FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN CITY THE CASE OF CAPE ANN: TYPOLOGIES OF VULNERABILITY 2020-09-30
Table of Contents
Overview Abstract Schedule Budget Team Contacts Community Leaders and Local Stakeholders Consulted in 2020 Institutional Contacts to Consult in 2021 Harvard University Contacts External Research Consultants Reports, Data Sets, Studies Reviewed Gap Analysis Themes: Mitigation, Resilience, Adaptation Regional Planning: Local Typologies of Vulnerability Water Bodies Resilient Downtowns Rural Uplands Critical Infrastructures Proposed Studies Introduction Scenarios [0-3] Case Studies Carbon Mitigation [1.1–1.4] Resilience Planning [2.1–2.4] Climate Adaptation [3.1–3.4]
~
APPENDIX References General Relevant Research and Coursework
Fitz Henry Lane. Gloucester Harbor from Rocky Neck. 1844. Oil on canvas. Gloucester, Cape Ann Museum.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Overview
Abstract
The future of Cape Ann will be shaped, in large part, by the effects of climate change. These effects will reach well beyond sea level rise and increased storm events. They will ultimately challenge and disrupt the housing, transportation, public services, and economic health of these communities. In light of these challenges, three local organizations—TownGreen2025, the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation, and the Cape Ann Climate Coalition—are joining with the Harvard Graduate School of Design to begin to envision a sustainable future for the region. In recognition of the reality that Cape Ann’s interwoven ecologies, geographies, and economies transcend municipal boundaries, the scope of the project will include the entire region: Essex, Gloucester, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Rockport. This design research project involves three interrelated, but potentially distinct, spheres of investigation. First among these are studies of and scenario planning for the mitigation of Cape Ann’s ongoing contribution of greenhouse gases and the “de-carboning” of its energy economy. Second are studies of and scenario planning for enhancing the social, environmental, and economic resilience of Cape Ann’s communities and residents. Third are studies of and scenario planning for the adaptation of Cape Ann’s built environment, infrastructure, and natural systems to our changing climate. These three spheres of understanding and action will produce numerous areas of connectivity and mutual benefit. Foregrounding these three spheres of investigation, a storm event scenario (Scenario 0) will provide a baseline for challenging decisions regarding resources, priorities, and processes for change. Finally, throughout and across all areas of investigation, the project will propose forms of education and advocacy to communicate the values of adaptation, mitigation, and resiliency to communities on the Cape. In and through the above scenarios, the project will explore the principles that the Cape Ann Climate Coalition (CACC) has identified as central to Cape Ann’s future. These principles include aligning human and urban systems with natural systems; introducing biomimicry and emulating natural cycles and processes, realizing carbon neutrality through net zero policies; adapting the built environment to the changing climate; involving the participation of all citizens and stakeholders; treating all citizens equitably and with respect; and collaborating on the creation of rejuvenated communities. By engaging with these principles within discrete design and planning scenarios, the project suggests paths toward the aspirational future condition already articulated by the CACC: “With nature as our guide, Cape Ann communities have become models of sustainability, are fossil fuel free and are prepared for the impacts of climate change. Our communities, households and businesses are thriving as we follow ecological principles mimicking natural cycles and rhythms providing for the livelihood of all our residents in a just and equitable manner.”
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
In considering Cape Ann in its entirety, rather than merely the sum of adjacent municipalities, this project responds to a critical gap in recent research on the region. While previous work has treated Cape Ann as four distinct municipalities, the global scale of climate change and the reciprocal effects of action to combat climate change strongly suggests that a regional approach is paramount. Relevant contemporary research and planning has also focused primarily on mitigation and resilience without addressing the potential of adaptive measures, including managed retreat. This study will include a range of scales of investigation: territorial, regional, municipal (public infrastructure and public realm), and individual (private ownership). The project will identify unique challenges, opportunities, resources, and recommendations relevant to the four primary towns of Gloucester, Rockport, Essex, and Manchester-by-the-Sea. The project recommendations will include reference to the relevant local, regional, state, and/or federal resources or agencies implicated in such changes over time. It will further identify recommendations and roles for private citizens, the business community, and civic organizations, among others. These recommendations will synthesize the findings of the three areas of investigation and will focus on trade-offs and priorities in relation to the larger menu of possible policy and public realm interventions going forward.
Samuel de Champlain. Les chifres montrent les brasses d’eau. 1613. Pen and ink on paper. Providence, Brown University Library.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Project Schedule
Phase I: Introduction and Scenario Planning [4 weeks + 1 week review]
• Review current policies and completed, existing proposals pertaining to four scenarios • Comparative study of similarly scaled precedents across Scenarios 0, 1, 2, and 3 • Identify experts and procedures for storm, ecological, and solar modeling • Design parameters and scope of storm, ecological, and solar modeling • Design template for each scenario
Phase II: Scenario 0 [4 weeks + 1 week review]
• Produce ‘Scenario 0’ hurricane and ecological model • Create maps, drawings, and renderings based on model results • Submit Scenario 0 Report
Phase III: Conceptual Scenario Planning (3 Scenarios) [4 weeks + 1 week review]
• Articulate concepts and project design themes for Scenarios 1, 2, and 3 • Define metrics for scenarios specific to Cape Ann • Articulate range of spatial and infrastructural strategies • Test initial scenarios against ecological parameters
Phase IV: Detailed Scenario Planning (3 Scenarios) [12 weeks + 1 week review]
• Map potential sites at the scale of the territory, each municipality, and at the scale of natural systems or infrastructure impacted • Field work and survey of potential sites • Articulate specific infrastructural arrays • Define and illustrate recommended strategies • Assess ecological impacts of scenario outcomes • Submit final scenario report comprising scenarios 0, 1, 2, and 3
Phase V: Case Study Development (12 cases) [6 weeks + 1 week review]
• Design standardized template for each case study • Complete literature and international precedent review • Create diagrams of case study precedents
Phase VI: Case Study Planning (12 cases) [12 weeks + 1 week review]
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
• Create maps highlighting possible sites for implementation • Consult local experts to assess design strategies • Create preliminary visualizations indicating the projected size, scope and impact of proposals if sited on Cape Ann • Submit final research report draft for review
Phase VI: Documentation and Dissemination [4 weeks]
• Assemble archive and credits • Copyediting and proofreading • Printing and dissemination • Publish final research report and executive summary • Post-production outcomes and conclusions
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Budget
PI: Charles Waldheim January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2021 $250,000
Salary $138,216 PI, full time researcher, graduate students
Fringe $25,424
Researcher stipends $40,000 8 expert collaborators
Dissemination $5,000 Report preparation and printing
Total Direct Costs $208,640
Indirect Costs (20%) $41,728
TOTAL $250,368
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Team
Local Team
Damon Cummings, former MIT Ocean Engineering professor Greg Federspiel, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Town Administrator Jim Gardner, Rockport, Department of Public Works Herman Lilja, former President of Rockport Planning Board Sam Cleaves, Regional Planner, Metropolitan Area Planning Council Jayne Knott, Research Associate, UMass Boston Peter Phippen, former Essex Selectman Valerie Nelson, Cape Ann Climate Coalition / Water Alliance Dick Prouty, Cape Ann Climate Coalition
Office for Urbanization Team
Charles Waldheim, Principal Investigator Jeffrey S. Nesbit, Design Research Team Kira Clingen, Design Research Team Charles Gaillard, Design Research Team Jena Tegeler, Design Research Team
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Contacts
Community Leaders and Local Stakeholders Consulted in 2020
State Government
Rep. Ann Margaret Ferrante Senator Bruce Tarr
Gloucester City Government
Sefatia Romeo-Theken, Mayor
Manchester-by-the-Sea Town Government
Eli G. Boling, Chair of the Manchester Board of Selectmen
Essex Town Government
Brendhan Zubricki, Town Administrator Ruth Pereen, Chair of Essex Selectmen
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Institutional Contacts to Consult in 2021
CZM North Shore Regional Office
Kathryn Glenn, North Shore Regional Coordinator
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Executive Director: Marc Draisen
Essex County Greenbelt Association
Katie Bowditch, President
Ipswich River Watershed Association
Wayne Castonguay, Executive Director, former Regional Ecologist at the Trustees North Shore
North Shore CDC
Mickey Northcutt, CEO, Adjunct Professor at BU
UMass Amherst Gloucester Marine Station
Katie Kahl, Extension Assistant Professor, Coastal Resilience
NOAA Fisheries and Restoration Centers, Gloucester
Eric Hutchins, Habitat Restoration Specialist
Rockport Town Government
Mitchell Vieira, Town Administrator Ruth George, Chair of the Rockport Board of Selectmen
Woods Hole Group, Bourne
Robert P. Hamilton, Jr., President/Coastal Engineer
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Woodwell Climate Research Center
Dr. Philip Duffy, President and Executive Director Joseph Mueller, Chair
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Harvard University
Harvard GSD Faculty Researchers
Carbon (GHG) Mitigation and Energy Systems Modeling
Prof. Ali Malkawi, Center for Green Buildings and Cities / GSD Prof. Holly Samuelson, GSD
Climate Adaptation and Resilience Planning
Dr. Abby Spinak, GSD
Real Estate Development and Resilience Planning
Prof. Rick Peiser, GSD Prof. David Gamble, GSD
Public Health and Resiliency Planning
Prof. Ann Forsyth, Healthy Places Initiative
Policy, Planning and Regulatory Frameworks
Prof. Toni Griffin, Just City Lab/GSD
Affordable Housing and Community Development
Prof. Lily Song, Department of Urban Planning and Design / CoDesign
Landscape Ecology and Resilience Planning
Prof. David Moreno Mateos, Landscape Architecture/GSD
Critical Conservation
Prof. Susan Snyder, GSD
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Harvard Research Consultants
Carbon (GHG) Mitigation and Energy Systems Modeling
Prof. Dan Schrag, Center for Environment / School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Real Estate Development and Resilience Planning
Prof. John Macomber, Business School
Public Health and Resiliency Planning
Prof. Jack Spengler, School of Public Health
Affordable Housing and Community Development
Prof. David Luberoff, Joint Center for Housing Studies
Landscape Ecology and Resilience Planning
Prof. David Foster, Harvard Forest
Environmental Law
Aladdine Joroff, Harvard Law School
Mellon Urban Initiative
Bruno Carvalho, College of Arts and Sciences
Institutions
Center for Green Buildings and Cities Center for Environment Center for Geographic Analysis Joint Center for Housing Studies Law School Kennedy School Business School Chan School of Public Health
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
External Research Consultants
Carbon (GHG) Mitigation and Energy Systems Modeling
Prof. Vladimir Novotny, Northeastern University
Climate Adaptation and Resilience Planning
Prof. Jesse Keenan, Tulane University, former GSD Prof. Rosetta Elkin, McGill University, former GSD
Landscape Ecology and Resilience Planning
Prof. Steven Handel, Landscape Architecture/Rutgers Prof. Peter del Tredici, MIT
Regenerative Agriculture
Eric Toensmeier, Yale University School of Architecture
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Glen Daigger, University of Michigan Civil and Environmental Engineering
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Reports, Data Sets, and Studies Reviewed
Gloucester
