New Legislation Calls for Five Borough Coastal Resilience Plan
Intro 1620 was introduced to the City Council on June 26th, 2019 by members of the Committee on Resiliency and Waterfronts: Council Member Constantinides, Brannan, Levin, Koo, and Gibson. This important legislation proposes the creation of a comprehensive five borough plan to protect the NYC shoreline from climate change, sea level rise, and sunny day flooding.
Reason
Planning and preparedness for climate change has not been approached equally across the five boroughs. This bill requires the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency (or such designated agency by the Mayor) to develop a comprehensive plan for the entire shoreline of New York City.
What’s in the Bill
As an amendment to the administrative code of the city of New York, the bill will mandate a shoreline status report and action plan for each of the five boroughs. This document is to be produced every ten years, beginning 2021. It will consider not only shoreline, but all areas of the city within the special flood hazard area as they relate to climate change, sea level rise, and sunny day flooding.
The action plan will evaluate both hard and soft stabilizations methods (breakwaters, flood walls, marshes, erosion control, beach nourishment and restoration, etc.) and structural and non-structural risk reduction approaches (strategic relocation programs, wetlands preservation and restoration, densification on high ground, etc.). These strategies are to be then implemented where appropriate.
Next Steps
Waterfront Alliance is building awareness of the bill and getting endorsements for their memorandum of support. SWIM has signed on! Here is a link to the memorandum. A public hearing for this bill is set for October 28th. Showing public support is critical to passing this legislation. Please attend the hearing and provide testimony! Here is a link to info regarding the hearing.
Waterfront Alliance has released a Legislative Memorandum of Support for Intro 1620 - read it here.
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