On Safer Ground: Floodplain Buyouts and Community Resilience
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ON SAFER GROUND Floodplain Buyouts and Community Resilience COVER PHOTOS: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services © 2021 by the Urban Land Institute Urban Land Institute 2001 L Street, NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20036-4948 Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher. Recommended bibliographic listing: Urban Land Institute. On Safer Ground: Floodplain Buyouts and Community Resilience. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute, 2021. ISBN: 978-0-87420-472-8 About the Urban Land Institute Acknowledgments The Urban Land Institute is a global, member-driven ULI is grateful to The JPB Foundation for its support of organization comprising more than 45,000 real estate this publication and ULI’s Urban Resilience program. and urban development professionals dedicated to The Urban Resilience program led this project to advancing the Institute’s mission of shaping the future better understand how floodplain buyout programs are of the built environment for transformative impact in being used to advance community resilience, and how communities worldwide. these programs are affecting the real estate and land ULI’s interdisciplinary membership represents all use sectors. aspects of the industry, including developers, property To better understand how floodplain buyout owners, investors, architects, urban planners, public programs are affecting real estate and land use, as officials, real estate brokers, appraisers, attorneys, well as opportunities to leverage these programs engineers, financiers, and academics. Established in to both enhance community resilience and offer 1936, the Institute has a presence in the Americas, green infrastructure and open space, ULI’s Urban Europe, and Asia Pacific regions, with members in Resilience program interviewed more than 25 real 80 countries. estate developers, designers, land use policymakers, Drawing on the work of its members, the Institute nonprofit leaders, community leaders, and climate recognizes and shares best practices in urban design adaptation experts. and development for the benefit of communities ULI greatly appreciates the participation of many ULI around the globe. members and experts in this project. ULI member More information is available at uli.org. Follow and partner advisers reviewed versions of this ULI on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. publication and provided strategic direction and guidance to ensure that the findings are accurate About the Urban Resilience Program and inspiring for the ULI audience. ULI members and ULI’s Urban Resilience program is focused on partner contributors provided their expertise through how buildings, cities and communities can be more interviews and by sharing resources, images, and resilient to the impacts of climate change and other other materials incorporated into this report. environmental vulnerabilities. The program works The potential for unconscious bias may affect this with ULI members to provide technical assistance, research. The authors and the project team hope that advance knowledge through research, and catalyze the collaborative contributions of many others to this the adoption of transformative practices for real report provide a robust and well-rounded perspective estate and land use policy. and reduce the potential for bias. On Safer Ground: Floodplain Buyouts and Community Thank you to the individuals listed on the following Resilience is the first publication in the Climate Risk pages for their guidance and support in the creation and Land Use series, which aims to foster an of this report. understanding of land use tools that can be used to address physical climate risk. ii On Safer Ground: Floodplain Buyouts and Community Resilience Project Team Lead Author Contributors LEAH SHEPPARD HARRIET FESTING Manager, ULI Urban Resilience Cofounder and Executive Director, Anthropocene Alliance Contributing Authors MATTHEW FOUNTAIN Director of Stormwater Management, City of Charleston KATHARINE BURGESS Vice President, ULI Urban Resilience JASON HELLENDRUNG Vice President, Planning and Design, Tetra Tech ALEC APPELBAUM Case Study Author, Developing Urban Resilience RISA HISER Website Founder, All Be For Us LLC Director of Operations, Buy-In Community Planning Inc. ULI Member and Partner Advisers MELISSA KRUPA Community Leader, Rosewood Strong GARRETT AVERY Resilience Lead and Senior Project Manager, AECOM OSAMU KUMASAKA Community Action Director, Buy-In Community MICHAEL BLOOM Planning Inc. Sustainability Practice Manager, R.G. Miller Engineers NORMAN LAMONDE ALEC BOGDANOFF Turner Construction and ULI Boston