Spring 2017
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1
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Articles In This Issue
- Upcoming Events
- FEMA Region III's Community Rating System (CRS)
- FEMA Region III Mitigation Coffee Break Webinars
- Leesylvania State Park Living Shorelines Project
- Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Urban Forestry Program
- Philadelphia Water Department: A Leader in Green Stormwater Infrastructure
- Best Practice: Understanding Future Conditions in Delaware
- Spotlight: Lisa Craig, Chief of Historic Preservation, City of Annapolis
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4/30/2017-5/3/2017: National Flood Conference at Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA
4/30/2017-5/5/2017: ASFPM National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri
5/2/2017-5/3/2017: Second Annual Mountain State Land Use Academy in Roanoke, WV
5/2/2017-5/6/2017: New Jersey Emergency Preparedness Association Conference at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino Atlantic City in New Jersey, NJ
5/5/17: APAPASE Ethics Event at DVRPC, Philadelphia PA
5/6/2017-5/9/2017: APA National Planning Conference at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, NY
5/15/2017-5/17/2017: 25th Annual PA GIS Conference at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center in State College, PA
5/24/2017-5/25/2017: G318 Local Mitigation Planning Workshop in Reading, PA
6/11/2017-6/17/2017: 2017 American Water Works Association Annual Conference & Expo at Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA
6/12/2017: 2017 WVFMA Annual Conference in Davis, WV
7/9/2017-7/12/2017: Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop at Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield, CO
9/13/2017-9/14/2017: 2017 Construction Environmental Conference in Crystal City, VA
10/17/2017-10/19/2017: Emergency Preparedness and Hazmat Response Conference at Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh, PA
10/26/2017-10/27/2017: Meadowlands Conference, Super Storm Sandy: Five Years Later in Lyndhurst, NJ
10/29/2017-11/1/2017: Keeping History Above Water: Annapolis at the Annapolis Waterfront Hotel in Annapolis, MD
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FEMA Region III's Community Rating System (CRS)
Launched in 1990, the Community Rating System (CRS) program has grown from having fewer than 300 participating communities in 1991 to 1,416 participating communities as of January 2017. On average, 53 new communities joined the CRS each year over the past five years. Communities continue to be interested in joining the program to reduce their risk to flooding and save significant money with their flood insurance premiums.
CRS is nearly 30 years old, and Region III’s CRS program has come a long way since its inception in 1990. Here are some fun facts about the growth of CRS in Region III and some observations about overall program trends:
- 96 communities in Region III participate in CRS.
- Half of these communities joined prior to 2000, during the early years of the program.
- The first adopters of CRS were Prince George’s County (MD), the City of Harrisburg (PA), Harford County (MD), Calvert County (MD), and Roanoke County (VA), all of which joined the program in 1991 as Class 9 communities.
- 17 communities in Region III joined the program in 1992, which was the most of any year since the program’s inception.
- 2007 was another notable year, with 14 communities in the Region joining the program.
- 2016 ties with the year 1993 for third-place in CRS enrollment, with 9 Region III communities joining the CRS.
- The most recent communities to join CRS were the Town of Vinton (VA), the Borough of Brookhaven (PA), the Town of Ashland (VA), and Putnam County (WV) in late 2016.
- Pennsylvania has the most communities participating in the program (34), followed by Virginia (26), Maryland (15), Delaware (11), and West Virginia (10).
- Baltimore City and Prince George’s County in Maryland are both Class 5 communities, which is currently the highest CRS class in Region III. As a result of their efforts, residents of these communities receive a 25 percent discount for flood insurance if they are located in the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) or a 10 percent discount if they are not located in the SFHA.
- Most communities in the Region are Class 8 (48), followed by Class 9 (17), Class 7 (15), Class 10 (8), Class 6 (6), and Class 5 (2).
- Prince George’s County in Maryland also boasts the largest class change since joining the program: the County has climbed four classes to Class 5 since joining the program in 1991 as a Class 9 community.
- The City of Harrisburg (PA), the City of Wilkes-Barre (PA), the City of Alexandria (VA), Fairfax County (VA), and Gloucester County (VA) have all jumped three classes to Class 6 since joining the CRS.
- Several additional class increases are anticipated for 2017, including Jefferson County (WV), which was featured in the Fall 2016 issue of the Resilience Report for several of their initiatives that support their strong CRS program.
FEMA Region III hopes that 2017 will be another great year for both new communities joining the CRS, as well as current CRS communities working to improve their classes. To see a full list of all participating communities throughout the country, please click
here.