Action Inc. Community Assessment Report and Strategic Plan 2018-2020. 2018. https://actioninc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/2018-2020-Community- Assessment-Report-and-Strategic-Plan.pdf Beatley, Timothy. Blue Urbanism : Exploring Connections between Cities and Oceans. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2014. Boreal Renewable Energy Development with Symmes Maini & McKee Associates Power Engineers, LLC.. City of Gloucester Wind Turbine Feasibility Study. February 2011. http://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/954/Blackburn-FS-Version-26?bidId= Barrett Planning Group LLC. for the Gloucester Community Development Department. City of Gloucester, Massachusetts Five-Year Consolidated Plan 2020-2024 and Program Year 2020 Annual Action Plan. June 2020. https://gloucesterma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6920/2020-Consolidated-Plan City of Gloucester Community Preservation Committee. Cressy Beach in Historic Stage Fort Park. 2013. http://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2368/Cressy-Beach-CPA- 2013-App?bidId= City of Gloucester, Durand & Anastas, Ninigret Partners, Utile. City of Gloucester: Municipal Harbor Plan Discussion Document. November 2013. http://gloucester- ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2642 City of Gloucester. Gloucester 2007 Community Health Needs Assessment Executive Survey. 2007. http://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/92/HEALTH-NEEDS- ASSESSMENT?bidId= City of Gloucester and Urban Harbors Institute. Port of Gloucester, MA Groundfish Port Recovery and Revitalization Plan. April 2014. http://gloucesterma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2860 City of Gloucester. 2014 Gloucester Municipal Harbor Plan and DPA Master Plan. July 2014. https://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3118/2014-MHP-and-DPA-Master- Plan-FINAL?bidId= Dogtown Advisory Committee. Minutes of the first meeting of the New Dogtown Advisory Committee. May 2017. http://gloucester-ma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/7601 Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Office of Coastal Zone Management. Designation Decision for the Gloucester Inner Harbor Designated Port Area. April 2014. https://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2867/CZM-Gloucester-DPA-Final- Designation-Decision-4-23-14?bidId= Gloucester Fisherman’s Wives Association. Vision 2020 For the Gloucester Fishing Industry in Northwest Atlantic Fisheries. May 1998. https://gfwa.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/09/Vision-2020.pdf
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Gloucester Historic Commission. Guidelines for the Gloucester Historic District. https://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/352/HDCguidelines?bidId=. Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Dangermond Keane Architecture. Marine Innovation Center Concept Study. October 2014. https://gloucester- ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3389/14_1024-GMIC-Final-Report_Screen?bidId= Harriman | CLE Engineering. Harbormaster and Visiting Boater Center Feasibility Study. Public Meeting Document. October 2017. https://gloucesterma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4590/Gloucester-Harbormasters- Feasibility-Study-PDF?bidId= Kleinfelder. Coastal Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation, Plan City of Gloucester, MA. June 2015. http://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3416 Kleinfelder. Watershed and Water Supply Vulnerability, Risk Assessment and Management Strategy, Gloucester, Massachusetts. June 2019. https://www.mass.gov/doc/finalstrategy/download Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and Essex National Heritage Committee. Gloucester Reconnaissance Report: Essex County Landscape Inventory. May 2005. https://www.mass.gov/doc/gloucester-0/download Massachusetts Historical Commission. MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report Gloucester. 1985. https://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/townreports/Essex/glo.pdf Metropolitan Area Planning Council. City of Gloucester Hazard Mitigation Plan. 2010. http://www.gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/381/HazardMitigationPlan- June22?bidId= Metropolitan Area Planning Council and the City of Gloucester. Gloucester Community Resilience Workshop Summary of Findings. June 2018. https://gloucester- ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5232/Gloucester---CRB-Summary-of- Findings_Final?bidId= Metropolitan Area Planning Council for the City of Gloucester. Gloucester Downtown Market Analysis. July 2014. http://www.mapc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Gloucester- Market-Analysis-FINAL-25Sept14.pdf Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Gloucester Housing Production Plan. May 2017. https://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5443/Final-HPP?bidId= Metropolitan Area Planning Council and the City of Gloucester. Reimagining Railroad: Strengthening Connections Downtown. September 2014. http://www.mapc.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/11/2014-09-29_Gloucester-TOD_Public-Meeting-3.pdf The Cecil Group for the City of Gloucester. The Community Development Plan. August 2001. http://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/827 Urban Harbors Institute. Study of Dockage in Gloucester’s Designated Port Area. February 2014. https://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2757/Dockage-Study---Final- report?bidId=
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
U.S. Economic Development Administration. Gloucester, MA Economic Development Assessment Team Report. 2011. http://gloucesterma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1014/Gloucester_EDAT_Report_Final_ wCover?bidId= Wilbur, Anthony R., Fara Courtney, and Robert P. Glenn. Gloucester Harbor Characterization: Environmental History, Human Influences and Status of Marine Resources. May 2004. https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/08/os/gloucester-harbor- characterization.pdf
Essex
Center for Economic Development and Sustainability at Salem State University for the Town of Essex. Essex River Project. April 2013. https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/boardwalkreport.pdf Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management. A Review of Regional and Shared Services for the Towns of Essex and Manchester by the Sea. October 2019. https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/essex_manchester_shared _services_opportunities_final_report.pdf Essex County Greenbelt “Exploring Sea Level Rise and Coastal Resilience, 2020,” Vimeo video. https://vimeo.com/434079593. Essex Open Space Committee. Open Space and Recreation Plan. 2007. https://www.essexma.org/open-space-committee/pages/2007-open-space-plan Essex Housing Group. Making Essex a Place to Call Home. January 2020. https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/essex_housing_forum_fina l_slides.pdf Essex Housing Group. Housing in Essex: A Look at Essex’s Housing Story and Housing Needs. December 2018. https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/essex_housing_presentati on_12.12.18_1.pdf Grabowski, Jonathan, Randall Hughes, David Kimbro, Steven Scyphers, Jacqueline Wu, Michael DeRosa and Andrea Eigerman. Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program Fiscal Year 18 MVP Action Grant – RFR ENV 18 POL 03. Boston, MA: Northeastern University and DeRosa Environmental Consulting, 2019. https://www.mass.gov/doc/final-report- 15/download Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and Essex National Heritage Commission. Essex Reconnaissance Report: Essex County Landscape Inventory. May 2005. https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/08/tp/essex-with- map.pdf Massachusetts Historical Commission. MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report Essex. 1985. https://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/townreports/Essex/ess.pdf
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Moore, Gregg E., David M. Burdick, Andrew Payne, and Michael Routhier for the Town of Essex. Effects of a Natural Sediment Event on Salt Marsh Resiliency: Assessing Potential Marsh Management Implications in Massachusetts. 2019. https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/final_report_moore_etal_ 2019.pdf National Wildlife Federation for Town of Essex and Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management. Great Marsh Hazard Atlas & Project Compendium. June 2018. https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/great_marsh_hazard_atlas _project_compendium.pdf Rickards, Betsy, Katie Lund, and Andrea Cooper. An Assessment of Resource Management Strategies in the Park River/Essex Bay Area of Critical Environmental Concern. Winter 2001. https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/08/te/preb-management- strategies.pdf Schottland, Taj, Melissa G. Merriam, Christopher Hilke, Kristen Grubbs, and Wayne Castonguay. 2017 Great Marsh Coastal Adaptation Plan. Montpelier, VT: National Wildlife Federation, 2017. https://www.nwf.org/-/media/Documents/PDFs/NWF-Reports/NWF- Report_Great-Marsh-Coastal-Adaptation-Plan_2017.ashx Town of Essex. Town of Essex 2019 Annual Report. 2019. https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/annual_report_2019_esse x.pdf Town of Essex. Open Space and Recreation Plan. Fall 2016. https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/open_space_plan_2016.p df Town of Essex. Town of Essex Strategic Plan 2015-2020: Consultation with Town Residents. 2015.https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/essex_strategic_plan _12-2005_draft.pdf Town of Essex. Community Resilience Building Workshop Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program Summary of Findings. June 2018. https://www.mass.gov/doc/2017-2018-mvp- planning-grant-report-essex/download Town of Essex. Hazard Mitigation Plan 2019 Update. July 2019. https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/essex_ma_final_planadopt ed_2019-7-15.pdf Town of Essex. Progress Report: ENV 19 MVP 02 – FY 19 MVP Action Grant Monthly Report Form. June 2020. Wright-Pierce. Water System Master Plan for the Essex Water Department. September 2019. https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/ewd_master_plan.pdf
Manchester
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Businesses Acting on Rising Seas. Resilience Guide Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Manchester, MA: Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, Climate Action Business Association, 2018. https://cabaus.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/BARS-Guide- Manchester-by-the-Sea-English-08.13.2018.pdf Environmental Protection Agency and Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea. Case Study: Water and Wastewater Utilities Planning for Climate Change. 2016. https://toolkit.climate.gov/sites/default/files/Manchester-by-the-Sea_March_2016.pdf FEMA. Manchester-by-the-Sea Hazard Mitigation Plan. April 2018. https://www.manchester.ma.us/DocumentCenter/View/2274/Hazard-Mitigation-Plan- Volume-I_FINAL-2018 Manchester-by-the-Sea Department of Public Works. 2019 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report. 2019. https://www.manchester.ma.us/DocumentCenter/View/3135/2019- Manchester-by-the-Sea-Annual-Drinking-Water-Quality-Report-CCR Manchester Planning Board. Manchester Master Plan. December 2019. http://www.manchester.ma.us/DocumentCenter/View/2931/Final-Draft-Master-Plan-- Final-formatted-Plan-with-images-maps-and-implementation-matrix-available-soon Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and the Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea. Sawmill Brook Culvert and Green Infrastructure Analysis: Vulnerability and Required Capacity Under Climate Change. June 2016. http://www.manchester.ma.us/DocumentCenter/View/895/FINAL-CZM-Sawmill-Brook- Report_6-30-16?bidId= Metropolitan Area Planning Council and Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea. Natural Resources Focus Group Summary and Notes. Manchester, MA: Town of Manchester, 2016. http://www.manchester.ma.us/DocumentCenter/View/1282/Natural-Resources- Focus-Group-Summary-and-Notes_2016-9-13 Metropolitan Area Planning Council and town of Manchester-by-the-Sea. Manchester-by-the- Sea Housing, Economic Development, and Land Use Scenario Study. 2018. http://www.manchester.ma.us/DocumentCenter/View/2476/Manchester-Final- Hs_EcDev_Land-Use_Report_Nov-14_2018 Sunnarborg, Karen for the Town of Manchester. Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea Housing Production Plan. September 2015. https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/07/ue/manchester.pdf Town of Manchester-by-the Sea. Community Resilience Building Workshops Municipal Vulnerability Program. June 2018. https://www.mass.gov/doc/2017-2018-mvp-planning-grant-report- manchester/download Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea. White Beach: Road Abandonment and Barrier Beach Restoration. November 2018. Accelerating Climate Resiliency Grant Proposal. https://www.manchester.ma.us/DocumentCenter/View/2501/MAPC-Accelerating- Climate-Resilience-Grant-Application_final_12-3-18
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Rockport