Resiliency Principal and Cofounder, Brizaga Committee Co-Chair KEITH BOWERS SUSAN LILEY President and Founder, Biohabitats Cofounder, Citizens’ Committee for Flood Relief MARY LUDGIN JOHN MACOMBER Senior Managing Director, Heitman Senior Lecturer, Finance Unit, Harvard Business School FAWN McGEE KELLY LEILANI MAIN Director, Blue Acres Buyout Program, and Bureau Chief, Cofounder and Executive Director, Buy-In Community State Land Acquisition, New Jersey Department of Planning Inc. Environmental Protection CRAIG MASKE KIMBERLY RENNICK Chief Planning Officer, Harris County Project Manager, Green/Blue Acres, New Jersey Flood Control District Department of Environmental Protection SUMMER MODELFINO JACK SMITH Strategy Director, American Flood Coalition Partner, Nelson Mullins; Chair, Coastal Forum MELISSA ROBERTS JALEESA TATE Executive Director, American Flood Coalition State Hazard Mitigation Officer and Branch Manager, Maryland Emergency Management Agency KATIE SPIDALIERI Senior Associate at the Georgetown Climate Center ULI BOSTON CLIMATE RESILIENCY COMMITTEE iii JOE SWAIM ULI Project Staff Senior Engineering Project Manager, BILLY GRAYSON City of Charleston Senior Vice President, ULI Centers and Initiatives TIM TRAUTMAN Flood Mitigation Program Manager, SARA HAMMERSCHMIDT Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services Senior Director, ULI Content JULIE ULRICH SONIA HUNTLEY Director of Urban Conservation, Senior Vice President, ULI Diversity, Equity & Inclusion The Nature Conservancy ELEANOR WHITE JAMES WADE Former Associate, ULI Center for Sustainability Manager, Property Acquisition Department, and Economic Performance Harris County Flood Control District AUGUST WILLIAMS-EYNON JOHN WENDEL Senior Associate, ULI Center for Sustainability Senior Communications Specialist, and Economic Performance Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services ERIN FOWLER NATHAN WOIWODE Intern, ULI Urban Resilience North America Climate Adaptation Project Manager, JAMES A. MULLIGAN The Nature Conservancy Senior Editor DAVID YOCCA LAURA GLASSMAN Senior Landscape Architect/Ecological Planner Publications Professionals LLC and Board Chair, Green Infrastructure Foundation Manuscript Editor BRANDON WEIL Art Director HAYLEY McMILLON Designer CRAIG CHAPMAN Senior Director, Publishing Operations iv On Safer Ground: Floodplain Buyouts and Community Resilience CONTENTS Introduction ............................................ 2 Relevance to Real Estate Sector ............................. 4 The Case for Floodplain Buyouts ................. 8 Accelerating Climate Impacts ............................... 11 Flooding’s Inequitable Impacts .............................. 13 Floodplain Buyouts 101 ............................22 Buyouts Process Overview ...................................22 Buyouts and Land Use Implications ...................... 23 Best Practices for Buyouts ....................... 26 Engaging with Communities Equitably ....................26 Leveraging Buyouts for Enhanced Open Space .........28 Overcoming Challenges and Finding Solutions for Buyouts .......................................32 Future Partnerships and Innovations in Buyout Programs .............................. 37 Conclusion: On Safer Ground .................... 41 1 Introduction Within the next 30 years, $8 billion to $10 billion of California’s existing coastal property is predicted to be under water and an additional $6 billion to $10 billion will be at risk of flooding during high tide, according to a paper by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.1 The state’s legislature is considering instituting a revolving loan program that allows counties to purchase vulnerable coastal properties and rent them out as a means to pay off the loans until the properties are no longer safe to inhabit. This type of long-term transaction is also known as a leaseback, which capitalizes on the market value of the coastal property before it is expected to decrease. Waterfront communities, large and small, are searching However, funding and delivering much-needed for solutions to manage flood risk as climate change adaptation measures is challenging, even in accelerates flooding caused by increasingly frequent communities with significant resources. Officials and intense storms, sea-level rise, and other climate across the country are entering into tough impacts. Flooding is the most expensive and common conversations with their residents and stakeholders, natural disaster in the United States, and managing referencing the increasingly dire need to fund the flood risk is critical to protecting homes, local and needed adaptation infrastructure—and fast. regional economies, and community well-being. 2 On Safer Ground: Floodplain Buyouts and