CoastalResilience

Step 2: Implement Better Post-storm Redevelopment Planning

In the absence of a plan to do otherwise, property owners and community leaders often react quickly in the aftermath of coastal storms with decisions to rebuild homes, businesses, and public facilities in the same style, place, and design as the originals. These abrupt decisions foreclose the opportunity to redevelop the community in a more sustainable and less vulnerable way. From a social and economic perspective, the benefits of effective post-storm redevelopment planning include saving lives and reducing injuries, preventing or reducing property damage, reducing economic losses, and maintaining critical facilities in functioning order. From an ecological perspective, post-storm redevelopment planning represents a significant opportunity for sprawling urban and suburban areas to reclaim coastal habitat that has been lost to development. Generally, post-storm planning should redirect development away from vulnerable areas. An effective post-storm redevelopment plan can have a mix of elements, but should generally include:

• A statement of the community's vision for the post-storm environment;
• A temporary post-storm building and permitting moratorium to permit "cooling off" and a thoughtful approach to future disaster mitigation; and
• Proposed new or amended zoning and subdivision regulations that reflect changes in sea level and the need to mitigate against more frequent inundation by storms.

The Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) encourages this type of planning under their No Adverse Impact program. ASFPM states "'No Adverse Impact Floodplain Management' is a managing principle that is easy to communicate and, from legal and policy perspectives, tough to challenge. In essence, No Adverse Impact floodplain management takes place when the actions of one property owner are not allowed to adversely affect the rights of other property owners. The adverse effects or impacts can be measured in terms of increased flood peaks, increased flood stages, higher flood velocities, increased erosion and sedimentation, or other impacts the community considers important."

Regional comprehensive planning that accomplishes the goals laid out above has been undertaken in a number of places. One example is the work of the Cape Cod Commission, a regional land use and regulatory agency that governs land use on Cape Cod, MA. The Commission has prepared and implemented a regional policy plan that comprehensively addresses issues associated with sea level rise. The current plan, enacted in 2003, is intended to protect resources and "ensure that land-use planning and management on the Cape are coordinated, especially across municipal boundaries." It addresses rate and density of growth, requires adequate infrastructure to accommodate growth, and advocates clustering of development. Protections including buffers, setbacks, and performance standards are established for shorelines, wetlands, vernal pools and kettle holes, and for plant and wildlife habitat. Open space goals and performance standards, including site capacity calculations, aim to protect 50% of the Cape's remaining open space as of 1996. The Commission addresses the implementation of plan goals through various model laws designed for local municipalities.

Specific post-storm approaches that can be taken to redevelopment include implementing building moratoria and designing more effective pre-storm zoning for the "new" post-storm community-. A moratorium on development suspends the right of property owners to obtain development approvals while the community takes time to consider, draft, and adopt land use plans or rules to respond to new or changing circumstances not adequately covered by its current laws. Moratoria on redevelopment in coastal areas can give communities dealing with destructive sea level rise impacts including extensive storm damage, erosion or flooding, time to rethink their land use plan and local laws and adopt a new, smarter approach that more properly manages growth.