The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management announced Thursday that it is awarding 20 grants totaling more than $6.21 million to 19 town and county governments.
The grants are for Phases 3 and 4 of the four-phase Resilient Coastal Communities Program, which was created to provide a community-driven process for setting coastal resilience goals, assessing existing and needed local capacity, and identifying and prioritizing projects to enhance community resilience to coastal hazards.
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The primary objective of the program’s Phase 3 is to provide funding to assist communities with the engineering and design of prioritized projects identified in their RCCP Resilience Strategy or other existing plans that meet the program’s Phases 1 and 2 planning criteria. The division also said that some communities will receive money to develop or amend ordinances to enhance their resilience to coastal hazards.
“Funding the valuable resilience work of these communities allows them move their projects from concept to completion, building a stronger future by protecting residents and the coastal economy,” Secretary Elizabeth S. Biser said in a statement.
A total of $4.31 million is to be available to complete 15 projects in Phase 3. Most of these engineering and design projects incorporate natural and nature-based elements, such as wetland restoration and living shoreline design, the division said.
Specific projects include living shoreline construction to reduce erosion along public shorelines, updating development ordinances to align with resilience strategies, and comprehensive stormwater action plans with detailed drainage studies and easement acquisitions.
Dare County is to receive $234,000 for its Salvo Flood Mitigation Project, and the following 14 municipalities will receive engineering and design money for the completion of their Phase 3 projects:
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- Ahoskie: $500,000 for stormwater action plan, upgrade the stormwater system.
- Aulander: $173,250 for permeable pavement and green stormwater infrastructure implementation projects.
- Beaufort: $100,000 for development ordinance resilience updates.
- Belhaven: $500,000 for stormwater action plan and easement acquisition plan, upgrade the stormwater system.
- Burgaw: $55,000 for rain garden installation and educational demonstration.
- Creswell: $500,000 to reduce flooding impacts in the First-Fourth street area.
- Elizabeth City: $140,000 for resilient stormwater ordinance project.
- Holly Ridge: $143,000 for multi-use greenway connection feasibility study.
- Nags Head: $500,000 to design living shorelines to restore and protect coastal community infrastructure in the Roanoke Sound.
- Ocean Isle Beach: $170,000 for living shoreline feasibility study and demonstration project.
- Plymouth: $500,000 for Stormwater Action Plan upgrade stormwater system.
- Vandemere: $57,800 for Vandemere Waterfront Park living shoreline.
- Washington: $500,000 for living shoreline and levee at the wastewater treatment plant.
- Washington Park: $237,300 for living shoreline at public shoreline areas.
Phase 4 money will go to implement shovel-ready projects to enhance coastal resilience previously awarded funding for Phases 1-3.
A total of $1.9 million is to be available to complete five projects in Phase 4 featuring a range of nature-based solutions, infrastructure improvements, and community-focused strategies to manage stormwater and mitigate flooding.
Specific projects include the construction of bioswales to store and filter stormwater runoff and ocean overwash, creating low-impact development demonstration sites with educational components for the public, stabilizing road shoulders with environmentally friendly materials that promote natural vegetative growth, and improving flood-prone roadways with permeable pavers and bioretention basins.
The following will receive implementation funds for the completion of Phase 4:
- Aurora: $1.1 million for wetland restoration and berm improvements at wastewater treatment plant.
- Beaufort County: $194,166 for low impact development demonstration site at Beaufort County Community College.
- Dare County: $160,000 for Hatteras Village bioswales.
- Duck: $144,000 for Teresa Court stormwater management improvements.
- Surf City: $331,535 for roadside infiltration resilience project.
Community applications were reviewed based on project alignment with the community resilience strategy and priority ranking; project outcomes including environmental, social, and economic impacts; the project’s ability to reduce the vulnerability of a critical asset or population; the project’s inclusion of nature-based or hybrid components; and the project’s ability to achieve the community’s vision and goals.
The program receives funding from a combination of state and federal sources.
For more information about the Resilient Coastal Communities Program, go to the division’s program website.