CRS Background
CRS is a voluntary program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) standards. Any community that is in full compliance with the minimum NFIP floodplain management requirements may apply to join the CRS and participate in the program. Participation involves undertaking local mitigation, floodplain management, and outreach activities that enhance public safety, reduce potential damage to property and public infrastructure, and protect the environment. An incentive to join the program is that residents of CRS communities may receive flood insurance premium discounts. CRS uses a system of classes to determine flood insurance premium deductions for residents, which can range from 5 percent (Class 9) up to 45 percent (Class 1), depending on a community’s level of participation in the program. This financial incentive, as well as other safety, educational, and environmental benefits, makes CRS very attractive to communities throughout the country. For more information about the CRS program, please visit
crsresources.org, read FEMA’s
CRS Fact Sheet, and review the
CRS Coordinator’s Manual. Please note that FEMA will release a new CRS Coordinator’s Manual in 2017. The upcoming Coordinator’s Manual will not feature any major programmatic changes, but it will include numerous improvements, clarifications, and additional examples. It will also establish a sea level rise standard to credit communities that assess and manage anticipated effects from charging sea levels. For more information about changes to the 2017 CRS Coordinator Manual, please read the
December 2016/January 2017 NFIP/CRS Update.
For more information about CRS, please contact your state NFIP Coordinator or FEMA Region III’s CRS Coordinator, Rich Sobota, at
[email protected] or (215) 931-5514. Stay tuned for more information about CRS in Region III and the release of the 2017 CRS Coordinator Manual in upcoming issues of the Resilience Report.
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FEMA Region III Mitigation Coffee Break Webinars
FEMA Region III is hosting a series of webinars in 2017 for hazard mitigation planners and other partners interested in reducing risk in their communities. These “Coffee Breaks” are hour-long sessions hosted every other month to provide mitigation best practices and highlight the work happening at federal, regional, state, and community levels to reduce risk across the region.
The Coffee Breaks are open to everyone involved in hazard mitigation, resiliency, or risk reduction planning in the public and private sector. This includes community planners, emergency managers, floodplain managers, GIS technicians, government officials, contractors, and anyone involved in the development and implementation of hazard mitigation and risk reduction strategies.
May Coffee Break Webinar: Building your Hazard Mitigation Planning Team
When: May 18, 2017
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Click here to register.
Future Coffee Break Webinars:*
- July 20, 2017: Improving your Risk Analysis
- September 21, 2017: Effective Public Engagement
- November 16, 2017: Developing FEMA Mitigation Planning Grants
- January 10, 2017: Developing Natural Hazard Mitigation Strategies
*Subject to change Please contact Mari Radford, FEMA Region III Community Planning Lead, for questions or additional information at
[email protected].
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Leesylvania State Park Living Shorelines Project
Leesylvania State Park is located on the banks of the Potomac River in Prince William County, Virginia. Spanning 543 acres and hosting over 500,000 visitors annually, the park offers many recreational activities, both on land and in water, including hiking, picnicking, fishing, and boating. To maintain the integrity of the shoreline at this busy section of the Potomac River, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) has implemented a living shorelines project.
Living shoreline treatments aim to address erosion through the long-term restoration or enhancement of vegetated shoreline habitats. These treatments include the placement of plants, stone sand fills, and other structural or organic materials. Living shorelines provide a wide range of benefits, including reducing erosion and property loss, improving marine habitat, and enhancing water quality. Another plus of living shoreline projects is that they do not incorporate any structural improvements that may disrupt natural processes or connections between upland and aquatic areas.
The Leesylvania Living Shorelines project uses living shoreline practices, such as sills, marsh restoration, and beach enhancement. These improvements help meet the project’s objectives of stabilizing the shoreline, enhancing riparian buffer habitat, restoring intertidal marsh and beach habitat, protecting park assets from storms, filtering upland runoff, and maintaining recreational access to the Potomac River. The project is an example of how partnerships are a particularly effective way to get things done. The NVRC led project management and coordination, the Prince William County Department of Public Works was responsible for permitting and providing technical assistance, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation was the site manager, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science was in charge of design and oversight. The project was also funded through a variety of sources, including the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s Living Shorelines Initiative.
