after years of debate the Murphy administration is getting ready to finalize an overhaul of the state's coastal development rules the regulations known as real rules decide where and what can be built near the coastline and they're meant to protect shore towns from future sea level rise and more intense storms but some community leaders and business groups are fiercely pushing back warning they'll hurt tourism and economic growth and as senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan reports whether the rules are adopted or not it'll largely be up to New Jersey's next governor to enforce them we are all acutely aware of of coastal flooding sea level rise and all that we live with it every day and Beach Haven Mayor Colleen Lambert knows an active hurricane forecast again threatens to surge storm water into towns down the Jersey shore but turbulent political winds are now swirling too deliberately generated by mayors trying to pause the looming final adoption of proposed D rules designed to diminish those rising flood risks we do not want to see this go through as it is because you know we feel this is something that's getting rushed through and you know forgive the expression but kind of ram down our throats um it it does need to have a much closer look taken so we're hoping we can get into the room with the commissioner and maybe even legislative leadership to discuss this mayor Jason Sento last week fired off a letter to Governor Murphy and legislative leaders signed by more than 130 members of Jersey's Conference of Mayors it expressed their alarm about the D's proposed plan called Real Rules Resilient Environments and Landscapes the real rules plan updates flood risk zones and requires more stringent building standards to protect homes in floodprone areas based on a core prediction that sea levels here will rise up to 5 ft by the end of the century the facts should not be negotiable um if we're going to if you're going to take the steps to protect ourselves and protect our communities this is the benchmark that science tells us that we should go for but many mayors chafe at Real's constraints on development dispute the data behind the rules and foresee increased costs for building and private insurance real supporters argue that's the price of safety you know there was some discussion of these rules create no build zones which is not true um what the rules do is they explain if you're going to be in a high hazard area how you have to build to make sure that you're going to be safe backing up a little bit from where uh we know the water is going to be um that is critical to the long-term economic success of our communities and our economy at large but change is hard the D hold public hearings so Sento's letters kind of a post primary hail Mary pass that also CC jerseys two main candidates for governor republican Jack Chidarelli and Democrat Mikey Cheryl the reason the other the other two candidates were copied is because ultimately again one of them will be governor but we're looking to work with the current administration cuz they're still here we're beyond the primary and now the candidates have been chosen uh and this is a conversation that absolutely needs to be had with both sides i was working on some kind of a flyer that we can send out at least to the Ocean County residents and county commissioner Frank Sedgi notes he'd host public hearings with Cheryl and Chidarelli who take very different views on the issue cheryl's campaign says she'd strike a smart and responsible balance between instituting long-term resiliency measures in coastal areas and ensuring that we do not hamper economic development especially the construction of new housing chidarelli calls real big government overreach that unfairly targets Jerseyshore home and business owners most troubling of all the proposal calls for a managed retreat from coastal communities it's DOA when I'm governor the best way to stop something in Trenton is any way that you can writers Micah Rasmusen calls the mayor's outreach smart politics with intense battles for both the governor's office and the assembly on November's ballot going to the candidates making this political making this an election year issue so that we deal with it after the election is done is viewed as the most expedient way to get this off the front burner to prevent this from going into action a D spokesman assured NJ Spotlight News the real rules will be adopted this year but couldn't give a specific date an interview with the commissioner was cancelled in lie of a statement from Governor Murphy's office noting his administration is planning the adoption of supportive regulatory changes that will help protect New Jerseys properties businesses and residents from increasing coastal hazards again no date mentioned i'm Brenda Flanigan NJ Spotlight News [Music]