The Environmental Finance Center (EFC), in partnership with the towns of Chesapeake Beach and North Beach, is facilitating a multi-phase project that will result in each town developing and implementing comprehensive flood and sea level rise action plans. The two towns are neighboring communities in Calvert County, situated directly on the Chesapeake Bay. Their proximity to the Chesapeake Bay, Fishing Creek, and tidal wetlands/marshes in conjunction with a high water table and shoreline erosion make them susceptible to tidal flooding. The topography of the area can also make areas of the towns susceptible to stormwater flooding during weather events.
In Phase I, EFC worked with the towns to create a generic Flood and Sea Level Rise Action Plan framework. While the towns will use the framework to produce their own action plans, it was designed with flexibility so that other communities around the state of Maryland can also utilize the framework. For Phase I, a core working group of representatives from each town and key state agencies was assembled to assess exemplar plans and frameworks from other locales, identify data and mapping needs, determine how the towns and county could coordinate on planning, and draft a community outreach and engagement process to guide plan development.
EFC can now assist interested towns with producing action plans that will identify and characterize both tidal and stormwater flooding using the best available science; assess the vulnerability of specific geographic areas or populations within the community; identify a suite of short-, medium-, and long-term mitigation and adaptation options; and recommend financing strategies to enable implementation of the plans.
Partners
The Town of Chesapeake Beach, The Town of North Beach
Sponsor
Team Members
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Two Western Shore Chesapeake Bay Towns Join Forces to Fight the Effects of Climate Change