Virginia Beach Releases Draft Sea Level Rise Strategy: "Sea Level Wise"

Five years and $3.8 million for Virginia’s most comprehensive municipal strategy to address sea level rise

Snapshot: Virginia Beach just delivered the “gold standard” for a sea level rise adaptation strategy in Virginia…and along the whole Atlantic coast.

Details: The City of Virginia Beach has released a draft comprehensive strategy detailing how the city will deal with sea level rise and other flooding challenges it faces. In producing “Sea Level Wise,” the City dug deep, spending $3 million of its own funds, in addition to obtaining a $844,000 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration grant for the effort. This five year project marks the most comprehensive strategy for any locality in Virginia - as good as any in the country - and is a major step forward for state adaptation efforts.

With the draft study issued, the City turned to implementation and plans for a $430 million flood control bond initiative to be put on the ballot this fall. This would be one of the biggest local government funding initiatives in the country and signals Virginia Beach’s high priority to deal with their flooding challenges.

In addition, this study spurred the city to set new stormwater regulations that require developers to plan for higher rates of sea level rise and account for a 20% increase in storm intensity than current state standards require. These actions put Virginia Beach in a position of national leadership

The study and the process used is a model for other localities to use: lots of citizen outreach, science-driven decisions, separate strategies for different communities within the City, and many other new/best practices. Virginia Beach has sufficient local funding to produce this study, but even smaller and less affluent localities can learn from the strategy’s basic approaches.

We’ll be watching this flagship effort and continue to monitor it.