New Jersey
Department of Community Affairs

Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (Hurricane Irene)

Action Plan Substantial Amendment
For Hurricane Irene


Substantial Amendment Notice #5
December 13, 2018

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 a new end date for Passaic County.

Summary of Substantial Amendment:

New Jersey received an allocation of $15,598,506 in CDBG-DR funds for 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 #5 is to extend the term of the subgrant agreement with Passaic County and allow them to complete the additional final phase #5 of a drainage reconstruction project in Passaic City. The new end date necessitates a Substantial Amendment, per the April 16, 2012 Federal Register Notice (Docket No. FR-5628-N-01) requirements.

The new end date for Passaic County’s Disaster Recovery Activities will be July 31, 2019. Passaic City’s project is the only project underway all the other projects in the County and Statewide are complete.

Summary of Citizen Participation Process:

Substantial amendment #5 has been posted on December 13, 2018 on the NJDCA’s website and the Division of Housing and Community Resources’ CDBG website under CDBG-Disaster Recovery, at (http://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/dhcr/offices/cdbg.html) and scroll down to amendment #5. This posting will remain on the CDBG website throughout the life of the program as CDBG-DR Substantial Amendment Notice #5. The opportunity for public comment on these revisions is provided until December 20, 2018. 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.nj.gov.

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

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