Rutgers study finds residents pessimistic about Sandy rebuilding

A year-long study conducted at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy in New Brunswick found individual property owners in towns affected by Hurricane Sandy are not optimistic about the likelihood of community-based rebuilding solutions.In an online survey with more than 400 participants, 45 percent said they were “pessimistic” or “very pessimistic” that Sandy-affected areas of their town would be rebuilt better than before the storm; another 24 percent indicated they were “not sure.”

Areas directly involved with the study include Sea Bright, Highlands, Sayreville and their surrounding municipalities.

61 percent also indicated the belief that another storm of the same magnitude was “very” or “somewhat” likely to occur in the next decade; 90 percent indicated the same likelihood within the next century.

Director for the study Clinton Andrews, a professor of urban planning at the Bloustein School, said community-based solutions, preferable to individual patchwork efforts, are unlikely unless there is reform of legal and policy disincentives that prevent coordinated planning.

The study was funded by the New Jersey Recovery Fund.

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