Creating Coastal Resilience through Community Engagement: A Plan for Lake Taylor University of Virginia Samantha Hunt, Kate Green, Candace Craig Prof. Phoebe Crisman, Mengzhe Ye Project Partners: Lake Taylor Civic League The City of Norfolk The Elizabeth River Project Wetlands Watch May 06, 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Executive Summary II. Introduction A. Climate Change, Sea Level Rise, and Changing Weather Patterns B. Community Resilience C. Norfolk, Virginia and Lake Taylor D. Our Approach III. Methodology A. Summary B. Stormwater Background C. Our Partners D. Participatory Action 1. Community Meetings 2. Survey 3. Mapping and GIS analysis IV. Proposed Actions: A. Summary of Approach B. Storm water Management Series C. Enhancement of Community Assets V. Conclusion A. Reflections B. Next Steps C. Significance Executive Summary This plan seeks to improve community resilience in the Lake Taylor neighborhood of Norfolk, Virginia in conjunction with the objectives outlined by the City of Norfolk’s Green Infrastructure Plan1 and the Eastern Branch Environmental Restoration Strategy2 developed by the Elizabeth River Project. The University of Virginia (UVA), the Lake Taylor Civic League, Elizabeth River Project, Wetlands Watch, and the City of Norfolk collaborated on this plan to address the poor water quality and flooding in the Lake Taylor neighborhood with innovative green infrastructure solutions. A total of three meetings were held with the partners of this project and the Lake Taylor neighborhood residents to assess the needs of the community. Upon meeting with Lake Taylor residents and local organizations to understand community needs and pair them with the City of Norfolk and Elizabeth River Project’s objectives, the UVA team developed a two-part proposal described below. 1) For storm water management, proposed actions employ green infrastructure in order to catch storm water on site where feasible and to mitigate flooding issues throughout the water flow process. 2) For enhancement of community assets, proposed actions include new park spaces, increased public access to Lake Taylor, construction of shoreline buffers, and overall beautification with native plants and trees. This proposal details how the implementation of green infrastructure can not only serve as flood mitigation, but also create a natural habitat to serve flourishing ecosystems and maintain a healthy environment for residents. The Lake Taylor community will serve as a model for future development in Norfolk and other areas of the world dealing with sea level rise and flooding. Introduction Climate Change, Sea Level Rise, and Changing Weather Patterns climate-related events, as well as changes in Climate change across the globe has been average climate conditions, are expected to increasing at unprecedented rates since the mid- continue to damage infrastructure, ecosystems, 20th century due to increased levels of and social systems that provide essential greenhouse gases. It is highly likely (over a 95% benefits to communities”.7 Extreme weather probability) that the extreme rate of climate events are placing unanticipated stress on change is caused by human activity. The result infrastructure, community planning, and human has been increased temperatures of the planet’s health to many communities already suffering. atmosphere and oceans, which has accelerated glacial retreat, decreased snow cover, and consequently caused sea levels to rise. In the past century, sea levels have risen 8 inches and the rates continue to increase exponentially.3 Ocean warming and glacial melting, in combination with accelerated decline of polar ice, have the potential to result in one meter or more of future sea level rise. The immediate effects of sea level rise are increased flooding and eventually submergence along coastal land.4 This is of great concern because as of 2003, approximately 3 billion people – or half of the world’s population – live within 200 kilometers of a coastline.5 By 2025, that figure is expected to double. Fourteen of the world’s seventeen largest cities are located along the coast or on estuaries.6 As sea levels rise, billions of people’s lives and some of the world’s biggest economic hubs will be at risk of severe disruption if the Figure 1: Flooding on East Coast coastlines and coastal communities cannot be Credit: Kate Green made resilient. Certain communities will feel climate change Furthermore, climate change is resulting in effects more dramatically thereby “exacerbating increased occurrences of extreme weather existing challenges to prosperity posed by aging events such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and and deteriorating infrastructure, stressed thunderstorms. Severe weather will result in ecosystems, and