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Madison Works to Finalize Coastal Resilience Plan

As sea levels continue to rise, Connecticut shoreline towns have taken a beating from tropical storms and hurricanes over the past few years. While environmental conditions are unlikely to change any time soon, Madison is working to protect its coastline through a Coastal Resilience Plan, a plan that aims to evaluate coastal risks and develop an action plan to address those risks.

A draft of the Coastal Resilience Plan was presented at the Planning & Zoning Commission meeting on May 19. The process of evaluating the town began in June 2014 after the town received a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program as a result of Superstorm Sandy.

Planning & Economic Development Director David Anderson said the plan needs to be resubmitted to HUD by June 1 according to the requirements of the grant, which splits a $150,000 grant between Madison, Branford, and Milford.

Madison has proximately six miles of coastline, not including Hammonasset Beach, leaving the town exposed to damage from severe storms such as Tropical Storm Irene and Superstorm Sandy and the high financial burden that comes with rebuilding. Venerability and risk assessment studies were conducted and adaptation and resilience options for the town were reviewed as a part of the plan.

Resident input was also included in the development of the plan, according to David Murphy of Milone & MacBroom, a civil engineering firm working with the town to develop the plan.

“We did have a survey and I was astounded to see that we had 152 responses,” he said. “We learned that you cared a lot about making sure drainage works and making sure we have sea walls and bulkheads and trying out living shorelines. We had some great feedback.”

Within the study, Madison was broken down into neighborhoods to properly assess the needs and different options for specific regions. Options ranging from hard shore protection, which includes seawalls and bulkheads, to green infrastructure, which would include the use of dunes or other natural elements to reduce wave energy, were discussed.

“We are trying to figure out the best kind of implementation for this plan at this point,” said Murphy. “The goal in resilience is to become faster in recovery.”

While Murphy explained all of the examples offered were just that, options and not suggestions, all options come with different price tags. Anderson said a majority of all resilience construction would have to be funded through grants.

“I don’t believe that any funding was set aside in the CIP [Capital Improvement Plan] for any resiliency projects,” he said, referring to Madison’s mechanism for funding large projects. “They would likely require grant funding.”

Murphy said there are many sources for funding available as Madison moves forward with a plan.

“There are agencies out there that are saying, ‘We have funds available to enhance these designs, please send us your applications,’” he said. “A lot of the funding we have in this country is tied to disaster relief, like FEMA, but the goal is to apply and become more resilient.”

Many residents of Madison’s coastal areas attended the meeting to hear the updated version and add their thoughts. Charles Stone said he was intrigued by many of the options and wanted to see the town move forward quickly.

“Madison could lose a lot of tax base if we don’t do something,” he said.

Tammey Rooney said she wanted to see the town move forward and get a better grip on funding sources available for future resilience efforts.

“Our town can have a person who is in charge and plan, but if we don’t have the resources to fund further studies and then structures, what good is it, where do we go from here?” she asked.

For now the plan can be slightly adjusted before it has to be submitted on June 1. From there, Murphy said the next steps are up to the town.

“The town has a choice as to what happens next,” he said. “It could be adopted as a stand-alone plan, but this could also be turned over to a commission or a department head and treated as a living document.”

A copy of the draft Coastal Resiliency Plan can be found on the town website www.madisonct.org. Questions or suggestions can be directed to David Anderson at andersond@madisonct.org.