocation. In all, 12 applications were submitted to NJDCA on or before February 28, 2013.  The process resulted in funding of eight (8) of these applications, and awarding the entire Statewide allocation of $2,963,716.  The eight (8) Statewide awards will fund nine (9) projects, including two (2) bulkhead repairs projects, a bridge replacement, dike restoration and generator repair, repairs to a parking lot at municipal/police station building and detention basin, the restoration of a County ARC facility, rehabilitation of public housing authority apartments and two (2) buyout projects to create public open space.

The need for this Substantial Amendment #4 is the result of reallocating funds to the Infrastructure Category in Passaic County for phase 3 and 4 of a drainage reconstruction project in Passaic City. Existing funds in the amount of $1,764,979 from the Home Buyouts were shifted to this public facility.  The new proposed activities necessitates a Substantial Amendment, per the April 16, 2012 Federal Register Notice (Docket No. FR-5628-N-01) requirements.

The amount to be awarded to Passaic County (80%) and the amount to be allocated statewide (20%) have not changed, but the budget within the remaining grant categories has been modified based on the needs of the subgrantees and subrecipeints, which supports efforts to complete program objectives. Please refer to the Distribution of Allocation Table on the following page.

Distribution of Allocation Table (Revised on March 13, 2017 *)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grant Activities

National Objective

Passaic County 80%

Competitive Statewide 20%

Percent of Total Funding

Total Funding

Housing Rehabilitation (no change)

LM/UR

$7,012

$65,000.00

0.5%

$72,012

Home Buyouts & FEMA Match (total reduced from $8,301,959)

LM/UR

$6,994,302

$545,580.00

48.3%

$7,539,882

Resettlement Incentives (total reduced from $600,000)

UR

$400,000

$25,000.00

2.7%

$425,000

Demolition without Acquisition (total reduced from $100,000)

UR

$0

$0

0.0%

$0

Infrastructure Improvements (total increased from $4,169,263)

LM

$4,049,979

$1,930,704.00

38.3%

$5,980,683

Economic Revitalization (no change)

LM

$0

$0

0%

$0

Public Services (no change)

LM

$0

$256,088.00

1.6%

$256,088

Relocation (total reduced from $543,017)

LM

$100,872

$94,617.00

1.3%

$195,489

Optional Relocation Policy (total reduced from $16,000)

LM/UR

$2,700

$11,920.00

0.1%

$14,620

Clearance (no change)

LM

$0

$34,807.00

0.2%

$34,807

Resettlement for Renters (total reduced from $10,000)

LM/UR

$0

$0

0.0%

$0

Acquisition, Standard CDBG (total reduced from $700,000)

LM/UR

$300,000

$0

1.9%

$300,000

Subtotals

 

$11,854,865

$2,963,716

95%

$14,818,581

State Administration

 

$623,940

$155,985

5%

$779,925

Totals

 

$12,478,805

$3,119,701

100%

$15,598,506

* This reallocation does not change the funding to meet the CDBG-DR Program requirement that at least fifty (50%) of the funding shall be used to benefit people of low and moderate income.

Summary of Citizen Participation Process:

Substantial amendment #4 has been posted on the NJ DCA’s Division of Housing and Community Resources’ CDBG website under CDBG-Disaster Recovery on March 15, 2017. This posting will remain on the CDBG website throughout the life of the program as CDBG-DR Substantial Amendment Notice #4. The opportunity for public comment on these budget revisions is provided until March 23, 2017.   Any comments should be forwarded to the NJ DCA’s Division of Housing and Community Resources’ Administrator of the Neighborhood Program Unit, Terence Schrider, at Terence.Schrider@dca.state.nj.us .

The New Jersey Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program Action Plan for SFYR 2013 may be located through

http://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/dhcr/rfp/pdf/cdbg_dr_plan_rfp_gl.pdf