Five projects awarded Maine coastal resilience innovation grants totaling $152K
Photo / Maureen Milliken
The town of Phippsburg's coastal hazard event simulation project is one of five to get state Coastal Community Grant funding. The town is on a peninsula where the Kennebec River meets the Atlantic, and is one of many vulnerable to rising seas caused by climate change.
Five land use projects were awarded grants to improve coastal resilience from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.
The Coastal Community Grants focus on projects that are looking to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change, and the money will support critical projects, the department said in a news release. The grants are an important part of the state's Municipal Planning Assistance Program's goal to help provide technical and financial help for land use management, the release said.
The projects, two of which are by the Southern Maine Planning Commission, will share $151,976, and each project involves regional or local-level partnerships. Grantees provide a minimum of 25% in matching money or services.
“Coastal Community Grants help fund needed adaptation planning," said Amanda Beal, commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. “The five selected projects are tackling issues Maine communities are facing today and raising awareness of future potential risks.”
Fiscal year 2021 Community Coastal Grant recipients
Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission. Projects by the Saco-based organization include development a model coastal resilience project and developing a checklist and technical standards for erosion and sediment control.
The modal coastal resilience project will engage one city and four towns that are representative of communities on the coast, and their varied social demographics, geography and exposure to coastal risks, as well as needs and goals, will inform the model ordinance, the release said.
The second project is for Maine communities that are subject to the General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Municipal Separate Storm Water Systems. Many coastal municipalities will soon be required to standardize technical requirements for sediment and erosion control plans to come into compliance with updated permit requirements. The project will help 19 coastal communities meet the new permit requirements, and provide guidance for design, construction and inspection of development projects.
City of Gardiner downtown master plan. The city's downtown is on the banks of the Kennebec River at its confluence with Cobbosseecontee Stream. Chronic flooding and erosion damage to property and roads are becoming more frequent, city officials said in their grant proposal. The project will expand on an earlier multi-agency collaborative effort to provide detailed planning and recommendations for flood and storm mitigation.
Town of Phippsburg. Municipal, emergency response, social service and conservation providers will take part in a scenario-planning exercise that simulates a coastal hazard event in the southern midcoast region. The exercise will be designed to highlight opportunities for the sectors to coordinate more effectively to address social vulnerability in their planning for the impact of, and recovery from, coastal hazards.
Town of Waldoboro. The goals of this project are to develop a formal guidance document that will provide coastal communities with a clear and effective roadmap for assessing and prioritizing septic system vulnerability; and to complete a thorough septic system vulnerability assessment for coastal parcels in the town of Waldoboro to continue to improve water quality in the Medomak River and sustain the shellfish community.
The awards are the 10th round of the grant program, which since 2012 has provided $2.03 million for 74 projects in coastal Maine. The money comes from a federal National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration coastal zone management award to the Maine Coastal Program at the Department of Marine Resources.
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