North Carolina Resilient Coastal Communities Program Support

Weston & Sampson provided support to the North Carolina Resilient Coastal Communities Program, working with coastal communities to enhance sustainability and fortify resilience against climate change and other hazards.

In Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County, our approach followed a framework to identify and prioritize projects that mitigated risks and enhanced community resilience. Our resilience strategy included a Risk & Vulnerability Assessment Report, which evaluated the vulnerability of critical assets, natural infrastructure, and vulnerable populations to a range of hazards, including flooding, storm surge, sea level rise, and other locally relevant hazards. We built upon existing work, involving a Community Action Team, North Carolina Coastal Zone Management agencies, and the public. A project portfolio was also developed as part of the resilience strategy, outlining a series of options aimed at reducing exposure and sensitivity, and increasing adaptive capacity to flooding and other hazards. This portfolio considered a combination of policy, non-structural, hybrid, and structural approaches.

Our team identified diverse strategies to enhance community resilience, collaborating with local leaders to pinpoint specific projects. We connected these communities to funding streams and prioritized turning challenges into opportunities for growth and safety, ensuring a resilient future for those we served.