economic inequality”.8 Floods, increased high winds, excessive precipitation, storms, and erosion along the coasts are and wildfires. As climate change worsens, worsening from sea level rise and are “more frequent and intense extreme weather and threatening social, economic, and environmental systems. Most immediately, however, shorelines and poorer drainage of storm water. These are shifting and communities are experiencing communities will face consistent flooding that greater storm surges, increased tidal flooding, may make them unlivable. infrastructure. The Norfolk-Virginia Beach Community Resilience Metropolitan Area ranks 10th in the world in value of assets exposed to an increase in flooding from sea-level rise and Hampton Roads To better prepare for the impending effects of has the second highest rate of sea level rise in climate change, communities are striving to be the U.S., second only to New Orleans.12 In more resilient. This term refers to a Virginia, there are more than 400,000 homes community’s ability to use existing resources to that are at risk for damage from storm surges respond to, withstand, and recover from natural with costs expected to be $92 billion.13 disasters. With increased occurrences and Currently in Norfolk, 4,132 residential extremity of natural disasters, communities must properties are at risk of damage from flooding; put extra emphasis on improvement of this number is expected to increase to 5,624 community resources, disaster preparation, and within 15 years.14 disaster recovery. As best stated by the National Research Council on Disaster Resilience, “Enhanced resilience allows better anticipation of disasters and better planning to reduce disaster losses, rather than waiting for an event to occur and paying for it afterward”.9 Communities on the coast must be especially rigorous in planning for future sea level rise, specifically referred to as coastal resilience. Coastal resilience is set at the local level where the ongoing planning processes can incorporate planning for sea level rise. In order to strive for coastal resilience, “Local governments should use appropriate studies and analyses, such as build-out analyses and mapping of vulnerable areas, to identify preferred adaptation strategies and incorporate those into their plans and policies”.10 Norfolk, Virginia and Lake Taylor Figure 2: Lake Taylor Flood Map Neighborhood Credit: Wetlands Watch and Elizabeth River Project The state of Virginia is experiencing some of Lake Taylor is a neighborhood within the city of the most rapid sea level rise along the east coast 11 Norfolk and located along the southern branch of the United States. In particular the Norfolk, of the tidal Elizabeth River. The neighborhood Virginia Beach, and Hampton Roads areas are spreads across 0.649 square miles and has a seeing more frequent and increased flooding and population of 1,376. North Military Highway are facing the expensive realities of sea level forms the western boundary of the rise. The increased flooding and standing water neighborhood with I-64 Hampton Roads has placed unanticipated stress on Norfolk’s Beltway as the eastern border. Lake Taylor itself and Northampton Boulevard form the northern boundary. East Virginia Boulevard is the southern border. However, our area of study excludes the JANAF development on E. Virginia Boulevard though it does fall within the Lake Taylor Civic League boundaries. A map of Norfolk’s Civic Leagues is below, with Lake Taylor outlined. Figure 4: Lake Taylor Civic League Boundary Credit: Google Maps Although the neighborhood is not directly impacted from coastal flooding and is not located on the coastline, it is set around a small lake called Lake Taylor and experiences other water-related issues. Lake Taylor is a man-made lake engineered as a drinking water reservoir in Figure 3: Civic Leagues - City of Norfolk, the late 1870s. The City of Norfolk residents Virginia struggled with low-quality drinking water Credit: City of Norfolk throughout the Civil War and the Yellow Fever epidemic using primarily water captured in rain barrels, cisterns, and wells, according to Norfolk City historian Peggy Haile McPhillips.15 Lake Taylor and its sister lake, Lake Wright, were designed as reservoirs to solve the drinking water issues and guarantee residents cleaner and more reliable water. The land of the Lake Taylor reservoir at this time belonged to the neighboring Princess Anne County. Eventually the land and lake were annexed to the City of Norfolk and the reservoir was connected to the nearby tidal Broad Creek through a weir. Today, Lake Taylor is no longer used for drinking water but still remains a part of the headwater for the Elizabeth River and feeds into Broad Creek. This urban neighborhood is currently experiencing problems