Real estate development association, NAIOP NJ, has publicly commended Gov. Mikie Sherrill for issuing a mandatory one-year delay on the implementation of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (NJDEP) Resilient Environments and Landscapes (REAL) land-use rule.
The decision pushes back the highly contested regulatory framework from its looming mid-July 2026 deadline, allowing the state and industry leaders to thoroughly reassess and right-size the final rule.
The REAL Rule, which was adopted in the final hours of former Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration, was designed to overhaul New Jersey’s environmental and land-use rules to protect coastal and inland properties from climate-induced flooding. However, critics argue the scope of the rule created an unpredictable, overly restrictive permitting landscape that threatened to paralyze new economic growth.
The policy faced historic, bipartisan opposition across New Jersey, drawing formal pushback from state legislative leaders and more than 130 mayors who feared the regulations would crush local redevelopment and municipal tax bases.
Dan Kennedy, chief executive officer of NAIOP NJ, released a statement praising Sherrill and NJDEP Acting Commissioner Potosnak for stepping in:
“The commercial real estate industry is not opposed to reasonable, common-sense land use rules that will protect properties from flooding. We look forward to right-sizing this over-the-top regulatory action into a workable set of solutions to address our state’s documented flooding issues. The REAL Rule goes far beyond predictable risks from climate change. It makes all of New Jersey’s land use rules far more difficult to administer,” he said.
According to NAIOP NJ, the one-year freeze aligns directly with Sherrill’s core administration targets, which emphasize slashing bureaucratic red tape, boosting the state’s lagging housing supply, and accelerating public infrastructure reinvestments.
Had the rule gone into effect this summer, developers warned that the expanded flood-zone definitions and heightened stormwater management mandates would have drastically inflated construction costs and halted critical multi-family housing projects across urban and suburban corridors.
The 12-month pause transitions the state into a collaborative review period. NAIOP NJ and its network of environmental engineers, developers, and legal experts state they are prepared to partner with the Sherrill Administration to draft replacement land-use codes that balance environmental resilience with commercial viability.
“We stand ready to work with the Sherrill Administration to create fair and effective land use regulations based on sound science,” Kennedy added, noting that he and NAIOP NJ remain actively engaged as subject matter experts to help guide the state’s upcoming regulatory revisions.