The Leesylvania State Park Living Shorelines Project has made the park more resilient to the impact of storms and flood events, while also reducing erosion, enhancing habitat, and improving water quality. These benefits appeal to a variety of stakeholders, making projects such as living shoreline treatments prime opportunities for forming partnerships. To learn more about the Leesylvania State Park Living Shorelines Project, additional information is available on the Northern Virginia Regional Commission’s
website. Additionally, a presentation about the project from the Prince William County Department of Public Works is available
here.
Image above depicts Leesylvania State Park Living Shorelines Project. Image courtesy of NVRC.
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Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Urban Forestry Program
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) facilitates regional partnerships to manage growth and create more prosperous, accessible, livable, and sustainable communities in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland. COG’s membership includes 300 elected officials from 23 local governments, members of the Maryland and Virginia state legislatures, and representatives of the U.S. Congress. Among COG’s various planning initiatives are several programs that help make the DC metropolitan area more resilient.
Environmental planning is a focus for the COG, specifically urban forestry, green infrastructure, and agriculture. COG’s
Urban Forestry Program aims to enhance and preserve forestry resources throughout the metropolitan area through projects, planning initiatives, partnerships, and educational programs. Urban forestry projects that COG has been involved with include reforestation efforts in the Anacostia watershed, an assessment of regional tree canopy and land cover, and an ongoing urban timber recovery, reuse, and sawmilling project. Another project the COG undertook was the
National Capital Region Climate Change Report, which examined current and projected regional greenhouse gas emissions, set targets for reducing emissions, and laid out a series of actions to mitigate emissions from various sectors. Several of these strategies promoted preserving and increasing the region’s tree canopy as a way to help meet emission targets.
A major focus of COG’s urban forestry program is promoting coordination and partnerships between federal, state, and local forestry programs. The program has two committees that work on regional forestry issues: the
Community Forestry Network (CFN) Committee and the
Regional Tree Canopy Workgroup. The CFN provides a framework for discussion and activities for COG members and other stakeholders to address urban and community forestry issues in the region. CFN uses workshops, seminars, presentations, field trips, and publications to reach its members, which include foresters, landscape architects, engineers, planners, arborists, citizens, and other stakeholders. The Regional Tree Canopy Workgroup is dedicated to maintaining a healthy forest canopy throughout the metropolitan area in the face of changing future conditions. This group also facilitates the exchange of information among local governments to encourage a more cohesive approach to forest canopy management.
Similar to living shoreline projects discussed in the previous article, reforestation projects can provide a multitude of benefits and are great opportunities for partnerships. In addition to making communities more resilient by reducing stormwater runoff and erosion, reforestation can help improve air quality, rebuild habitat, and restore threatened watersheds. Upcoming issues of the Resilience Report will continue to highlight innovative partnerships throughout the Region and will offer tips on how to build successful partnerships.
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Philadelphia Water Department: A Leader in Green Stormwater Infrastructure
Green City, Clean Waters is the City of Philadelphia’s 25-year plan to transform the health of the City’s waterways. The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) developed Green City, Clean Waters, also known as its Combined Sewer Overflow Long Term Control Plan Update, to address several challenges the City faces while managing its water resources, such as water quality and quantity, aging infrastructure, and other climatic and environmental issues. What makes this plan unique is that it emphasizes a land-based approach, focused on the implementation of Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) projects throughout the City.
Instead of relying on costly improvements to the City’s combined sewer system and the construction of additional underground infrastructure to reduce stormwater runoff and pollution, the PWD has been implementing stormwater planters, rain gardens, tree trenches, porous pavers, and other GSI projects throughout the City. These projects reduce water pollution, improve natural resources, and minimize the harmful impacts of flash flooding, all while helping to beautify Philadelphia’s neighborhoods.
To realize the vision of Green City, Clean Waters, PWD has implemented hundreds of GSI projects throughout the City, developed educational tools and resources, created design guidance, and established incentive programs to encourage the implementation of GSI on privately owned properties. PWD has completed or is in the process of designing:
- 742 stormwater tree trenches;
- 195 stormwater planters;
- 49 stormwater bumpouts;
- 179 rain gardens;
- 6 stormwater basins;
- 268 infiltration/storage trenches;
- 63 porous paving projects;
- 48 swales;
- 2 stormwater wetlands;
- 33 downspout planters;
- and 25 other projects throughout the City.
PWD’s GSI project
interactive map shows the location of these projects. Additionally, PWD offers examples of each type of project on its
Green Stormwater Infrastructure Tools webpage. PWD even provides
green infrastructure tours that showcase its innovative projects around the City for large groups and offers self-guided tours for individuals and small groups.