Long Beach Infrastructure Committee. Long Beach Infrastructure Recommendation. 2018. https://www.rockportma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1141/f/uploads/long_beach_report_10 -15-2018.pdf Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and Essex National Heritage Commission. Rockport Reconnaissance Report, Essex County Landscape Inventory. May 2005. https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/08/sl/rockport-with-map.pdf Metropolitan Area Planning Council for the Town of Rockport Planning Board. Rockport Community Visioning: What Future Do We Want for our Community? November 2017. https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2018/01/03/Rockport%20Community%20Visio ning.pdf Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Rockport Community Resilience Workshop Summary of Findings. May 2018. https://www.mass.gov/doc/2017-2018-mvp-planning-grant-report- rockport/download. Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Town of Rockport Hazard Mitigation Plan. October 2011. https://www.rockportma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1141/f/uploads/rockport_hazardous_m itigation_plan_approved_by_fema.pdf Metropolitan Area Planning Council and Town of Rockport. Rockport Station Area Transit- Oriented Village Plan. Fall 2018. http://www.mapc.org/wp- content/uploads/2018/11/Rockport_TOV-Report_2018.pdf Neal, Lawrence, Rob Claypool, Stephanie Cunningham, Tom Mikus, Frederick H. “Ted” Tarr III and Peter Van Demark. Open Space and Recreation Plan: Town of Rockport 2019. October 2019. https://www.rockportma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1141/f/uploads/osrp_oct_17_2019_for _eoee_review.pdf Town of Rockport. Annual Report of the Town Officers for the year ending December 31, 2019. December 2019. https://www.rockportma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1141/f/news/tor_- _full_report_for_web.pdf
Cape Ann
Brown Walker Planners, Inc. for Essex National Heritage Commission. Essex Coastal Scenic Byway Corridor Management Plan. March 2011. https://essexheritage.org/sites/default/files/ecsb_report_summary.pdf Cape Ann Vernal Pond Team. “Vernal Ponds and Vernal Pond Certification Reporting Process.” Accessed July 23, 2020. https://www.capeannvernalpondteam.org/vernal-ponds
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. “North Shore Oyster Restoration.” Accessed July 22, 2020. https://www.mass.gov/service-details/north-shore-oyster-restoration. Essex County Greenbelt. “Your Conservation Options.” Accessed July 22, 2020. https://ecga.org/Your-Conservation-Options. Essex National Heritage Area. Scaling Up: New Strategies for Landscape-Scale Conservation. October 2016. https://essexheritage.org/sites/default/files/2017_scaling_up_post_ symposium_report.pdf Hagberg, Linnea. Area Plan on Aging, 2018-2021 SeniorCare Inc.. 2018. http://seniorcareinc.org/wpcontent/uploads/2019/02/SeniorCareAreaPlanonAging2018 -2021.pdf Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Grow Smart North Shore. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 1999. http://www.northcoastal.net/Docs/GrowSmartNorthShore.pdf Manchester Essex Conservation Trust. Wilderness Conservation Area Management Plan. July 2013. https://www.mect.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/WCA-Management-Plan- 7.13.pdf Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources. Green Community Designations Reach Two Hundred Seventy One. 2020. https://www.mass.gov/doc/map-of-271-gcs-and-grant- summaries/download Metropolitan Area Planning Council for the North Shore Coalition. North Shore Mobility Study. Boston, MA: Metropolitan Area Council, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. http://www.mapc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/North-Shore-Mobility- Study-Report-Final-Nov2017.pdf Metropolitan Area Planning Council, Franklin Regional Council of Governments, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, and Massachusetts Workforce Alliance for Massachusetts Food Policy Council. Massachusetts Local Food Action Plan. December 2015. https://mafoodsystem.org/static/plan/pdfs/MLFSPFull.pdf The Trustees of the Reservations. State of the Coast: Future Climate-Driven Risks—And Their Solutions—On Massachusetts’ North Shore. 2020. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ce308a7514487000112e19b/t/5f3d5582527cfe 3b6a26f282/1597855119256/SOC_2020_NorthShore_.pdf Urban Harbors Institute and University of Massachusetts Boston. Building the Massachusetts Seafood System. December 2017. https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2018/05/09/Final%20Report%20Building%20th e%20Massachusetts%20Seafood%20System.pdf Wang, Chen-Yuan. Memorandum on Routes 127A/127 Subregional Priority Roadway Study in Gloucester and Rockport. April 2014. https://www.ctps.org/data/pdf /studies/highway/Rtes_127_127A_Subregional_Priority.pdf Woods Hole Group, Inc . for the Trustees of the Reservations. Climate Vulnerability Assessment Coastal Properties Trustees of Reservations. October 2017.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
https://issuu.com/thetrustees/docs/trustees_climate_vulnerability_asse?e=11373932/6 8055762
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Gap Analysis
The majority of the literature to date on Cape Ann defines mitigation through vulnerability analysis and includes proposals for mitigating the sources of greenhouse gases. The hazard mitigation reports mandated by FEMA, as well as the state sponsored Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Plans, have contributed to an emphasis on mitigation across the region. There is existing literature on resilience, especially in reference to coastal areas, but there has been less engagement on the theme of climate adaptation. Climate issues are viewed primarily through the lenses of net zero energy consumption and the threat of coastal inundation. While local planning has identified economic, infrastructural, and land use concerns, these are not articulated fully in Cape Ann’s climate resiliency literature. Where the literature is most climate-resilience-oriented—such as in current discussions of land trust properties—the scale of impact is often small. Similarly, there is a strong focus on coastal areas, while the rural upland regions of Cape Ann remain under- studied. The current reports lack effective visual communication of landscape, development, and infrastructural features and their climate-related risks. The complexity of zoning, land holdings, and landscape features have not been synthesized diagrammatically to recognize patterns of development and the shared opportunities for adaptation across the region. This lack of accessible visual communication limits the audience for existing plans to experts. As the dynamics of the Cape’s multiple ecological communities shift with rising waters and warming temperatures, the four communities must play an active role in open space management. While there is a clear desire to preserve scenic value and benefit from ecosystem services, the approach has tended to be retroactive (focusing on the removal of invasive species, for example) rather than looking proactively at the potential of novel ecosystems and the benefits of carbon sinking in forests and soils, and the biological diversity that would benefit human communities in the longer term. Studies completed by municipal governments tend to ignore the continuation of ecosystems and their services across municipal boundaries. The flow of materials such as water, wastewater, solid waste, and food is a critical subject in climate resilience and adaptation. Reconfiguring consumption and waste streams would inevitably entail a new prioritization of valued open space on the Cape. It is unclear to what extent adapting to such regenerative and sustainable systems would impact the strong visual character and scenic qualities of the region. While population growth is not an urgent concern, a more comprehensive understanding of the capacity of these systems, including freshwater supply, sewage, solid waste, and local food production, will be useful for long-term planning. A significant footprint of open space on the Cape has been preserved through a system of conservation restrictions held by land trusts working with private landholders. The conservation restriction allows for other uses in the short term, such as recreation, farming, and forestry. A baseline analysis that defines the types of open space at a fine grain across the region, additional documentation of land management practices across conservation
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
organizations and municipalities, as well as mapping that identifies land open for development or zoned for development across Cape Ann, would all be valuable additions. While each community has expressed a desire for affordable housing options, there is no aggregated analysis of the diversity of housing needs across Cape Ann. There is a significant tension between the oft-cited possibility of Gloucester becoming a marine technology or a “blue” economy hub, which would invite new development, and the community’s concerns that this development could push out its most vulnerable populations. While there is a robust understanding of the diverse needs of the houseless, aging, disabled, and low- and middle- income workforce populations of the city, the planning frameworks that would offer system- level support for these residents are missing. The health and resilience of Cape Ann’s communities is a crucial component of an equitable climate justice proposal. As Cape Ann’s largest municipality, the planning and literature about the Cape is concentrated around Gloucester, reflecting the greater complexity and diversity of this municipality. Regional NGOs and think tanks regularly describe Cape Ann as a region, and acknowledge that ecosystems, and their services, do not follow municipal boundaries. However, there is a lack of cohesive municipal planning that addresses the entire region of Cape Ann and identifies how various efforts by individual towns or cities may contradict efforts in other areas. This is especially important when planning for flood control measures that might divert water and inundate adjacent areas, as well as coastal infrastructure, including breakwaters, that could erode nearby shorelines.
The following is a summary of the key topics that invite further study:
• Regional, rather than municipal, understanding of climate issues • Effects of coastline adaptation on neighboring communities • Long-term and resilience-focused coastal adaptation and retreat strategies • Management of biodiverse habitats for long term ecosystem benefits • Suitability of open spaces for ecosystem migration • Comprehensive assessment of soil and forest resources • Defining accessible job opportunities for a diverse workforce • Understanding the capacity for localizing water and waste streams • Mapping local food distribution and waste stream networks • Links between social equity and climate risks • Identification of potential open space for hybrid landscape development • Diagramming land-use policies across the Cape
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Themes: Mitigation, Resilience, and Adaptation
Climate change planning requires consistent definitions in order to frame the range of potential responses and preparations. The concepts of mitigation, resilience, and adaptation allow for the development of plans, laws, resource allocation and investment strategies by actors across sectors.1 These concepts are useful as the foundation for decision-making as policies are advanced. In the following case study proposals, three broadly accepted concepts—mitigation, resilience, and adaptation—are treated as thematic areas that are used to classify possible case studies for Cape Ann.
Mitigation
Mitigation refers to “measures to reduce the amount and speed of future climate change by reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”2 The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has mandated the production of municipal hazard mitigation plans that affect local planning decisions. This requirement has prioritized carbon mitigation techniques, often leaving resilience and adaptation planning and capacities underdeveloped.3
Resilience
Resilience is defined as “a capability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant multi-hazard threats with minimum damage to social well-being, the economy and the environment.”4 Resilience is used across fields as a way to conceptualize the response to disturbance. Most closely related to climate science, ecologists use resilience to refer to the long-term viability and nature of ecosystems, including how much a system can be restored to its original balance following a disruptive event. The concept of resilience relating to climate change and the built environment has evolved to be both anticipatory (thinking through the changes that can be made in the present to withstand climate change) and reactive (in which
1 Jesse M. Keenan, David A. King and Derek Willis. “Understanding Conceptual Climate Change Meanings and Preferences of Multi-Actor Professional Leadership in New York.” Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning 18, no. 3 (2015): 261-285. 2 United States Global Change Research Program, “Glossary,” accessed July 24, 2020. 3 Jesse M. Keenan. “Types and forms of resilience in local planning in the U.S. Who does what?” Environmental Science and Policy 88 (2018): 121. 4 United States Global Change Research Program, “Glossary.”
