Melanie Nash joined SMPDC this month as the Sustainability and Resilience Planner. Before joining SMPDC, Melanie worked as an Island Institute Fellow for the Town of Long Island in Casco Bay, where she worked on numerous municipal sustainability and development projects including Comprehensive Plan development, ordinance review, property assessment, and more. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from Clark University in Worcester, MA, and a Master’s of Arts in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island. Melanie currently lives in Westbrook, where she enjoys kayaking, cooking, and reading in her spare time.

The final workshop for the Climate Ready Coast - Southern Maine regional resilience project was held on October 18th at the Wells Reserve. The project team was joined by 28 people from the Working Group and Advisory Committee, representing 9 of the 10 project towns, local land trusts, state and federal natural resource agencies, and other partners.

The event kicked off with a presentation of the draft Regional Coastal Resilience Plan (which includes guidance resources about priority vulnerable areas across the region, locally relevant coastal adaptation strategies, renderings of example adaptation designs, and funding opportunities) and an overview of how communities can use the plan for scoping resilience projects and developing grant proposals for coastal adaptation action.

The workshop culminated with engaging discussions about needs, opportunities, and possible next steps for advancing local and regional coastal resilience projects. Stay tuned for release of the final Regional Coastal Resilience Plan in November!

As a Service Provider through the Community Resilience Partnership (CRP), SMPDC assisted several towns with grant proposal development for the most recent round of Community Action Grants. We’re excited to share that all 6 proposals we assisted on were awarded. Projects span energy, community resilience, and climate adaptation efforts.

• The Town of Berwick will work with SMPDC to create an Open Space Plan and will build a new Community Garden.

• The Town of Eliot will conduct a climate change vulnerability assessment.

• The Town of Fryeburg will place a conservation easement on the Town Forest, build an outdoor education pavilion, and pilot a food scrap composting program.

• The Town of Ogunquit will install a rooftop solar array at the Dunaway Community Center.

• The Town of Old Orchard Beach will conduct an energy audit and implementation plan for municipal facilities.

• The Town of York will undertake the York Energy Coach Program: A Residential Building Decarbonization Pilot Project.

Learn more about the Community Resilience Partnership and summer 2023 awardees here.

After completing their eight-month term of service in the AmeriCorps Resilience Corps program as SMPDC’s Southern Maine Sustainability Fellow, Marissa Fink will be returning to SMPDC as a Planning Associate. They will be continuing their work with the Regional Sustainability and Resilience Program on the CAP Cohort project, as well as expanding their scope of work to include transportation planning and other varied projects. Marissa is excited to continue on at SMPDC!  

The State’s Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) update was formally approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) this September. The HMP is updated every five years, with Maine’s next update now due in September 2028. This plan is developed to best position the state for impacts of climate change, and as such has updated goals with every revision. The HMP’s five overarching goals are to protect lives, property and the environment from the impacts of climate change, to enhance state mitigation capabilities through multi-level partnerships, to improve public awareness of hazard mitigation, to implement mitigation activities that emphasize sustainability, and to build in equity to all facets of the HMP.

Along with these overarching goals, the HMP update makes the State and its communities eligible for federal mitigation funding and technical assistance programs. Grant programs now available to the State can fund projects like mitigation planning, building code updates, and more.

Find the plan online here: 2023 Maine State Hazard Mitigation Plan

• FEMA Funding Workshop: Get a better understanding of the funding FEMA has available for your resilience projects. Generators, hazard mitigation planning, infrastructure project planning, engineering, construction, adaptation, and more! With Heather Dumais, State Hazard Mitigation Officer. Wednesday, November 8th, 1:30 - 3:30 pm In-Person at the Lincoln County Regional Planning Office, 297 Bath Rd. in Wiscasset and on Zoom. To attend, RSVP to Emily Rabbe at the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission. If you are interested but cannot make it, check out SMPDC's recording of the same workshop from May here.

• A Climate to Thrive; Local Leads the Way- Community-Driven Climate Action: Local Leads the Way was developed and is hosted by A Climate to Thrive (ACCT). This monthly zoom gathering provides support to communities throughout the state who are engaged in community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Participants share resources, build networks of support, participate in trainings, collaborate, and reduce duplication of effort. This meeting is held online on the first Monday of every month at 4:00 pm. The next meeting is Monday, November 6th.