West Newbury awarded climate resiliency grant funding | Local ... - The Daily News of Newburyport

West Newbury awarded climate resiliency grant funding | Local News | newburyportnews.com

WEST NEWBURY — Local officials recently announced the town was awarded $150,000 in climate resilience grant funding to study vulnerabilities and potential solutions to flood risk from the Merrimack River at River Road and environs for the years 2030, 2050, and 2070.

Building on West Newbury’s climate resilience planning process completed in 2019, these grant funds, with an additional $50,000 in matching money from the town, will provide the community essential information about existing conditions of the shoreline and culverts and will offer projections about flooding and sea level rise. This will support planning and development of near-term and future solutions. A critical component of this project is an outreach and education campaign designed to involve and inform community members about climate vulnerability in West Newbury.

Awarded by the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program, which is administered by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), these competitive grants support communities in identifying climate hazards, developing strategies to improve resilience, and implementing priority actions to adapt to climate change.

West Newbury’s project is one of 79 that received action grant funding in the latest round of applications.

“Climate change is already impacting our community,” Town Manager Angus Jennings said. “The intense rainstorm in the morning of Aug. 18 brought localized flooding and required emergency work to shore up the areas to be studied on River and Coffin Roads. We can only expect more of this with climate change,” Jennings said.

The town manager went on to say the MVP award will allow the town to take meaningful steps to ensure our community is prepared. Jennings also noted that this appears to be the first study of its kind on climate change impacts on towns along the tidal Merrimack.

“We appreciate the letters of support from many of our riverine neighbors,” he said, “and we look forward to their ongoing engagement in this arena.”

The project will focus on River Road and the lower portions of Coffin and Bridge Streets where they intersect with River Road. This directly affects the Rocks Village Bridge, which is a critical connector to Haverhill and Merrimac, neighboring municipalities with environmental justice communities. Among other things, school buses serving West Newbury and Merrimac traverse this bridge, as do public safety vehicles, commuters, and others traveling from and to adjacent areas and beyond.

Additionally, the town seeks to proactively explore climate resiliency solutions to provide access to houses that may be impacted by road erosion and flooding, and to preserve recreational resources for birdwatching, hiking, biking, fishing, and similar activities.

This assessment will allow town officials and residents to better understand the timeline and locations of future flooding and explore both interim and long-term climate adaptation strategies. It will also inform planning and consideration of alternatives to foster resiliency.

The proposed project consists of: public activities, meetings and outreach to inform and engage citizens and town officials; an existing conditions survey (including bank erosion, watershed delineations, and other factors) of the areas shown susceptible to Merrimack River flooding; a study of culverts and stormwater infrastructure; a report of vulnerabilities in 2030, 2050, and 2070; and options for shoreline stabilization as well as other solutions (preferably nature-based) for longer timeframes.

Community members eager to get involved should get in touch with Christine Wallace, public works program and project manager for the Town of West Newbury at dpwprojects@wnewbury.org or 978-363-1100 x130.