Join us for our first Member Briefing of the season as we welcome Kyle Spencer, Acting Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Norfolk’s Office of Resilience. Kyle will share an update on Norfolk’s Coastal Storm Risk Management Project.

The City of Norfolk is increasingly at risk from flooding and damage from coastal storms. In 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District and the City of Norfolk began to study flood risks and evaluate coastal storm risk management alternatives for the city. The resulting plan will reduce coastal storm risk, but also build on resilience by implementing strategic approaches that will reduce impacts to Norfolk’s citizens from nuisance flooding and major storms.

In early 2022, the USACE announced that it would receive federal funding to bolster climate resilience through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the City of Norfolk would receive more than $249 million to increase community resilience to flooding. The Ghent-Downtown-Harbor Park Barrier System flood protection is currently in design with a phased construction expected to begin in 2024. 

Join us at MacArthur Memorial on September 7 to learn how this project will benefit Downtown.