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Mainstreaming Sea Level Rise Preparedness in Local Planning and Policy on Maryland's Eastern Shore
January 2019
The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy partnered with the Georgetown Climate Center (GCC), the Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative, and the University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center for this analysis on sea level rise preparedness in Maryland’s Eastern Shore region. GCC offers a discussion of strategies related to floodplain, zoning and regulatory standards to support sea level rise and coastal flooding resilience policies and decision making.
Resource Category: Planning
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Advancing Community Adaptation - A Framework for Project Prioritization and Decision Making in coastal Louisiana
2018
Louisiana faces severe climate change impacts of sea level rise and extreme weather events, and related flooding, subsidence, and coastal erosion. The Center for Planning Excellence and Dr. Denise Reed collaborated to develop this adaptation framework for coastal Louisiana, with a particular focus on non-structural elements and the communities impacted in the region. This framework is a tool for a more holistic approach to planning coastal community resilience, and provides near- and long-term strategies for flood risk mitigation and implementing adaptation measures.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Denise Reed, Jeannette Dubinin, Camille Manning-Broome
Resource Category: Planning
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Marin County, California Ocean Coast Sea-Level Rise Adaptation Report
February 27, 2018
Marin County’s “Collaboration: Sea-level Marin Adaptation Response Team” (C-SMART) is a multi-stakeholder, inter-governmental partnership that collaborates to determine sea level rise impacts and adaptation options for the county. This comprehensive analysis from C-SMART presents strategies for increasing resiliency of Marin’s coast with options to accommodate, protect against, or retreat from the threats of sea level rise and coastal hazards.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Jack Liebster, Alex Westhoff
Resource Category: Planning
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BCDC Adapting to Rising Tides Program
2010
The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) Adapting to Rising Tides (ART) program is focused on helping shoreline communities in the San Francisco Bay area, spanning 10 California counties, to plan for sea-level rise and other climate impacts. Since 2010, the ART Program leads and supports multi-sector, cross-jurisdictional projects that build local and regional capacity in the SF Bay Area to plan for and implement adaptation responses. ART evaluates potential shoreline impacts, vulnerabilities, and risks; identifies effective adaptation strategies that will lead to stronger, more resilient shoreline communities; and develops adaptation planning tools and resources that are useful to communities throughout the Bay Area.
Resource Category: Planning
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Achieving Hazard-Resilient Coastal and Waterfront Smart Growth
September 21, 2012
In August 2011, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the state Sea Grant College Programs of Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Texas hosted a two-day roundtable meeting of national experts from the fields of smart growth, hazard mitigation, climate change adaptation, and coastal management. The roundtable brought together these experts to share ideas about how coastal and waterfront communities could improve quality of life, use land and other resources efficiently, and create environmentally and economically sustainable neighborhoods while minimizing risks from natural hazards related to coastal and waterfront flooding.
Resource Category: Planning
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Florida's Resilient Coasts: A State Policy Framework for Adaptation to Climate Change
2008
This report presents a comprehensive policy framework to assist Florida state government first in assessing the likely impacts of climate change on its coastal regions and communities and then developing and adopting policies and programs that will enable the state, its communities, and its residents to adapt to and adaptively manage those impacts over the near and long term. This project is a collaboration between the Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions (CUES) in the College of Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs at Florida Atlantic University and the project’s sponsor, the National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP).
Resource Category: Planning
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Coastal No Adverse Impact Handbook
May 2007
The Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have collaborated in producing this handbook. The handbook introduces local officials and concerned citizens to No Adverse Impact (NAI) concepts, and suggests how a coastal community can use the NAI approach to minimize the risks and maximize the benefits of their coastal environments.
Resource Category: Planning
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Louisiana Land Trust Resettlement Projects
In Louisiana, a state-created land trust is supporting floodplain buyouts and helping families relocate out of vulnerable flood-prone areas. The Louisiana Land Trust (LLT) was created in 2005 to support buyouts after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. After more recent flood events, LLT expanded its role to help communities relocate to safer, higher ground areas. The land trust is helping to facilitate the resettlement of residents of the Pecan Acres subdivision in Pointe Coupee Parish and the Isle de Jean Charles community in Terrebonne Parish. The Pecan Acres subdivision is located in a lower-income neighborhood north of the City of New Roads, and has experienced repeated flooding 17 times over the past 20 years. LLT is working to help resettle approximately 40 households within the subdivision by acquiring their flood-prone properties, and supporting a development on higher ground where they can relocate. Isle de Jean Charles is a narrow island in South Terrebonne parish and is the home of the Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogees and United Houma Nation tribes. The island has lost 98% of its land mass since 1955 and many residents have left as a result of increasing flooding, where encroaching seas often flood the only roadway connecting the island to the mainland. With funding from the National Disaster Resilience Competition, the state is working to support implementation of a tribal resettlement plan. LLT acquired the resettlement site, about 40 miles north of the island that will be redeveloped. Eligible and participating families and individuals will be offered properties on the site with a five-year forgivable mortgage. Both the Pecan Acres and Isle de Jean Charles resettlement developments will incorporate resilient and green design features (including elevation about FEMA minimum standards, LEED certified construction, green infrastructure, and community amenities like parks) and will enable the residents to relocate together, maintaining social bonds and cohesion. This example demonstrates how land trusts can support efforts to relocate whole communities, and support development of sustainable and resilient receiving communities.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Georgetown Climate Center Managed Retreat Toolkit
July 15, 2020
Managed retreat, or the voluntary movement and transition of people and ecosystems away from vulnerable coastal areas, is increasingly becoming part of the conversation as coastal states and communities face difficult questions on how best to protect people, development, infrastructure, and coastal ecosystems from sea-level rise, flooding, and land loss. Georgetown Climate Center’s new Managed Retreat Toolkit combines legal and policy tools, best and emerging practices, and case studies to support peer learning and decisionmaking around managed retreat and climate adaptation.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Georgetown Climate Center, Katie Spidalieri, Annie Bennett
Resource Category: Solutions
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Managing the Retreat from Rising Seas — Woodbridge Township, New Jersey: Post-Hurricane Sandy Buyouts
July 15, 2020
Woodbridge Township, New Jersey is working with the New Jersey Blue Acres Program to implement a neighborhood-wide buyout that can serve as an example for other jurisdictions considering larger-scale retreat from coastal areas. Following significant damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Woodbridge applied to participate in the New Jersey Blue Acres Buyout Program. With the support of the state, local elected officials in Woodbridge, including the mayor, committed to a community-based approach and prioritized flood mitigation and future safety and emergency management benefits over potential tax base losses if residents relocated outside of the township. As a result of this approach and an extensive community engagement process, nearly 200 property owners accepted a buyout offer. Once structures are demolished, the township is restoring bought-out land to create a natural flood buffer. The township established an Open Space Conservation/Resiliency Zone to institutionalize protections for this area by prohibiting new development and discouraging redevelopment. Woodbridge’s example demonstrates how comprehensive, community-based approaches to buyouts can maximize long-term benefits for communities and the environment. Other local governments can consider partnering with their states and residents, among others, to use buyouts as a retreat strategy to make communities more resilient. This case study is one of 17 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Managing the Retreat from Rising Seas: Lessons and Tools from 17 Case Studies.
Resource Category: Solutions