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Coastal Adaptation Information on Local Government Websites in New Jersey
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Coastal Adaptation Information on Local Government Websites in New Jersey

Kristopher Cadieux, Alexandra Eichhorn, Catherine Quinn, Kerrianne Parrish, Asia Mae Somboonlakana, William Solecki and Patrick L. Gurian
Journal of extreme events
09 Jul 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1142/S2345737625500034
url
https://doi.org/10.1142/S2345737625500034View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

As coasts are increasingly affected by the impacts of climate change, such as flooding associated with sea level rise, extreme precipitation events, and storm surges, many coastal communities are facing damages to infrastructure and property. Within the United States, at the federal and state scales, there are various programs dedicated to funding and facilitating sea level rise resilience and adaptation measures as well as public outreach. However, at the local scale, coastal adaptation is done primarily via development restrictions and individual projects that construct green, gray, or hybrid infrastructure. This analysis assessed the coastal hazard efforts that local governments in New Jersey are communicating to the public on their websites to assess the preparedness of coastal municipalities in confronting climate change and look at the relationships between specific factors. Data were collected directly from the websites of 24 local governments located in coastal New Jersey in the first half of 2019. Websites mentioned a wide variety of flood risk management programs with participation in the United States National Flood Insurance Program, applications for grants, development restrictions, and funding for housing retrofit and adaptation measures being mentioned significantly more frequently in locations with higher flood risk. No websites mentioned managed retreat or buyout programs. The projects most frequently mentioned as being planned, in progress, or completed were stormwater management (62% of communities) and road improvements (50% of communities). A climate adaptation index based on cumulative project planning and completion had a bimodal distribution with roughly half of communities being fairly active in terms of reported adaptations to climate change, while the other half reported fewer actions. Coastal flood risk appears to be a main determinant of local action, with political lean and population not observed to have significant effects.

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