NCDEQ awarding grant funds to Burgaw and Ocean Isle Beach for technical assistance
BURGAW, N.C. (WECT) - Burgaw and Ocean Isle Beach are two of 15 communities receiving part of a $1.1 million grant from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management to assist coastal communities with technical assistance in risk assessment and resilience planning work.
The money will be provided through the Resilient Coastal Communities Program after Phases 1 and 2 of the RCCP are complete. DCM will contract with nine third-party service providers for direct technical assistance services to help local governments overcome barriers in coastal resilience and adaptation planning, increase local government capacity, and support an approach to planning and project implementation.
“These grant awards are an investment in the future of our coastal communities, to support their resilience planning and capacity,” said Secretary Elizabeth S. Biser. “We are pleased to work with our local partners to identify and prioritize projects to address flooding and other coastal hazards and help protect the public and economic health of their communities.”
Communities also receiving technical assistance are the following:
- Ahoskie
- Atlantic Beach
- Aulander
- Carteret County (Cedar Island focus)
- Creswell
- Edenton
- Elizabeth City
- Holly Ridge
- Kitty Hawk
- Pasquotank County (Newland Township focus)
- Plymouth
- Washington County (Scuppernong River Basin; Creswell focus)
- Washington Park
Community applications were scored across seven criteria such as their level of risk exposure to vulnerable population and critical assets, their economic status and need, and their internal capacity and momentum with related efforts.
Service Providers selected by DCM include:
- Dewberry Engineers Inc.
- Kleinfelder Inc.
- Mid-East Commission
- Moffatt & Nichol Inc.
- Rummel, Klepper, and Kahl, LLP (RK&K)
- Stewart Inc.
- SWCA Environmental Consulting
- Weston & Sampson (WSE)
- WSP USA
Service provider applications were scored across ten different criteria: their experience in resilience planning; identifying and mapping critical assets; natural infrastructure and socially vulnerable populations; experience conducting risk and vulnerability assessments; implementing nature-based solutions; analyzing coastal hazards and future conditions; project identification and prioritization; community engagement; stakeholder facilitation; and their administrative capacity.
The program is currently conducting the first two phases of the program, Community Engagement and Risk & Vulnerability Assessment; and Planning, Project Selection, and Prioritization.
The third phase, Project Engineering and Design, and the fourth phase, Implementation, will occur at a later date.
You can find more information about the Resilient Coastal Communities program here.
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