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02/01/2016 11:00 PMEven now, in the highest tides, water floods some town streets routinely. What if the highest tides became the town’s average tides? With current predictions that average sea levels will rise one to five feet by the end of the century ,this and worse could happen. How can the town prepare?
Old Saybrook, surrounded on two sides by water and one of the region’s lowest-lying municipalities, is considering a range of strategies, including the as-yet uncommonly-used “R”-word: retreat. That willingness to consider all the options may have been a key to winning a recent $125,000 state grant.
In 2014, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) charged the volunteers of the Sea Level Rise (SLR) Climate Adaptation Committee to study the risks facing the town and its neighborhoods from sea level rise and to make recommendations to help the town prepare for it. After 18 months of work, the committee presented its final report to the BOS in December 2015.
The report notes that “Modeling of sea level rise by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers using current data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the potential increase in sea level of one- to five feet by the end of this century.”
A key recommendation in the report’s summary is that the town “engage a consulting firm that specializes in coastal resilience planning to study the impacts and risks of sea level rise and climate change to identify areas of increased flooding, coast erosion, and shoreline change. The study should recommend specific adaptation and mitigation actions for the town and its residents.”
Another recommendation was that the BOS should charge an existing town agency to continue the work started by the committee. A third was that the town should begin budgeting for the design and construction of physical solutions to address sea level rise, especially those for which matching funds garner government of non-profit grants.
A more in-depth study of these topics is now possible with the award to the town this month of $125,000 planning grant from the State of Connecticut.
“We applied for the planning grant through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds to hone in on the recommendation of our hazard mitigation plan to see where [the town] should retreat from. The town got this [competitive] grant because Old Saybrook was the only town that used the ‘R’ word,” said Town Planner Christine Nelson in her remarks to the BOS on Jan. 12.
Consistent with the committee’s recommendation, the BOS also voted to make the Planning Commission the town agency responsible for developing the request for proposal for a coastal resilience consultant, for overseeing the hiring of such a firm, and monitoring the firm’s work.
“Sea level rise is a real issue. It’s important when we add new infrastructure [in town] that this needs to be considered,” said Sea Level Rise Committee Member Doug McCracken, giving one example: “If we’re going to repair Old Hammock Road, at what level should we pave it?”
From the audience, Janice Holland commented about how the Town of Guilford used a state planning grant it was awarded.
“A planning grant to Guilford led to a Resiliency Plan that was adopted in 2015,” said Holland.
First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr., remarked that the planning grant and the work it will fund once again demonstrates town follow-through. He saud that when the selectmen organize an ad hoc committee like the one that studied sea level rise, the group’s recommendations don’t sit in a report on the shelf. Instead, the findings can spur and guide other town actions and in-depth planning.