This session will engage professional planners by describing Virginia’s challenges relative to sea level rise/recurrent flooding. We will then work collaboratively to develop an adaptation action Guide for Virginia localities, using the impetus of a new law to outline local government options. The outcome of this effort will be an outreach and education effort to train elected and appointed local government boards on the development of adaptation programs today.
Wetlands Watch has been working with local governments in Virginia on sea level rise adaptation for eight years and has encountered a range of potential local government adaptation options for climate change/sea level rise. With the recent enactment of state legislation requiring localities in Hampton Roads to include sea level rise in their comprehensive plans (Code of VA § 15.2-2223.3) there is now an urgent need for this information.
The increasing nuisance flooding driven by sea level rise is causing all of Virginia’s tidewater localities to implement adaptation options. The federal government is moving rapidly, with the development of a new proposed Federal Flood Standard taking future flooding into account. However, information on existing tools and authorities for adaptation implementation in Virginia is fragmented and not fully developed.
We are the state trade association for garden centers, nursery growers, landscape designers, installation and maintenance contrators, greenhouse and horticultural suppliers.
We are the only grassroots statewide environmental group in the country working on sea level rise on the local government level, trying to affect land use decisions along the tidal shoreline. We use a broad range of programs - land use planning, flood plain planning, FEMA's Community... Read More →