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
resilience is applied after a disaster has already occurred, and resilience strategies focus on questions of retrofitting and recovery).5
Adaptation
Adaptation refers to the “adjustment in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment that exploits beneficial opportunities or moderates negative effects.”6 Within the paradigm of adaptation, managed retreat has risen to the forefront. Managed retreat includes not only the relocation of people, but also a process of unbuilding to return the land to a less intensely developed state in perpetuity.7 The process of managed retreat usually involves municipalities and homeowners, and emerged as a nationwide consideration after Hurricane Sandy, when homeowners on Staten Island, New York, sought to sell their land and homes to the city to relocate. Precedents for adaptive measurements, and specifically managed retreat, are found across the globe, particularly in areas where natural disasters, such as hurricanes, have struck. After a 1933 tsunami in Japan, the government established coastal buffer forests to attenuate wave action, while relocating the population, offering multiple beneficial outcomes. While conversations on managed retreat are often sensitive due to the displacement of residents from their homes and land, these ongoing dialogues are rooted in historical precedent.8
Massmatt. Wind Turbines in Gloucester. 2014. Flickr.com
5 Lawrence J. Vale, "The politics of resilient cities: whose resilience and whose city?" Building Research and Information 42, no. 2 (2014): 194. 6 United States Global Change Research Program, “Glossary.” 7 Liz Koslov, “The Case for Retreat.” Public Culture 28, no. 2 (2016): 362. 8 Rosetta S. Elkin and Jesse M. Keenan, “Retreat or Rebuild” in Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies for Coastal Communities, ed. W. Leal Filho (New York: Springer International Publishing, 2018.), 157.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Regional Planning: Local Typologies of Vulnerability
The literature review suggests that Cape Ann might consider itself as a unified geographic entity characterized by four distinct landscape typologies that exist across the four municipalities. These typologies are present in each municipality and knit the region together through shared geographies and development types as well as their associated vulnerabilities. This classification responds to the fact that each municipality has identified the same hazards as primary risks due to climate change. Each of these typologies includes associated climate issues that allow for a set of inclusive scenario planning. These four typologies are: (1) water bodies; (2) adaptive downtowns; (3) rural uplands; and (4) critical infrastructures.
Samuel Holland and Henry Mowat. A Plan of the harbour and Peninsula of Cape Ann in North America. 1776. Pen and ink. Washington, D.C, Library of Congress.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Water Bodies
Each municipality on Cape Ann has a close relationship to both salt and fresh water bodies that are essential to its identity and economies. The densest patterns of urbanization in each of the four communities on Cape Ann have developed along the Atlantic coast, stemming from a history of port-based economies. In Rockport, Manchester, and Gloucester, the “hardened harbor”—a term referring both to a developed water edge that supports harbor economies as well as the rocky nature of this strip of eastern coast— typifies the downtown area. In Essex and areas within Gloucester, a softer wetland edge defines the water-to-land relationship. While Cape Ann has historically identified itself as facing the ocean, freshwater supply and distribution has been just as important to the development of its municipalities. Saltwater intrusion, aging infrastructure, and the risk of flooding compound the need to ensure these water bodies continue to provide a safe source of drinking water for the region.
• River • Seawall • Bog • Lighthouse • Permanent pond • Breakwater • Vernal pool • Coastal island • Freshwater swamp • Public landing and public beach • Open ocean • Seaport village • Salt marsh • Coastal estate and hotel • Tidal mud flat • Yacht clubs and marinas • Barrier beach • Surface water reservoir • Rocky beach • Groundwater well
Fish flake yard in Gloucester harbor. The Pageant of America. The New York Public Library Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Resilient Downtowns
The central business districts of each community face the water. While these downtown areas are not geographically large, they are a mosaic of residential, commercial, and industrial zones in close proximity, as well as heavy industrial activities in Gloucester’s Designated Port Area. Each of these concentrated economic areas is at risk of flooding in the event of a 100-year storm (as characterized by FEMA). The Essex River runs under Route 133, the central causeway through Essex’s central business district; access to downtown Gloucester is primarily across the Blynman Canal over the Annisquam River separating east and west Gloucester; Rockport’s main tourist attraction, Bearskin Neck, surrounds Rockport Harbor; and Manchester-by-the-Sea is at the head of Manchester Harbor. Due to the proximity of these downtown areas to the ocean, climate change is directly linked to the economic stability of these municipalities. To ensure the continued viability of these municipalities, each downtown area must adaptively respond to threats of erosion and storm surge, the need for emergency gathering, a lack of affordable housing, and shifting economic interests. This typology includes built and unbuilt parcels as well as buildings, harbor parcels, and mooring zones.
• Civic center o Colonial Revival (1890–1930) • Hardened harbor • Summer cottage village (19th and • Industrial port 20th century) • Dredged channel • Burial ground • Downtown historic districts: • Church and temple • o First Period architecture Industrial and maritime motif o Georgian (circa 1725–1790) structure o Federal (1790–1830) • Central business district o Greek Revival (1830–1870) • Commercial artist row o Gothic Revival (1840–1880) • Commercial mall o Italianate (1865–1895) • Multi-unit development o Queen Anne (1875–1900)
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Rural Uplands
Cape Ann is characterized by its open spaces. After initially developing municipalities around the ocean, settlers used the rural uplands of Cape Ann as wood lots, pastures, and subsistence farm plots on topsoil over the granitic outcroppings that lend Cape Ann its distinctive geography. These open spaces include significant wetland areas and second-growth forest that provide habitat for critical and threatened species. These open spaces range from playgrounds to cemeteries to wetland buffers and beaches, with a gradient of human use, and include privately- and publicly-owned open spaces across a wide spectrum of protection by state and local regulations.
• Upland forest • Farmland • Granite outcrop • Dispersed settlement • Preserved property • Transfer station
Babson boulder in the woodland area of Dogtown. Ralph Torello. Dogtown Commons. 2017. Flickr.com
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Critical Infrastructures
Routes 127, 127A, and 133 are critical highways that connect Cape Ann to the broader North Shore Region and to the Boston area. The Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line similarly brings commuters and tourists to and from Cape Ann. In addition to these transportation infrastructural lines, there exist water, sewer, and electricity-generating infrastructures across Cape Ann. This typology includes highway and rail lines, commuter rail stations, local access to bus and rail lines, and water and sewer lines as well as treatment plants.
• Scenic drives • Sewer line • Commuter rail corridor • Electric line • Local bus route • Stormwater culvert • Water treatment plant • Transfer station • Wastewater treatment plant • Sewage and stormwater outfall
Manchester by-the-Sea wastewater treatment plant. U.S. EPA. 2015. U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. https://toolkit.climate.gov/image/1288.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Proposed Studies
Contents
Introduction Scenarios 0. The Big Storm 1. Mitigation: Waste Recovery to Energy Production 2. Resilience: Building Net Zero to Diversify Housing 3. Adaptation: Armoring Infrastructure and Managed Retreat Mitigation Case Studies 1.1. A Solar-Powered Cape 1.2. Regional Forestry Network 1.3. Reducing Car-Dependence 1.4. Hydrogen Production and Carbon Capture Resilience Case Studies 2.1. Shifting Wetlands 2.2. Sustaining Farms and Fisheries 2.3. Sustaining Public Beaches 2.4. Coastal Building Evaluation Adaptation Case Studies 3.1. Grey to Green Infrastructure 3.2. Adapting to a Warming Climate 3.3. Adapting Gloucester’s Port Infrastructure 3.4. Building Artificial Reefs
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Introduction
The proposed year-long effort is comprised of two complementary types of research, “scenarios” and “case studies,” in order to allow for a breadth of understanding across all themes. Four in-depth and thematic scenarios provide a synthetic study of issues across disciplines and media, examining the spatial, geographic, ecological, and infrastructural implications of interventions across Cape Ann. These scenarios—including Scenario 0 (the Big Storm) and Scenarios 1, 2, and 3 (Mitigation, Resilience, and Adaptation, respectively)—pose sets of questions that represent visions of the future that make it possible to evaluate the potential consequences of different choices. The outcomes of this research are rendered through mapping, modeling, and three-dimensional visualization at the scales of the region, the municipality, and the specific sites in question. These scenarios will result in twenty spreads, offering an in-depth analysis for projects that are ready to be implemented across the Cape. Additionally, a series of concise case studies offers a wider array of topics for study through a literature and international precedent review, including drawings, diagrams, and maps of these precedent studies. While more limited in scope than the scenarios, case studies will produce five spreads, including preliminary visualizations indicating the projected size, territory, and impact of their proposals. This document outlines twelve case studies to delivered as part of a yearlong study for potential implementation across Case Ann.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Scenario Report Deliverables [4 Scenarios]
20 spreads (11x17) including: • 3 precedent images and contextual text (3 spreads) • 8 maps conveying analysis (8 spreads) o 1 territorial scale map o 4 municipal scale maps o 3 maps at the scale of the critical natural and infrastructural systems impacted by the proposal (roadways, commuter rail, sewer lines, salt marshes, etc.) • 4 diagrams of spatial logic of proposed conditions (4 spreads) • 1 diagram of how proposed conditions differ from existing conditions (1 spread) • 4 drawings that articulate the design strategy in plan, section, or axon (4 spreads)
Case Study Report Deliverables [12 Case Studies]
5 spreads (11x17) including: • 2 precedent images and contextual text (1 spread) • 2 plan diagrams of case study precedents (1 spread) • One territorial scale map highlighting possible sites for implementation (1 spread) • One diagram articulating design strategy on site (1 spread) • One section, axonometric, or plan drawing visualizing case study proposal (1 spread)
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Scenarios
0. The Big Storm
Precedents:
Understanding the Effects of Hurricane Storm Surge in Falmouth, MA Greg A. Rogers Falmouth, MA, 2012
• Used historical and descriptive research methods to discover the impacts of hurricane storm surge on life and property in Falmouth, including the predicted impacts of storm surge, population within the surge zone, critical infrastructures located within the storm surge zone, and the effected buildings within the storm zone • Collected historical data on previous hurricanes • Determined the areas of Falmouth most likely to be affected by storm surge • Identified additional factors contributing to storm surge including the effects of climate change induced sea level rise • Used both GIS mapping and on-the-ground surveys of businesses and residents within the storm surge zone
Flooding in downtown Rockport during a winter storm in 2018. Samantha Kethopulos. Rockport Flooding. 2018. Good Morning Gloucester. goodmorninggloucester.com
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Climate Ready Boston The City of Boston Boston, MA, 2016–ongoing
• Updated climate projections for three climate factors: sea level rise, extreme precipitation, and storms • Created a vulnerability assessment of current and potential future risks associated with each of the three climate hazards (extreme heat, stormwater flooding, and coastal and riverine flooding) • Established eight Boston focus areas where climate resilience initiatives are applied in detail to illustrate climate risks and solutions • Provided policy, planning, programmatic and financial climate resilience initiatives set forth in a roadmap including the initiative, responsibility, time frame and key milestones
Rendering of resilience planning scheme in Boston harbor. SCAPE. Resilient Boston Harbor. 2018. Climate Ready Boston. Boston.gov.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Objectives:
• Project scenario based on vulnerabilities identified in each municipality’s Hazard Mitigation Plans and MVP programs and ecological modeling of 100-year storm event
Analysis:
• Identify critical resources that would be affected in the event of a severe 100-year hurricane and sequential flooding • Identify residential, commercial, and industrial buildings that would be affected in the event of a 100-year storm • Identify natural resources that would be affected by a severe 100-year hurricane • Identify range of precedents, including Cape Cod hurricane research • Consult with experts to identify a storm modeling procedure to produce dataset of the coastal storm surge and inland flooding produced by a 100-year hurricane • Consult with experts on the expected length of recovery from the big storm, and potential cost of damages and rebuilding
Design Deliverables:
• 3 precedent images and text summarizing methods and approaches • 8 detailed maps showing flooded and impacted areas in the event of the 100-year hurricane o 1 map at Cape Ann territorial scale, including affected buildings, infrastructure, and critical natural resources o 4 maps calibrated to the scale of each of the downtown areas of three towns and the City of Gloucester o 3 maps at the scale of critical infrastructural elements (roadways, commuter rail, sewer lines, marsh lands, wastewater treatment plants) • 4 diagrams visualizing types of coastal conditions, levels of development, and their associated vulnerabilities • 3 drawings and 1 animation showing the additional effects of sea level rise, storm surge, and king tide flooding conditions
Scenario 0 is a necessary component of the project, and will ground and contextualize all subsequent work by providing a description of “The Big Storm,”—that is, what will happen if we do nothing. This study projects a business-as-usual scenario, providing a benchmark for other proposed cases. As identified in the Hazard Mitigation Plans prepared by each municipality, Cape Ann’s geographic position as an island and peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean offers a host of
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
opportunities for recreation, tourism, and industry, but also presents a range of pressing issues related to coastal climate change. Additionally, each of Cape Ann’s four municipalities have participated in the state sponsored Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program.9 The most urgent threats in each municipality are coastal storm surges in the event of a category 4 or 5 slow-moving hurricane from the southwest. This scenario recognizes the layered vulnerability of previous hurricanes, including Hurricanes Edna and Carol, which arrived within two weeks of each other in 1954. These hurricanes highlighted the impacts of significant erosion due to Hurricane Carol, which heightened the vulnerability of the coastline to the second storm, and also brought inland urban and stream flooding during Hurricane Edna due to saturation from Hurricane Carol. These storms highlight the fact that 100-year and devastating storms are not on a planned schedule, and the effects of coastal hurricanes are not limited to ocean-facing residences or businesses, but significantly affect upland areas.10 There have been more than 16 major storms over the past 50 years that have defined the region. Today, a clear tension has emerged between the traditional coastal settlement patterns that produced residential and commercial areas clustered near the ocean and the need to observe FEMA’s projected flood elevations. The Big Storm scenario offers a vision of the future of the Cape Ann region without mitigation or resilience planning, and projects the critical coastal infrastructure and resources that are most likely to be compromised in the event of a 100-year storm. This includes transportation routes that may become evacuation routes off of Cape Ann (Routes 127, 128 and 133), low-lying water and sewer treatment infrastructure, and the residential, commercial and industrial buildings that are expected to be inundated in the event of a major storm.11 Additionally, the impact of a big storm on natural resources such as coastal forests, river systems, and wetlands is projected as part of the study. The capacity of marshes, rivers, and beaches to absorb the impacts of a major storm, as well as the potential impact of erosion, saturation, and deposition, will be studied to better understand the areas in which ecological restoration or design may have a significant effect. This scenario will help to identify areas for immediate intervention to improve resiliency in the event of a big storm.
