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Resident warns of sea-level rise; mayor outlines efforts to find nonfederal funding after nationwide cuts
Summary
A resident cited a state climate report on rising precipitation and sea-level trends and pressed the council for a protection plan; Mayor Bulan said federal funding cuts affected many projects and outlined efforts to pursue state, county, infrastructure bank and other funding sources, including potential multi‑phase state support.
A public commenter at the Borough Highlands meeting on Oct. 15 summarized recent climate findings and asked the council what short- and long-term plans exist to protect the borough after a local resiliency project lost federal funding.
The commenter cited a report they had reviewed and highlighted three findings: precipitation is more variable with more intense storm events, average temperatures have increased (the speaker stated "temperature has increased 4° F" since the 1900s), and sea-level rise is accelerating (the commenter said Atlantic City sea level has risen "19 in" since 1911). The speaker criticized a prior local ballot question about the Mammoth Hills project as one-sided and asked what the council intends to do over the next 10–100 years to protect Highlands.
Mayor Bulan responded that the federal cancellation affected many resiliency projects nationwide and said the borough is pursuing alternative funding sources. "We are working with engineering and with our grant writers to find other sources of funding that are not tied to the federal government," Bulan said. The mayor noted discussions with the state, county, the infrastructure bank (I-Bank), and potential USDA funding, and described possible state program phases with preliminary figures discussed internally (a near-term phase of about $5 million and a potential larger phase of roughly $25 million for shovel‑ready projects). The mayor also referenced available smaller design grants (around $100,000) for projects that are design-ready.
Bulan said the borough is positioning shovel-ready designs for future funding cycles and continuing coordination with state and regional partners; no firm award or timeline was announced at the meeting.
Next steps: Borough staff to continue pursuing state, county and other grant opportunities and to keep the council and public informed as funding opportunities and project phasing develop.
