The Rhode Island Shoreline Change Special Area Management Plan- Permitting for Future Conditions and resiliency

The Coastal Resources Management Council is in the final stages of adopting a Climate Change Adaptation Plan. Call the Shoreline Change Special Area Management Plan, it address three threats to Rhode Island coastal areas and... [ view full abstract ]

The Coastal Resources Management Council is in the final stages of adopting a Climate Change Adaptation Plan. Call the Shoreline Change Special Area Management Plan, it address three threats to Rhode Island coastal areas and those are the threats of coastal storms (hurricanes and extra tropicals), sea level rise and accelerated erosion. It is the only plan in the US that looks at the synergistic effects of all three factors. The plan uses some of the most advanced modeling tools and future conditions projections available, to not only estimate the current threat today, but also is capable of looking into the future and projecting these impacts on future environments and development. The end result this work will incorporated into the Council’s new scenario based permitting system. This new permitting requirement will allow applicants to use future based flood, sea level rise and erosion information to design and build, not to today’s conditions, but to future conditions, as they exist out to 2100. As part of this permitting system there is also a component that evaluates risk to development and provides a market feedback signal to this highly valued sector of the economy. By building to the future conditions that may exist, this new permit requirement will make Rhode Island’s Coastal Areas more resilient.