9 Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program – Municipal Designation Status, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2020. 10 “The Worst Massachusetts Hurricanes of the 20th Century,” Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, accessed August 10, 2020. 11 Kleinfelder, Coastal Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan, June 2015.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
1. Mitigation: Waste Recovery to Energy Production
Precedents:
Annacis Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Genifuel, Metro Vancouver Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 2019- ongoing
• Wastewater treatment plant serving 14 municipalities in the Vancouver region • Pilot project using hydrothermal processing to convert waste water biomass into biocrude oil that can be used to produce low-carbon transportation fuel
Annacis Island Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion project. 2020. Vancouver, BC. https://top100projects.ca/project/ annacis-island-wastewater- treatment-plant-expansion/.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Columbia Ridge Landfill & Green Energy Plant Waste Management Northwest Landfill Group, Arlington, OR, 2011-ongoing
• Municipal solid waste and recycling plant serving Oregon and Washington • Project manages landfill gas to generate renewable energy through wells leading to an onsite renewable energy plant that generates 12.8 MW of electricity, powering 12,500 homes in Seattle • Includes 90 wind turbines
Waste processing landscape in Oregon. Waste Management Northwest. Columbia Ridge Recycling and Landfill. 2016. http://www.wmnorthwest.com/ landfill/ columbiaridge.htm.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Objectives:
• Build a solid wastewater to biofuel conversion plant as part of a new wastewater treatment network on Cape Ann • Regionalize solid waste management to optimize the collection and management of trash, recycling, and organic matter • Expand municipal composting to prevent methane production in landfills while amending soils across the Cape
Analysis:
• Identify a range of precedents and best practices for efficient waste stream management, including integrated landscape waste management typologies • Assess the viability, costs, and capacities of a solid waste to gasification plant • Calculate the volumes of solid trash, recycling, waste water, and sewage produced by the four municipalities on the Cape • Compile relevant state and local policies regarding waste disposal • Assess additional infrastructure (roadways, power capacity) required for waste processing • Consult with experts to assess feasibility and recommendations for waste to energy recovery processes, including sewage sludge to biofuel and solid waste to gasification facilities • Consult with local stakeholders to map open space that could house a waste processing facility • Calculate the carbon costs and savings of reconfigured waste streams
Design Deliverables:
• 3 precedent images and text summarizing methods and approaches • 1 territorial scale map showing output of Cape Ann waste production • 4 municipal scale maps visualizing waste systems and policies • 3 maps spatializing sites for proposed waste processing infrastructure • 4 diagrams of flows from waste disposal to waste collection to processing of waste materials on Cape Ann • 4 drawings rendering recommended waste system design strategy
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
This scenario regionalizes the waste streams of Cape Ann, including trash, recycling, organic matter, wastewater, and sewage, and proposes converting sewage sludge and solid waste into low-carbon biofuels. The waste water treatment plants across Cape Ann are aging, and several are at risk of being inundated due to sea level rise, or threatened by increasing coastal storm surges.12 Currently, sewage sludge is shipped off Cape Ann to other sites in Massachusetts, as contracted by the four municipalities. This scenario proposes a plant to convert wastewater, including sewage sludge, into biofuels, creating a zero-waste source of biogenic fuels that can create oil and gas for use on Cape Ann, or for export as a source of income for the region. This form of resource recovery has been piloted elsewhere, and reduces the operating costs for wastewater utilities in the municipalities, and reduces the challenges of operating within an increasingly regulated wastewater solid environment.13 This scenario would site a plant within Cape Ann and assess the infrastructural requirements for such a conversion, as well as the potential costs and savings of the program. Additionally, the septic systems across the Cape that supplement sewer lines are likely to fail and cause water contamination, a problem that will intensify with increased flooding. The scenario creates incentives for homeowners to convert septic systems to residential natural water treatment systems. As a second waste-to-energy scenario, the study investigates the regionalization of waste management to optimize the collection and management of solid waste for conversion to low carbon energy sources. This study would assess the viability, costs, site requirements, and capacity for processing various forms of solid waste at an innovative solid waste to gasification plant. A primary concern of pilot projects undertaken across the globe are the environmental health risks of such processes.14 Thus, advanced technologies such as plasma gasification will be considered to limit such effects as an alternative to landfilling. Currently, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Essex, and Rockport maintain town transfer stations with a pay-as-you-throw model in which residents purchase trash bags that are delivered and managed by each municipality’s Department of Public Works. Gloucester contracts with JRM Recycling and Hauling, which brings municipal solid waste off the Cape to be disposed in Peabody. Manchester contracts its curbside pickup service with Waste Management and its solid waste is taken to an incinerator in North Andover. The pay-as-you-throw model was widely adopted after comparative studies showed that Rockport residents generated significantly higher amounts of trash under a flat fee model, totaling 3,300 pounds per user.
12 “Exploring Adaptation Options for Water Infrastructure at Sea Level,” U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, last modified January 17, 2017. 13 Timothy Seiple, et al.,“Municipal Wastewater Sludge as a Renewable, Cost-effective Feedstock for Transportation Biofuels Using Hydrothermal Liquefaction,” Journal of Environmental Management 270, no. C (2020): 110852. 14 “Waste-to-Energy,” Project Drawdown, accessed August 15, 2020, https://drawdown.org/solutions/waste-to- energy.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Gloucester averages 1,000 pounds of trash per capita per year.15 While waste is removed from the Cape, the legacy of waste management includes several capped dumping sites across Cape Ann, suggesting the possibility for Cape Ann to revitalize a regional waste management program. Finally, this scenario diverts organic waste from landfills to prevent the generation of greenhouse gases, especially methane through a regionalized compost network. Manchester- by-the Sea currently offers curbside compost pickup through Black Earth Compost processed in town, which roughly 30% of households in the town take advantage of.16 With plans underway to upgrade and enlarge the facility in Manchester, this scenario envisions expanding the curbside compost network to the other three municipalities. This expanded operation will create a supply of natural compost and fertilizer for agriculture and gardening to amend the soil on Cape Ann’s rocky outcroppings. The scenario will reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases generated by the decomposition of solid waste, and envisions multiple strategies for converting waste streams into viable low-carbon fuel economies.
