Denville property owners have until Thursday, Dec. 24, 2026 to challenge FEMA’s revised flood insurance rate maps, which would redraw where the township’s high-risk flood zone begins and ends.
The 90-day appeal and comment period opened Sept. 25, Morris County announced Oct. 1. It covers only the communities that received revised preliminary map panels in FEMA’s Nov. 17, 2025 partial countywide update, and Denville Township is one of them.
Rough estimates FEMA presented to county and municipal officials in January show the count of Denville structures inside the Special Flood Hazard Area climbing from about 390 to about 450. Roughly 100 structures would be newly mapped into the zone, while about 50 would be mapped out. FEMA cautioned that the figures are very rough, subject to change and can include garages and sheds.
Landing inside the zone can bring new flood insurance requirements, particularly for homeowners with federally backed mortgages, so the maps are worth a look before the window closes.
Under FEMA’s rules, an appeal must include technical evidence, such as hydraulic or hydrologic data, showing the mapping is scientifically or technically wrong. Errors that do not change the flood hazard, like a misspelled road name or an incorrect municipal boundary, can be sent in as written comments instead.
Appeals and comments go through the local floodplain administrator. In Denville, residents can contact the Township Engineer at engineer@denvillenj.org or 973-625-8300, ext. 246, or stop by the Engineering Department at 1 St. Mary’s Place to find out whether a property sits in a mapped flood zone. The township keeps its map resources on its flood maps page, and the proposed panels can be searched by address on FEMA’s Morris County flood map viewer.
Once all appeals and comments are resolved, FEMA will set an effective date for the final maps. The county expects that to land in late 2027 or early 2028, though the timeline could shift.
Photo: Tom Fisk via Pexels
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