Coastal Sector Plans
This tab includes federal, state, and local plans that discuss adaptation options in the coastal sector.
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Resource
December 2024
Maryland’s Plan to Adapt to Saltwater Intrusion and Salinization, first published in 2019 and updated in 2024, provides recommendations for state-level action to better understand the impacts of increasing saltwater intrusion and salinization on different resources and to adapt to these impacts. Saltwater intrusion in the region is expected to worsen over time due to climate change, and the report describes which of the state’s resources are at greatest risk, adaptation measures that are currently in use and recommended, and what additional research is needed for adequate adaptation and resilience.
Related Organizations: Maryland Department of Planning
Resource Category: Planning
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December 2024
After Senate Bill 272 (Sea level rise: planning and adaptation) was adopted in late 2023, the state of California now requires that local governments along the shoreline adjudicated by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) create sea-level rise plans by 2034. The BCDC Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (RSAP) provides local governments guidance on how to draft, implement, and update “Subregional Plans,” which must be approved by BCDC.
Related Organizations: San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC)
Resource Category: Planning
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September 2024
In September 2024, the Washington State Department of Ecology and partner agencies released an update to the state’s Climate Resilience Strategy.
Related Organizations: Washington State Department of Ecology
Resource Category: Planning
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March 2023
The 2023 Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan is the state’s third plan aimed at addressing coastal vulnerabilities. The Master Plan provides a framework for identifying key issues of concern for the Texas coast, and developing proposals for priority projects to enhance coastal resilience.
Related Organizations: Texas General Land Office
Resource Category: Planning
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June 16, 2022
This report is composed of 24 individual case studies developed by Georgetown Climate Center to support, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Regional Vision , a collaborative partnership effort with Capital Region Planning Commission in Louisiana. These case studies describe best and emerging practices, tools, and examples from Louisiana and other U.S. jurisdictions to make progress on the complex and interrelated challenges of housing, flooding, and resilience. These case studies are intended to provide transferable lessons and ideas for regional and local governments addressing housing and mitigating flood risk as integrated parts of comprehensive community resilience strategies. Collectively, these case studies present a suite, although not an exhaustive list of tools and approaches that can be used to facilitate any of these efforts.
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Authors or Affiliated Users: Katie Spidalieri , Suhasini Ghosh , Katherine McCormick , Jennifer Li
Resource Category: Solutions
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June 16, 2022
The City of North Miami, Florida Good Neighbor Stormwater Park is a public open space with the capacity for local flood prevention, doubling as a stormwater reservoir. A repurposed vacant lot within North Miami’s residential neighborhood of Sunny Acres, this adaptive stormwater green infrastructure is vegetated with an array of native trees and plants, while also acting as a communal space with walking paths and artistic structures that educate the public on flooding hazards. The project was funded in part through the Van Alen Institute’s Keeping Current: Repetitive Loss Properties Grant design competition, won by the City of North Miami, and the landscape architecture firm Dept. for implementation. The Stormwater Park was once considered a repetitive loss property by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), due to repetitive flooding from stormwater and sea-level rise — common across South Florida neighborhoods. As a part of the project, the landscape architects selected to design the park were also asked to put together a plan that could support the replication of this pilot project across the region in the most flood vulnerable communities. Dept. developed a Repetitive Loss Master Plan, which illustrates priority strategies for flood risk reduction and resilient design. Other local decisionmakers of flood-prone communities with vacant, abandoned, deteriorated, or repetitive loss lots can look to North Miami’s example for green infrastructure public space design planning that goes beyond capturing stormwater, and integrates the community’s well-being — such as access to green space — for greater long-term resilience. This case study is one of 24 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Collection of Lessons and Case Studies from Louisiana and Beyond .