15 Jim Gardner, “Letter: Help decide Rockport’s waste disposal future,” Gloucester Daily Times, February 25, 2018. 16 Emma Cooper, “A Potential Move, Enhanced Facility on the Town Meeting Docket for Black Earth Compost,” The Cricket, May 14, 2020.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
2. Resilience: Building Net Zero to Diversify Housing
Precedents:
Sheridan Small Homes Project ONE Neighborhood Builders, Building Futures, Jonathan Knowles RISD Design Studio Providence, Rhode Island, 2019–ongoing
• Five small affordable net-zero homes that incorporate solar energy and rainwater harvesting and offer residents small garden spaces • A collaboration between community focused developers, RISD students, and a building apprenticeship organization
Rendering for Sheridan Small Homes Project. ONE Neighborhood Builders. https://www.risd.edu/news/stories/ risd-architecture-students -collaborate-on-net-zero-homes-project-in-providence/.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Hammarby Sjöstadby Stockholm Water Company Stockholm, Sweden, 1990-ongoing
• Interdisciplinary mixed-use development project using green-blue infrastructure • Reduced heat consumption by 50% and increases electricity efficiency through bioenergy and local waste incineration • Implemented large-scale local wastewater and storm-water harvest and filtration
Canal system at Hammarby Sjöstad for stormwater runoff. Madeleine d’Ersu. The energy supplies in Hammarby Sjöstad. 2017. Urban Green-Blue Grids. https://www.urbangreenbluegrids.com/projects/hammarby-sjostad- stockholm-sweden/
Objectives:
• Propose net zero housing options that are accessible to a spectrum of Cape Ann’s residents while prioritizing social equity • In-depth analysis of the gaps between current housing stock, affordable options, and diverse housing needs of low and middle-income workforce, elderly, disabled, and artist communities
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
• Develop plans for net zero development types including multi-unit buildings, accessible housing for aging residents, and retrofitting of existing units • Incorporate passive energy solutions, closed-loop waste systems, stormwater management, low-carbon construction, and renewable production • Propose hybrid housing and landscape types that offer communities accessible and productive outdoor space
Analysis:
• Create comprehensive assessment of housing needs and current housing stock • Review, draw, and diagram relevant mixed-income housing and landscape precedents • Review local zoning policies to strategize new development typologies • Map open space available for development across Cape Ann • Engage multiple local experts to meet community goals and develop strategies for equitable outcomes • Consult with housing and material experts to define net zero parameters and goals
Design Deliverables:
• 3 precedent studies across a range of different development types and supporting text • Territorial scale map showing sites for new development including existing retrofits • 4 municipal scale maps diagraming zoning policy strategies • 3 maps at the scale of housing types • 2 diagrams showing net zero and passive energy flows • 2 diagrams showing community resilience strategies related to new development • 4 drawings rendering recommended housing types including multi-unit developments, single-unit retrofits, and integrated landscape spaces
In this scenario, a range of net zero housing options are envisioned that account for the diverse and differing socioeconomic distribution of Cape Ann. As a region, Cape Ann faces significant demand for diversified housing options to increase social equity. Each municipality has recognized the need to attract and maintain a workforce who can afford to live near their workplace, especially those who work for each municipality (such as school teachers, Department of Public Works employees, and firefighters). 60% of all lower- and middle-income households in Gloucester have been identified as having housing cost burdens. Additionally, groups such as the elderly, people experiencing homelessness, and artists have diverse needs for housing, including accessible living spaces, co-living options, temporary and emergency
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
housing, and flexibility with work-live space.17 Many of these communities are also the most vulnerable to climate change and the unseen impacts of environmental health hazards. This scenario projects a range of housing options across Cape Ann that are accessible to a wider range of residents, and in lieu of other development. It proposes that this new development uses net zero building strategies, such that the annual amount of energy used by a building is equal to the amount of renewable energy produced on its site. The scenario evaluates the demand for housing across the Cape to the year 2050 and locates the optimal areas for clustered multi-unit workforce housing, as well as retrofitting existing housing stock. In order to achieve net zero energy consumption, innovative construction methods, embedded renewable systems, and passive building techniques are proposed. Energy consumption will be minimized by embedding natural ventilation, passive cooling and heating, green and cool roofs, daylighting (to reduce electric lighting during the day), and rainwater harvesting on site. These new developments will also work to eliminate carbon emissions by taking into account the embodied energy in the materials used to build homes.18 While Gloucester struggles to house its workforce and diverse community, the towns of Rockport, Manchester, and Essex see a lack of rental units, multi-family options, and more affordable units as a reason that the municipalities have not diversified in terms of both socioeconomic and racial diversity. For example, Manchester is 72% owner-occupied with a lack of rental options.19 Thus, while there is a collective urgency to diversify the housing stock, there are a range of specific needs that need to be accommodated across the region. The scenario envisions the creation of new housing at multiple scales and levels of new development, including building tiny houses, adding on accessory units, and downsizing larger units. Scenario planning will require an in-depth analysis of zoning in the four municipalities to look for opportunities to accommodate a greater range of development types. These options will open up real estate for younger families, individuals who rely on proximity to public transport, and single elderly residents.20 The scenario expands on the idea of net zero housing for single-family residential homes and sites multi-family and larger developments of net zero properties on the Cape. In addition to passive heating and cooling strategies and integrated solar power, the proposal considers the opportunities and advantages of building integrated open spaces on these sites, including
17 Metropolitan Area Planning Council, Gloucester Housing Production Plan, May 2017 ; Barrett Planning Group LLC. for the Gloucester Community Development Department, City of Gloucester, Massachusetts Five-Year Consolidated Plan 2020-2024 and Program Year 2020 Annual Action Plan, June 2020. 18 “CGBC Headquarters: House Zero,” Harvard Center for Green Buildings, accessed July 28, 2020, https://harvardcgbc.org/research/housezero/. 19 Karen Sunnarborg for the Town of Manchester, Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea Housing Production Plan, September 2015. 20 Essex Housing Group, Housing in Essex: A Look at Essex’s Housing Story and Housing Needs, December 2018.; Metropolitan Area Planning Council for Town of Rockport Planning Board, Rockport Community Visioning: What Future Do We Want for our Community?, November 2017.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
shared yards, rain gardens, water treatment features, composting facilities, and small neighborhood parks.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
3. Adaptation: Armoring Infrastructure and Managed Retreat
Precedents:
MOSE Project Consorzio Venezia Nuova, the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport Venice, Italy, 2003–ongoing
• Rows of mobile gates installed at three locations to isolate the Venetian Lagoon in the event of flooding caused by high tides • Project uses compressed air to raise floodgate barriers and block the tide • Gates function independently of each other to allow for coordinated or individual protection
Moveable gates used to protect the Venetian Lagoon against high tides. Vencenzo Pinto. Venice tidal gates. 2012. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jun/16/inside-venice-bid-hold-back-tide-sea-level-rise
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Staten Island Buyouts United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Staten Island, NY, 2014
• The State of New York and the Department of Housing and Urban Development organized a voluntary buyout program after Hurricane Sandy to relocate residents whose properties were destroyed • Buyout properties were deconstructed, and the land left as open space in perpetuity
Still image from the film “Managed Retreat”. Nathan Kensinger. Home demolition in Oakwood Beach. 2015. Staten Island. www.insideclimatenews.org.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Objectives:
• Propose a multi-pronged approach for adapting coastal development to the threats of sea level rise and storm surge inundation • Site armored infrastructure at key areas along the coast to protect the Cape’s most critical infrastructure, buildings, and natural resources • Propose a strategy for Cape Ann’s government structures to buy out property from owners and engage in a process of unbuilding coastal development • Propose an adjusted high water mark around the perimeter of Cape Ann
Analysis:
• Identify Cape Ann’s most threatened coastal resources following the conclusion of Scenario 0 • Collect coastal armoring precedents, including multiple breakwaters, a tetrapod sea wall, and tidal gates • Collect a series of managed retreat precedents at a municipal scale • Analyze previous equitable strategies and policies for managed retreat • Assess sites and possible development for upland relocation of residents • Consult with experts to establish a timeline based on projected sea level rise, storm surge, and king tide flooding conditions • Consult with local stakeholders to determine a process and timeline for managed retreat strategies
Design Deliverables:
• 3 precedent studies including coastal adaptation and retreat examples • Territorial scale map showing hybrid approach of armoring and unbuilding • 4 municipal scale maps showing coastal armoring typologies • 3 maps at the scale of chosen strategies identifying land that would need to be remediated in addition to being unbuilt • 2 diagrams showing the structures that would need to be unbuilt and potential re-use strategies for materials, including residential and commercial materials and infrastructural components • 2 diagrams showing a recommended approach for multi-phase coastal managed retreat at two scales, including the unbuilding of structures and development of upland land: o Cape Ann territorial scale o Individual municipalities with a focus on downtowns • 1 diagram explaining policy and community approach to a managed retreat strategy
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
• 3 drawings rendering recommending armoring infrastructure and visualizing unbuilt lands
This scenario evaluates the potential of a hybrid approach to adapting coastal development on Cape Ann, combining strategies of both protection and managed retreat. First, the case study envisions the effects of armoring Cape Ann’s coast, protecting waterfronts and infrastructure threatened by sea level rise and inundation in both the short and long term. In armoring the coast, there is potential to build hard infrastructure: either a tetrapod wall that lines the perimeter of Cape Ann and attenuates wave energy or a seawall with moving gates that shift to reflect the tide. The study sites a wall, projects its dimension, and assesses its viability in a single or multiple municipalities. An array of precedents from across the globe are used to evaluate the potential consequences of further armoring Cape Ann. While hard infrastructure options are being deployed around the world, there is a sensitivity to the comparatively faster-rising waters of Massachusetts, where gates that prevent significant storm surges or fluctuations in tides may be overwhelmed due to sea level rise. The potentials of sea level rise overwhelming this hard infrastructure development will be evaluated. As a secondary adaptive measure, the scenario imagines a managed retreat scenario that builds on existing efforts across the country and highlights the partnerships that Cape Ann might engage to pursue managed retreat, from informal networks to regional institutions. Massachusetts State Law requires the intertidal zone to be a shared resource for fishing, fowling, and navigational usage, but development has restricted viewsheds and access to the water across each municipality in Cape Ann.21 This scenario projects the FEMA 100-year estimated high water mark across each of the four municipalities and converts these most threatened coastal buildings into dynamically biodiverse public spaces.22 This living shoreline is rendered as a new setting for recreation, local shellfish economies, and leisure with increased accessibility to water. The scenario removes critical infrastructure and property from the threat of coastal flooding while building out living and armored infrastructure that buffers some critical inland development. This hybrid approach relies on the expansion of Cape Ann’s municipal government or organization to purchase threatened coastal land and buildings and engage in a staged process of managed retreat and/or unbuilding, ultimately returning land to the ocean in perpetuity.
21 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Regulations Chapter 91 1866. 22 FEMA. FEMA Flood Map Service Center. https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home; “Massachusetts Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Viewer,” Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, accessed August 10, 2020.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Mitigation Case Studies
1.1. A Solar-Powered Cape
Precedents: Connected City (Oberbillwerder), Karres en Brandes, ADEPT, Transsolar, Buro Happold and Kraft, Hamburg, Germany, 2018–2019
King Community Solar Project, State of Rhode Island, TurningPoint Energy, Nautilus Solar Energy, North Smithfield, Rhode Island, 2019- ongoing
Rendering of a self-sustaining city integrating public space, mobility, and water systems. Karrens en Brands. The Connected City. https://www.karresenbrands.com/project /the-connected-city.
Objectives:
• Quantifies the amount of land that is not currently protected by a conservation organization • Outfits all unprotected land, large developed parking lots and buildings with solar panels • Estimates the amount of energy that could be generated on available land area
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
• Evaluates the potential for PV power on top of existing buildings
Cape Ann relies on electricity provided by Massachusetts Electric, doing business as National Grid. While none of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’s electricity comes from coal- powered plants, roughly 2/3 of its power generation comes from natural gas, which offers an opportunity to disrupt the electricity market by switching to sources of renewable energy. Cape Ann has the potential to be an example across the state as a producer of solar-powered electricity. This case study prioritizes the existing work done by conservation organizations across Cape Ann to protect the landscape and ecosystem services provided by the unique geography, while also acknowledging the possibility for Cape Ann to actively produce its own power supply beyond demonstrative fixtures. While Gloucester has developed wind turbines as a demonstration of a possible future with green energy, and has created a community electricity aggregation program offering green energy options for residents, solar power has not been fully explored across Cape Ann.23 This case study will project the maximum amount of solar energy that could be produced on parcels that are not currently conserved, as well as opportunities on underutilized open space including degraded lands, to decrease Cape Ann’s dependency on external sources of energy production to create a more resilient Cape. Additionally, the potential of PV panels located on top of existing buildings and parking lots, both private and municipal, will be analyzed. This case emphasizes strategies that cross municipal boundaries and would allow the region to react to climate pressures, taking a proactive vision towards regional issues.
