{"id":313,"date":"2014-08-13T05:31:41","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T09:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=313"},"modified":"2014-08-13T00:35:40","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T04:35:40","slug":"concerns-raised-over-flood-code-inspectors-in-brick-neighborhoods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2014\/08\/concerns-raised-over-flood-code-inspectors-in-brick-neighborhoods\/","title":{"rendered":"Concerns Raised Over Flood Code Inspectors in Brick Neighborhoods"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"An<\/a>

An inspector with Brick Township walks along a street in a local neighborhood. (Photo provided by Domenick Brando.)<\/p><\/div>\n

The township has sent at least two inspectors to a number of neighborhoods across Brick, mainly those impacted by Superstorm Sandy, to take photographs and inspect properties whose owners were ultimately sent notices that they were out of compliance with federal flood codes.<\/p>\n

The inspection team has consisted of two interns and, initially, a senior employee who was training them, said Business Administrator Joanne Bergin. The reason for the inspections, which in some cases involves the inspectors going onto private property, is the township\u2019s desire to enter the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u2019s Community Rating System, or CRS, program. Once a town is certified in the program, its residents receive discounts on their flood insurance policies, but FEMA notified the township of 655 properties that may be out of compliance and could prevent Brick from participating.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, he checks to make sure the house is a visibly compliant structure,\u201d Township Engineer Elissa Commins said of an inspector\u2019s role. Commins said an inspector does, in some cases, go on private property and take photographs of homes, but does not exceed a resident\u2019s \u201creasonable expectation of privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite frankly, I think it\u2019s illegal,\u201d said Domenick Brando, a Republican candidate for township council who addressed the governing body on the issue at a meeting Tuesday. \u201cThey\u2019re going on people\u2019s property, they\u2019re taking pictures, they\u2019re taking videos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brando raised a question as to whether the motives of the inspectors are purely to look into the flood compliance issues or if they are on the hunt for other code violations or work being done without permits in the wake of the storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did every house on my block, and I know they\u2019re not on the list, because I have the list,\u201d said Brando, who provided Brick Shorebeat with a photograph of an inspector dressed in a green T-shirt walking along a township street, next to what appears to be a white township vehicle. The person in the photograph is dressed in personal clothing, though Bergin said the inspectors have now been issued township shirts and carry identification.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re photographing a house, it\u2019s from the list of the 655 structures,\u201d replied Commins.<\/p>\n

Mayor John Ducey implemented an amnesty program in June for those who completed work on their homes without applying for the proper permits, and Bergin said the administration has continued to work with people even after the program ended to get their permits in order.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we\u2019re all on the same page with wanting people to get back in their homes, but we want to make sure all the inspections were done,\u201d Bergin said. \u201cIt is not the overall intention to penalize people who did not get their permits. Our number one goal is to get folks in and get those inspections done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specific to the flood compliance codes, Ducey said that in many cases the compliance issue may be as simple as not having enough vents in a home\u2019s foundation, or not having enough vents. Having the township participate in the CRS program is important because it would allow for all residents to receive a discount on their flood insurance policies, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working diligently,\u201d said Ducey. \u201d\u00a0If we get all the structures to be compliant in town, everybody in the whole program gets a reduction on their flood insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The township has sent at least two inspectors to a number of neighborhoods across Brick, mainly those impacted by Superstorm Sandy, to take photographs and inspect properties whose owners were ultimately sent notices that they were out of compliance with federal flood codes. The inspection team has consisted of two interns and, initially, a senior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,14],"tags":[24,67,68,65,70,69,66],"class_list":["post-313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-superstorm-hurricane-sandy","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-community-rating-system","tag-crs","tag-fema","tag-flood-insurance","tag-nfip","tag-superstorm-sandy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/inspector.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-53","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}