Town To Hold Coastal Resiliency Assessment Plan Public Meetings

GREENWICH, CT — Greenwich’s Conservation Commission will be presenting its 18-month long study regarding sea level rise and its effects on Greenwich during two public meetings this month on June 9 and June 16 at 7 p.m. The meetings will be held via Zoom.

Engineering firm Princeton Hydro has been conducting the work which prioritized and recommended strategies to protect or upgrade Town assets to increase resilience to coastal storm damage, flooding, and sea level rise.

According to a news release from the Town’s Environmental Affairs division, the sea level near Greenwich has risen eight inches in the last 100 years, and state planning standards identify another 20 inches of rise by 2050. Because of this, the Conservation Commission began a join-department investigation on how this will impact Greenwich.

Greenwich Police Chief James Heavey, who has lived in town his whole life, has seen some changes over the years. In the news release, he stated that the police department is calling for more evacuations with impending storms, and then dealing with flooded low-lying areas due to storms or higher tides.

"The effects of flooding from sea level rise need to be evaluated for Greenwich specifically if, as a town, we are going to make appropriate plans for our future," added Patricia Sesto, Director of Environmental Affairs, in a news release.

The study evaluates various sea level rise scenarios through 2100 and the diverse impacts to town structures and resources. Amy Siebert, Commissioner of Department of Public Works, said "we cannot out-engineer sea level rise. The goal will eventually be to work to come back to homes after the storm and let go of the expectation that residents can ride out even moderate storms at home as roads flood and stormwater management features cannot function for a period."

The study also looked at zoning and building regulations and the current state of the town’s four tidal ponds: Binney Park Pond, Bruce Park Pond, Eagle Pond, and Mill Pond. The outcome of the effort was the development of drafts of Coastal Resiliency Assessment and Plan, and Tidal Ponds Evaluation Report.

"It was a worthwhile exercise to have outside planning professionals review our regulations with a focused eye towards coastal resiliency," said Planning & Zoning Director, Katie DeLuca. "The coast is one our greatest assets and understanding how we should approach sea level rise from a planning perspective is crucial."

Planning for sea level rise is a topic in the new 2019 Plan of Conservation and Development, or POCD. The document gives the community a vision that will guide Greenwich's physical and economic development for the next 10 to 20 years.

Conservation Commission chairman, Bill Rutherford, explained the topic of sea level rise has been part of the commission’s work for a number of years, especially after Superstorm Sandy.

"We want to know what to expect and how to plan for it," Rutherford said in a news release. "One of the town’s greatest natural and recreational assets is Greenwich Point. We need this information to make preparations and to make tough decisions on what we can and cannot do to protect this peninsula."

The virtual meetings, on June 9 and June 16, can be accessed here.

A recording of the presentations will be available on the Town’s website following each meeting.