The Legislature of the State of New
Jersey has, in N.J.S.A. 40:48-1 et seq., delegated the responsibility
to local governmental units to adopt regulations designed to promote
public health, safety, and general welfare of its citizenry. Therefore,
the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Rutherford of Bergen County,
New Jersey does ordain as follows:
It is the purpose of this chapter
to promote the public health, safety, and general welfare, and to
minimize public and private losses due to flood conditions in specific
areas by provisions designed to:
A. Protect human life and health;
B. Minimize expenditure of public money for
costly flood control projects;
C. Minimize the need for rescue and relief
efforts associated with flooding and generally undertaken at the expense
of the general public;
D. Minimize prolonged business interruptions;
E. Minimize damage to public facilities and
utilities such as water and gas mains, electric, telephone and sewer
lines, streets, bridges located in areas of special flood hazard;
F. Help maintain a stable tax base by providing
for the sound use and development of areas of special flood hazard
so as to minimize future flood blight areas;
G. Ensure that potential buyers are notified
that property is in an area of special flood hazard; and
H. Ensure that those who occupy the areas
of special flood hazard assume responsibility for their actions.
In order to accomplish its purposes,
this chapter includes methods and provisions for:
A. Restricting or prohibiting uses which are
dangerous to health, safety, and property due to water or erosion
hazards, or which result in damaging increases in erosion or in flood
heights or velocities;
B. Requiring that uses vulnerable to floods,
including facilities which serve such uses, be protected against flood
damage at the time of initial construction;
C. Controlling the alteration of natural floodplains,
stream channels, and natural protective barriers, which help accommodate
or channel floodwaters;
D. Controlling filling, grading, dredging,
and other development which may increase flood damage; and
E. Preventing or regulating the construction
of flood barriers which will unnaturally divert floodwaters or which
may increase flood hazards in other areas.