23 “Gloucester Community Electricity Aggregation,” accessed September 28, 2020, https://gloucester-cea.com/. ; The City of Gloucester, “Clean Energy Commission,” accessed September 28, 2020 https://gloucester- ma.gov/130/Clean-Energy-Commission.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
1.2. Regional Forestry Network
Precedents: Changes to the Land, Harvard Forest and Smithsonian Institute, Massachusetts, 2014
Sletten Forest Landscape Laboratory, Holstebro Municipality, Danish Centre on Forest, Landscape and Planning and the Department of landscape planning, SLU Alnarp, Holstebro, Denmark, 1999-2004
Experimental forest management integrated with small residential villages in Holstebro, Denmark. 2020. Google Earth.
Objectives:
• Creates protocols for a reforestation campaign across Cape Ann modeled off the Harvard Forest “Forests as Infrastructure” scenario • Evaluates innovative forestry management and novel conservation practices that prioritize active management including clearing, fire management, and re-wilding • Evaluates threats to Cape Ann’s woodland areas from climate change • Assesses local historical resources and identifies opportunities for historical preservation
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
The conservation landscape across Cape Ann includes a robust number of NGOs and municipal groups working to protect open space. The forestry case study seeks to preserve this commitment to open space while increasing carbon sequestration and ensuring the ongoing enrichment of biodiversity across Cape Ann. Currently the townships manage their tree cover through a variety of public departments and local organizations, Gloucester has expressed the need for a reinstitution of tree wardens and a forestry department, and Manchester-by-the-Sea is working to create a forest stewardship plan.24 This case proposes a regional tree and forestry program. As elaborated in Harvard Forest’s “Changes to the Land,”—a planning report on land- use scenarios in Massachusetts—climate change will dramatically alter the emblematic temperate forest of New England.25 “Changes to the Land” identifies four possibilities: recent trends, opportunistic growth, regional self-reliance, and forests as infrastructure. The “forests as infrastructure” case maximizes forest conservation, limits development, and proposes timber harvesting and other techniques as a forestry practice. The study will include an assessment of the most vulnerable species and the climate- induced effects—such as insect infestations and drought—that have impacted forested lands on Cape Ann.26 The survey will identify the changing species palette that will migrate northward to Cape Ann, as well as the species whose ranges will contract and therefore should not be planted. Applying innovative forestry techniques and management practices, including fire management, the case supplements existing programs in each municipality’s Department of Public Works. Active harvest and clearing promotes cycles of succession and growth in a rich mosaic of spaces across the Cape’s interior. The historical and cultural values of spaces such as Dogtown Woods and Ravenswood Park offer an opportunity for publicly accessible landscapes that resonate meaningfully with Cape Ann’s residents. The case study identifies relevant preservation strategies and elaborates on existing trail networks and public access programming.
24 Metropolitan Area Planning Council and the City of Gloucester, Gloucester Community Resilience Workshop Summary of Findings, June 2018; Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea. Grant Applications and Awards, Forest Stewardship Plan, accessed September 29, 2020. http://manchester.ma.us/702/Grant-Applications-Awards. 25 Jonathan Thompson, et al., Changes to the Land: Four Scenarios for the Future of the Massachusetts Landscape (Petersham, MA: Harvard Forest, Harvard University and Smithsonian Institute, 2014). 26 Lawrence Neal, et al., Open Space and Recreation Plan Town of Rockport, October 2019.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
1.3. Reducing Car-Dependence
Precedents: Transmilenio and Bikeways, City of Bogota, Bogota, Colombia, 1990– ongoing
Vineyard Transit Authority Electric Buses, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, 2002-ongoing
Bike routes in Bogota. Enrique Peñalosa. 2018. Bogota, Colombia. Twitter.com
Objectives:
• Improves accessibility and access to locally owned and operated rail and bus routes through sidewalk, street, and downtown planning • Builds additional intra-town shuttles that incentivize transit-oriented downtowns • Connects Essex to existing Cape Ann public transportation routes
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Cape Ann residents note the Commuter Rail system as a strength of their community, yet local public transit and the condition of its downtown communities discourage walking, biking, and bus use. The regional Newburyport/Rockport line provides commuter service to Manchester, West Gloucester, Gloucester, and Rockport, and also brings employees and tourists to the region, as the majority of Cape Ann’s tourists come from the New England and mid-Atlantic region. However, these existing systems fail to provide public transportation to Essex, making it more difficult to attract regional commuters and others who may be reliant on public transit in lieu of personal vehicles. This case study addresses pedestrian, bike, and traffic infrastructure that radiates from downtowns while also connecting open spaces in a series of Cape Ann walking trails that connect rail stations. The case imagines new walkable communities as part of a managed retreat and upland development agenda that shifts focus away from low-lying highways toward elevated rail and bus routes, building on existing initiatives for intra-town shuttles and transit- oriented downtowns already being discussed in Gloucester and Rockport.27
27 MAPC and the City of Gloucester, Reimagining Railroad: Strengthening Connections Downtown, September 2014; MAPC for the Rockport Planning Board, Rockport Community Visioning: What Future Do We Want for our Community?, November 2017; MAPC and the Town of Rockport, Rockport Station Area Transit-Oriented Village Plan, Fall 2018.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
1.4. Hydrogen Production and Carbon Capture
Precedents: Centralized Renewable Hydrogen Production Plant, British Columbia, Canada, ITM Power, 2018-ongoing Objectives:
• Assesses the renewable energy needs to power a hydrogen plant • Sites a hydrogen plant in Gloucester’s port • Assesses the capability of the existing port to support the increased demands of a renewable energy source
Hydrogen has the potential to support clean energy transitions from fossil fuels and decarbonize commercial and industrial sectors. The current challenges of producing hydrogen are based around the cost of developing hydrogen from clean electricity sources. As hydrogen production is deregulated while renewable energy sources fall in cost, Cape Ann has the opportunity to become a leader in hydrogen production in New England and take advantage of its position as an industrial port with existing industrial capacity. This study assesses the feasibility of establishing a hydrogen production plant within the port of Gloucester and the necessary renewable energy capabilities to successfully produce hydrogen for commercial and industrial applications. The study evaluates the footprint of a production plant—and the capability of the port—to support the increased traffic and transport demands of a hydrogen plant. To be feasible, a hydrogen plant requires a significant amount of energy from renewable sources to avoid increased dependence on coal and natural gas. The projection of the amount of renewable energy production possible on Cape Ann developed in the Solar Powered Cape study is used to benchmark the potential for hydrogen development.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Resilience Case Studies
2.1. Shifting Wetlands
Precedents: Seal Beach Salt Marsh Sediment Augmentation Project, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Seal Beach, CA, 2014
Blackwater 2100, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Audubon, The Conservation Fund, Maryland DNR, and the U.S. Geological Survey Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Cambridge, Maryland, 2013ongoing
Salt marsh restoration project in Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Camilla Cerea. 2017. Audubon Society. https://www.audubon.org/news/the-ambitious-plan-save-chesapeake-bays-shrinking-saltmarshes.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Objectives:
• Identifies the potential for the movement of critical wetland habitats across the Cape including barrier beaches, salt marshes, tidal creeks, and forested wetlands • Stops development along wetland edges • Presents strategies for obtaining land to convert to a hybrid of new land-use including recreation, conservation, shell-fishing and other intertidal economies
The human population of the Cape relies on the ecosystem services provided by the Great Marsh, which comprises 22% of Essex’s footprint. While Crane Beach protects Essex from the direct wave energy of the Atlantic Ocean, its land mass is eroding rapidly. In addition, shell fishing lands—including important clamming areas in Essex—are vulnerable to SLR erosion and warming waters. Similarly, along the Annisquam River, particularly in West Gloucester, sea level rise will impact the health and presence of marsh ecosystems, as high marsh is converted to low marsh, upland areas are converted to marsh, and barrier beaches disappear. It has been projected that by 2070 Gloucester’s high marsh will be totally lost. There is a concern about a lack of upland areas for marsh migration due to the abrupt changes in elevation inland.28 This case will identify key areas that are suitable to host the migration of marshlands, sandy beaches, and forested wetlands threatened by climate change. Catalyzing on regional sediment deposition studies, and research conducted by local land trust organizations, the study will deploy a range of ecosystems restoration and development techniques at critical junctures that can protect and provide for human communities including eel grass restoration and amending mosquito ditches in salt marshes.29 Further, the study proposes the acquisition of lands that may foster novel natural communities through strategic regional planning. The study will present a spectrum of land-use options for these newly acquired lands, ranging from conservation of critical species that excludes most human use to supporting and revitalizing local shell fishing economies.
28 Kleinfelder, 2015. 29 Gregg E. Moore, et al., Effects of a Natural Sediment Event on Salt Marsh Resiliency: Assessing Potential Marsh Management Implications in Massachusetts, 2019.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
2.2. Sustaining Farms and Fisheries
Precedents: California Central Coast Groundfish Project, The Nature Conservancy and California fishing communities, 2005-ongoing
Marin Carbon Project, Marin Carbon Project, Marin County, CA, 2013– ongoing
Planeses Life-Polyfarming Project, La Garrotxa, Catalonia, Spain, ongoing
California Groundfish Collective fishing boat in Fort Bragg. Corey Arnold. 2019. The Nature Conservancy. https://www.nature.org/en-us/newsroom/groundfish-comeback-closes-unprecedented-collaboration/
Objectives:
• Prioritize sustainable fishing operations, agritourism, and food processing at the working waterfront • Introduces small-scale farms in selected regional open spaces • Imagines the development of aquaculture facilities along the coast • Develops opportunities for diversified ocean-to-table and farm-to-table economies
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
This proposal enhances regional development of sustainable food production from the Cape’s open waters to its working harbors to its small upland farms. Regional identity on Cape Ann is strongly tied to the local seafood economy. However, 90% of seafood consumed in Massachusetts is imported from global sources. 30 Foreign imports, limited consumer preferences, and federal regulations have caused a recent decline in fish landings and value in the state.31 Despite these setbacks, an interest in locally-harvested and -produced food has grown in the last decade around initiatives such as the Community Supported Fishery co-op, the Cape Ann Farmer’s Market, the Gloucester Marine research station at Hodgkin’s Cove and local community gardens. The case study takes into consideration the shift of species moving north in the Atlantic’s warming waters and plans for the port and upland facilities necessary to support a robust local fishing economy. Working with local fishing expertise and collaborators at the state and local levels, the study coalesces knowledge around new land-use planning strategies for the harbor that shift its priorities towards a sustainable fishing economy. A thorough assessment of failing and climate-threatened sites and resources and a visualization of key opportunities for development will be critical to the study. Public seafood markets, aquaculture farms that support habitat creation, and downtown development that thoughtfully addresses the region’s fishing history, are among the initiatives suggested by a recent UMass Amherst study addressing the greater Commonwealth’s fishing economy.32 This study would site and develop plans for such spaces, infrastructures, and initiatives, inviting collaboration between a range of fishing and fishing-adjacent actors as part of a sustainable fishing operation. The agricultural component of the study will assess the extent to which Cape Ann’s open spaces could be turned into regenerative agricultural land that grows perennial crops, with orchards and annual harvests for regional residents, and how a food corridor could be established to create a farm-to-downtown pipeline that provides access to affordable healthy foods for residents in all communities. Regenerative agriculture is a form of sustainable agriculture that works to build soil diversity, thereby drawing carbon into the earth and capturing water resources. Cape Ann’s vast open spaces have the potential to provide a significant contribution to food supply on the Cape. The study projects the carbon and ecosystem impacts of small historical farms adopting sustainable agricultural techniques, boosting crop diversity, and creating a year-round farmer’s market economy. This robust food and fish network would provide additional resilient economic opportunities for Cape Ann, including the agritourism opportunities currently taken advantage of by Martha’s Vineyard and various European communities, and draws on the strong local identity of its fishing community.