PWD has also developed many resources to promote the implementation of GSI, including a
Homeowner’s Guide to Stormwater Management for residential property owners, and a
GSI Planning and Design Manual for PWD staff, agencies working with the department, and professional planning and engineering services contracted by the City. PWD also operates GSI programs for schools, public facilities, businesses, parks, and homes. Additionally, PWD bills residential and non-residential customers for the cost of treating stormwater runoff in monthly water bills. Residential customers pay a standard amount based on the average residential impervious coverage and average residential property square footage throughout the city, while non-residential customers pay based on their specific square footage of impervious area covering the property and the total square footage of the property. This creates an incentive for non-residential customers to reduce the amount of imperious coverage on their properties. PWD also offers two grant programs to reduce the cost of implementing GSI for Philadelphia property owners: the Stormwater Management Incentives Program (SMIP) and the Green Acre Retrofit Program (GARP). SWIP is for non-residential property owners who want to construct stormwater retrofit projects, while GARP is for large-scale GSI retrofit projects across multiple properties. These projects not only reduce stormwater pollution and lessen the impacts of flash flooding, but they can reduce monthly stormwater fees for non-residential customers.
The City of Philadelphia is not only a leader in GSI in Region III, but it is also a national leader in this relatively new field. While this article highlights a few of PWD’s major initiatives to become more resilient, the Department has many other resources, plans, and programs that can be read about on the PWD
website.
Image above depicts PWD's interactive map of GSI projects.
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Best Practice: Understanding Future Conditions in Delaware
Higher temperatures, increased precipitation, and rising sea levels have been observed in the State of Delaware. Acknowledging these changes and understanding that they are expected to continue, scientists and policy-makers in Delaware have been working together to better understand how changing future conditions will affect the state.
The Delaware Division of Energy and Climate prepared the Delaware Climate Change Impact Assessment to analyze the potential impacts of extreme weather events on people, homes, businesses, communities, and natural resources throughout the state. The purpose of the project was to increase Delaware’s resilience to changing future conditions by learning more about the potential impacts of these changes, communicating those impacts, and using findings from the assessment as the foundation for the state’s hazard mitigation planning and action. The impact assessment looks at historic weather trends in the state; projects future changes to precipitation, temperature, and sea level rise; and discusses the potential impacts of these changes on five sectors: public health, water resources, ecosystems and wildlife, agriculture, and infrastructure.
Major findings from the assessment are that average temperatures, temperature extremes, precipitation, and precipitation extremes should increase throughout this century. The assessment expects that these changes will create public health concerns, worsen air quality, impact water supply and demand, increase salinity upstream in coastal rivers and streams, negatively affect agricultural production, harm wildlife, increase demands for electricity, stress stormwater and wastewater infrastructure, and exacerbate the deterioration of other public infrastructure. The results of this study are a motivation and a foundation for state officials, local governments, residents, and businesses to plan for these changes and take action to adapt and mitigate potential impacts. The Delaware Division of Climate and Energy also summarized the assessment and provided additional information to address frequently asked questions in a 12-page summary report.
Assessing risk and future vulnerability to hazards is a crucial component of hazard mitigation planning. Coupled with an assessment of a community’s capabilities, findings from the risk assessment serve as the foundation for developing an implementable mitigation strategy. Delaware’s Climate Change Impact Assessment will serve as an invaluable educational tool and a planning resource for future local and state hazard mitigation plan updates.
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Spotlight: Lisa Craig, Chief of Historic Preservation, City of Annapolis
Situated on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River is the City of Annapolis. Annapolis is the capital of the State of Maryland and home to many culturally and historically significant resources; however, due to the City’s coastal location, there are widespread concerns about the increasing rates of sea level rise and the damage caused by storms, such as Hurricane Sandy. The City is therefore taking action to protect its cultural and historic resources. Lisa Craig, Chief of Historic Preservation for the City of Annapolis, is one of the individuals responsible for spearheading the effort to enhance the City’s long-term resilience. We had a chance to chat with Lisa about several interesting projects that she is currently involved with and her role as the City’s Chief of Historic Preservation.
Q:
Could you tell us about your role and responsibilities as the Chief of Historic Preservation for the City of Annapolis?
A: The Historic Preservation Division is responsible for all departmental activities within and pertaining to our historic district. This includes serving as professional staff for the Historic Preservation Commission, reviewing and making recommendations related to the designation of historic properties, reviewing applications related to historic properties and non-historic properties in the historic district, and other activities related to the district. As Chief of Historic Preservation, I oversee and participate in these activities.