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Resource Category: Solutions
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June 16, 2022
Houston has been battered by six federally declared flooding disasters in five years, including the record-setting Hurricane Harvey in 2017. A significant amount of Houston’s existing development is located in vulnerable floodplains. These land use patterns, combined with recurrent disasters, have served as the impetus for Houston to undertake several related efforts to increase local resilience. The city has thus begun to plan to increase its resilience against future storms. In 2018, the city responded by adding structural elevation requirements in the 500-year floodplain and increasing them for the 100-year floodplain. In addition, the city developed the Resilient Houston plan. If implemented, the proposed recommendations in Resilient Houston will promote affordable housing with access to job centers, improve community resilience through green space preservation, and enhance stormwater management through the promotion of green stormwater infrastructure. Other local governments facing similar threats from disaster events and pressures to develop in floodplains could evaluate and consider adopting some of Houston’s planning and land-use actions. This case study is one of 24 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Collection of Lessons and Case Studies from Louisiana and Beyond .
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Resource Category: Solutions
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June 16, 2022
St. John the Baptist Parish is one of Louisiana’s oldest settled areas. The parish is water-adjacent and predominantly rural. Over the last decade, significant weather events have highlighted the flooding and other risks that come with proximity to both the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pontchartrain, the latter of which borders the parish. The parish’s location in the path of New Orleans’s evacuation routes compounds the need to prepare for flooding and hurricane events. The parish has undertaken several initiatives to adopt development trends and patterns that will guide population growth in ways that make the parish and its communities more resilient to future rainfall and flooding risks. Namely, the parish developed a Comprehensive Land Use Plan in 2014 and a Coastal Zone Management Plan in 2016. Most recently in 2019, the parish partnered with the state and nonprofit philanthropy Foundation for Louisiana through the Louisiana Strategic Adaptations for Future Environments (LA SAFE) capital improvement process to create an Adaptation Strategy. Collectively, the plans offer a variety of principles, goals, and policies related to the parish’s growth and development. Those policies and development planning goals encompass prioritizing natural features, such as adopting green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) solutions and conserving open space, in addition to addressing the socioeconomic dynamics that come with planning for affordable housing. In general, the parish seeks to preserve low-density and conservation-oriented development trends across most of the parish, much of which is flood-prone. This approach will discourage floodplain and open space development by directing population growth and affordable housing investments toward drier, denser areas of the parish. These efforts are supported by public engagement, external partnerships, and federal and innovative funding sources. Other local policymakers working to address rural flood, population growth, and housing management issues can look to St. John the Baptist for their policies directing population growth toward denser, more urban areas. Those policies allow the parish to preserve rural and flood-prone areas and maintain parish character and reduce risk to homes and infrastructure. This case study is one of 24 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Collection of Lessons and Case Studies from Louisiana and Beyond .
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Resource Category: Solutions
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June 16, 2022
Norfolk, Virginia is a coastal city whose history, economy, and culture are deeply tied to its location on the water. Facing new challenges of increased flooding and sea-level rise due to climate change, Norfolk has responded by developing a host of planning and zoning initiatives that are informed by these new risks and designed to increase the city’s resilience against them. Norfolk’s efforts are an example of how various tools, including a comprehensive plan, a long-range plan, and an updated zoning ordinance, can be used together to build an integrated strategy for local resilience. Norfolk also serves as an example of adaptive planning, in which new needs and priorities that arise over time are integrated as appendices to the city’s comprehensive plan. For example, several appendices to Norfolk’s comprehensive plan were developed to assist developers with housing design challenges that were not addressed in the original comprehensive plan.
Overall, Norfolk’s efforts show how developing a long-range strategy centered on the communities’ priorities can inform zoning rules that implement that vision. Other jurisdictions may look to Norfolk as an example of how local governments can orient and integrate planning and zoning initiatives toward increasing long-term resilience to the impacts of flooding. This case study is one of 24 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Collection of Lessons and Case Studies from Louisiana and Beyond .
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Resource Category: Solutions
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June 16, 2022
Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Regional Vision is an innovative legal, planning, and policy resource to promote community resilience through housing and nature-based solutions in places where flooding, extreme weather events, and other factors are driving population changes and transitions. It was developed by Capital Region Planning Commission and Georgetown Climate Center, in collaboration with policymakers, community members, and other stakeholders in Region Seven of the Louisiana Watershed Initiative located in southeast Louisiana.
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center , Capital Region Planning Commission
Authors or Affiliated Users: Katie Spidalieri , Rachelle Sanderson , Suhasini Ghosh , Annie Bennett , Katherine McCormick , Jennifer Li
Resource Category: Solutions
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