Q:
Could you describe how historic preservation and mitigation planning have intersected in your work for the City?
A: In addition to project and design review, our division is also involved with enforcement and long-term planning for the protection of Annapolis’ historic and cultural resources. This is how we have become involved with the planning process for climate adaption and hazard mitigation. Annapolis has experienced increased flooding, and there is an acknowledged need to plan for and take action to protect the downtown historic district – not only because of the district’s historic value, but also because it is a huge economic driver for the city, both in terms of tourism and property taxes.
Q:
When were you first introduced to issues regarding flood risk and hazard mitigation?
A: I have been involved with historic preservation at the local, state, and federal levels, as well as in the private sector, for 25 years. Before coming to the City of Annapolis, my work never really had a direct connection with hazard mitigation, other than making historic buildings resistant to potential damage from water. After about a year in my position at the Chief of Historic Preservation for Annapolis, my colleagues at the National Trust for Historic Preservation brought up the idea of planning for the future protection of historic landmark districts like Annapolis and its intersection with planning to protect against sea level rise and increased flooding.
Q:
Does the City provide any tools or incentives to property owners in the historic district to undertake mitigation projects?
A: We created an incentive for property owners in the historic district to implement hazard mitigation and safety projects through our historic preservation tax credit program. Since it is typically more costly to improve historic properties, the state allows historic districts to create a property tax credit for up to 25% of qualified expenditures. In Annapolis, there is a cap set at $150,000 annually for all tax credits. To stay within this cap and create an incentive for mitigation projects, the City offers an enhanced 25% tax credit to property owners that implement safety or hazard mitigation improvements, such as installing flood vents or elevating a property, as a component of a project. Other qualified preservation, restoration, or rehabilitation projects that do not incorporate safety or hazard mitigation improvements would typically only qualify for a 10% tax credit. This incentivizes property owners to incorporate these improvements into their projects.
Q:
In your experience, are the goals of implementing mitigation improvements and maintaining the character of the historic district ever at odds?
A: We have not had too many difficulties making these types of improvements so far. In some historic districts, historic property owners may make a case to exempt their properties from floodplain management or other regulations because meeting them would diminish a property’s historic character. In Annapolis, our approach is to require anyone seeking an exemption to come speak with me to learn about funding opportunities, including the historic preservation tax credit, and discuss what types of floodproofing and other improvements could be made.
A: The project, which we also call the “Weather It Together” plan, came about through conversations with colleagues from the National Trust for Historic Preservation about how to address sea level rise and flooding in the city. We did some research and found FEMA’s
Integrating History Property and Cultural Resource Considerations Into Hazard Mitigation Planning publication. No one in the region had implemented that guidance yet, so we worked with the Maryland State Hazard Mitigation Officer and FEMA to implement it. We have been following the step-by-step approach outlined in the publication and have held monthly stakeholder meetings with experts invited to talk about floodproofing, insurance, funding opportunities, and other topics. This month we will have a speaker from the Maryland State Highway Administration discuss mitigation from a transportation and infrastructure perspective. These meetings have been going on for over three years with representatives from 27 agencies and organizations and over 70 individuals. At the end of October 2017, we will host the international conference,
Keeping History Above Water. This event will support the public education component of the plan. Additionally, we have been working on our building survey and risk assessment to consider various sea level rise and flood scenarios. We are also crafting our mitigation strategy and currently have about 22 activities to undertake over the next five years, including ways to incentivize floodproofing and reduce our risk. We are aiming to have the draft plan completed later this year.
Q:
Could you tell us about your involvement in the State Cultural Resources Hazard Mitigation Planning Program?
A: I am on the team with the Maryland Historical Trust to coordinate quarterly on response and feedback. Many key members are also part of the stakeholder team for the “Weather It Together” plan. Once we complete that plan, our intention is that it will serve as a model for the state to use as a template for other communities. We are trying to work out how to scale it down for smaller communities and address issues such as data collection requirements and costs.
T
he City of Annapolis is seeking presenters for the 2017
Keeping History Above Water
, which will take place from October 29 to November 1, 2017. For more information about the conference, to submit a proposal for a presentation, and to pre-register for the conference, please click
here
.
Note: This interview has been edited.
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Links, programs, or other information provided in the newsletter are not necessarily endorsed by FEMA and FEMA is not responsible for the accuracy of any links or information provided.
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