30 MAPC, et al., Massachusetts Local Food Action Plan, December 2015. 31 Urban Harbors Institute and the University of Massachusetts Boston, Building the Massachusetts Seafood System, December 2017. 32 Urban Harbors Institute and UMass Boston, 2017.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
2.3. Sustaining Public Beaches
Precedents: North Cove Dynamic Revetment Project, Willapa Erosion Control Alliance Now, Pacific County, Oregon State University, North Cove, Washington
Eden Beach, Alameda County, CA, SCAPE, ongoing
Using cobblestones to stabilize an eroding beach. Paul Bayle. Dynamic Revetment on the beach in North Cove. 2019. North Cove, WA. https://blogs.bath.ac.uk/water/2019/02/11/field-experiment-trip-dynamic-revetment-in- north-cove-washington-state-usa/.
Objectives:
• Identifies publicly accessible beaches most threatened by sea level rise and increased beach erosion across Cape Ann • Re-routes roadways where they prevent beaches from migrating inland to open space • Stabilizes public beaches with sand alternatives including rocky substrates • Redesigns key public access points along the coast for greater accessibility and to accommodate seasonal flooding
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Cape Ann’s sandy beaches, used primarily for recreation and viewsheds, are eroding while simultaneously being squeezed against coastal development. This proposal seeks to apply regional management to the migration and adaptation of Cape Ann’s sandy public access beaches. Sandy beaches across Cape Ann have previously been supplemented through a process called beach nourishment, in which beaches are replenished with sediment that has been lost due to longshore drift or erosion, usually at the beginning of the summer season. Cressy Beach in Historic Stage Fort Park has been re-nourished previously, and Long Beach in Rockport was nourished in 2019.33 In the case of Essex, Crane Beach in neighboring Ipswich provides a storm surge barrier to the town of Essex’s bay and thus should be considered as a crucial natural resource to Cape Ann. Beach re-nourishment remains controversial, as the process often requires removing sand or sediment from one location and moving the excavated material to a different location, reducing the resiliency of the geography of extraction.34 As an alternative to dredging, this case offers beach stabilization and consolidation as an approach to maintaining public waterfront access. Historically, beaches across the Cape—such as Singing Beach in Manchester, Half Moon Beach, Good Harbor, and Long Beach—are vital to seasonal tourism economies, though in 2018 Singing Beach was only half the size as its previous summer after a series of winter storms.35 This study assesses the viability of expanding and migrating these access points upland to provide continued water access, while proposing shoreline stabilization interventions that are sensitive to local ecologies. The study takes a comprehensive view of the Cape’s beach resources by imagining that beaches are surrendered and converted to recreational boating and diving access points where they are deemed costly or difficult to maintain as sandy stretches, while resources are shifted to transform other beach sites to maintain consistent and increased levels of tourist traffic. The study projects the conversion of sandy beach to rocky substrate that can form a stronger barrier against storm events, as well as hard infrastructure options. Further, key public landings are redesigned to accommodate temporary periods of flooding.
33 City of Gloucester Community Preservation Committee, Cressy Beach in Historic Stage Fort Park, 2013; Neal, Open Space and Recreation Plan Town of Rockport, 2019. 34 For example, the community of Chilmark, MA rejected a proposed sand mining operation for beach nourishment at Oak Bluffs, due to the potential impact on summer flounder fisheries. Edie Prescott, “Chilmark Selectmen Reject Sand Mining in Vineyard Sound,” The Martha’s Vineyard Times (blog), November 12, 2014. 35 Mike Manzoni, “Popular North Shore Beach Disappearing Due to Coastal Erosion,” NBC Boston, June 29, 2018.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
2.4. Coastal Building Evaluation
Precedents: Charles River Natural Valley Storage Area, United States Army Corps of Engineers, 1972–ongoing
Protected lands providing natural flood control for the Charles River. Parker Harrington. Charles River Natural Valley Storage Area. 2014. Millis, MA. Wikimedia Commons.
Several of the businesses and homes around Cape Ann have been built on sandy beaches, existing creeks or wetland areas, including a Stop and Shop that residents rely on. As environmental regulations have increased over the past half century, new construction in wetland areas has decreased, but existing construction in these sensitive zones have been subjected to frequent flooding. This study looks specifically at construction in these areas, and evaluates the process of immediate unbuilding, including infrastructural rerouting, material demolition, and the relocation of these businesses and residences built in areas that are further regulated today. The Wetlands Protection Act not only protects wetlands, but also land subject to flooding in 100-year-floodplains and riverfront areas, as well as land under water bodies, waterways, salt ponds, fish runs and the ocean.36 Finally, the study proposes to run a reverse Notice of Intent (NOI) process in which current buildings are audited to determine if they are
36 Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 131, Section 40.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
built in a wetland or a 100-year floodplain, and the municipalities will work with land owners within the area to begin a process of unbuilding.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Adaptation Case Studies
3.1. Grey to Green Infrastructure
Precedents: Dune Co-habitat, SCAPE, FAR ROC International Design Competition Queens, NY, 2013
Oro Loma Horizontal Levee, The Bay Institute and Oro Loma Sanitary District, 2017
Wastewater treatment filtration landscape that doubles as a buffer against sea-level rise. Jack Hogan. Oro Loma Horizontal Levee. 2018. San Francisco, CA. thenewhumanitarian.org.
Objectives:
• Studies the effects of Cape Ann’s breakwaters on wave action around the perimeter of Cape Ann • Proposes additions and amendments to the breakwaters • Assesses the condition of seawalls and proposes living coastlines in place of declining hard or grey infrastructure • Evaluates the suitability of soft coastal infrastructure to address a diversity of coastal conditions including rocky shores and sandy beaches
This case study evaluates the coastal dynamics around the seawalls and breakwaters of Cape Ann, including Dogbar, the breakwater that protects Gloucester’s Inner Harbor. These human- built, rigid structures often referred to as “grey” infrastructure are a defining feature of the Cape Ann landscape, and were built from the quarries along the Cape. Studies from around the
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
globe have evaluated the erosion that hardened infrastructure can cause along the coast beyond its physical location. The breakwaters, aging seawalls, and other hard revetments along the coast will not continue to protect their harbors as conditions evolve, providing an opportunity for the addition of soft coastal infrastructure. The study will include a proposal to manipulate and repurpose materials from the breakwaters to further decrease wave action. The study imagines several types of harbor structures that are uniquely adapted to the diverse structure of Cape Ann’s rocky and sandy coastlines. The viability of self-generating dunes, back dune systems, submerged aquatic vegetation, and mudflat augmentation that strengthens the bay of Essex and the Annisquam estuary against hurricane events is assessed in this study. On the Cape’s granitic edge, the addition of artificial tidal pools and textured amendments will be projected with respect to the nature of this harder coastline. Where seawalls now protect coastal development and beaches, unbuilding and restoring natural systems are proposed as protective systems. Oysters have been evaluated for their viability in the warming waters off of Essex, and the study envisions oyster habitat as an option of a living breakwater.37 There is an opportunity across all of these types for variegated infrastructure that provides a habitat for benthic and wetland species.
37 Jonathan Grabowski, et al., Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program Fiscal Year 18 MVP Action Grant – RFR ENV 18 POL 03 (Boston, MA: Northeastern University and DeRosa Environmental Consulting, 2019).
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
3.2. Adapting to a Warming Climate
Precedents: Beaufort Sea Project for Climate Change, Canada, Arctic Institute of North America, Inuvialuit organizations, 2002-ongoing
Warming Soils Project, Harvard Forest, Petersham, MA, 2000- ongoing
Warming test plots in the Harvard Forest. Audrey Barker-Plotkin. Harvard Forest. 2016. https://www.wesa.fm /post/carbon- released-warming-soil-will-accelerate-climate-disruption-according-long-term-study.
Objectives:
• Provides an in-depth analysis and visualization of the effects of warming temperatures on Cape Ann’s natural resources and infrastructural systems • Projects the risks of drought, fire, and flooding conditions on Cape Ann’s upland areas to plan for changing weather patterns • Proposes infrastructure that mitigates the impact of drought on the Cape’s water supply • Creates a species list of flora and fauna likely to thrive in the changing environmental conditions upland and off the coast • Plans for the threat of biodiversity loss by connecting conserved open spaces
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
While Cape Ann’s coastal condition has drawn the focus of climate change planning to sea level rise and storm events, there are significant threats posed to the region as a result of warming global temperatures and their associated effects. This case study takes a holistic approach to adaptation by looking at a range of issues affected by the discrete environmental factors of warming temperatures and changing precipitation patterns. The embedded water supply of Cape Ann is currently relatively stable, but with increasing drought conditions, as well as increased usage, the resilience of local watersheds and reservoirs will become vulnerable to fire, erosion, insect appearance, and drought conditions.38 The case study proposes that the Cape adapt by proactively investing in alternative watershed infrastructure. The extensive network of biodiverse conserved spaces on Cape Ann is likely to shift due to warming temperatures. The communities of flora and fauna, including those that depend on delicately timed environmental conditions such as amphibians that depend on vernal pools, may rapidly disappear. As the human populations on the Cape are invested deeply in the image of its natural landscapes, and depend heavily on its natural resources, the region should adapt by promoting drought- and heat-tolerant species and by building structural diversity of its plant communities. The study will provide a list of species likely to thrive in the shifting conditions, and landscape management techniques that can promote biodiversity in the longer term.
38 Kleinfelder, 2019.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
3.3. Adapting Gloucester’s Port Infrastructure
Precedents: Sunset Park GRID (Green Resilient Industrial District), New York City, USA, Collective for Community Culture and Environment, 2019–ongoing
Surrey Coastal Flood Adaptation Plan, Surrey City Government, Surrey, Canada, 2019
Rendering for a cooperatively owned community rooftop solar garden in Sunset Park, New York. New York City Economic Development Corporation. 2018. https://brooklynreporter.com/2018/04/sunset-park- receive-community-rooftop-solar-garden/.
Objectives:
• Adapts Gloucester’s Designated Port Designation (DPA) to accommodate a diversity of industrial, water-dependent, and recreational uses that support community-driven development • Evaluates critical port resources against projected sea level rise and storm surge
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
• Adapts aging and threatened infrastructure that serves current and emerging marine and marine-adjacent sectors
This study adapts port infrastructure and spatial planning to reflect the current workforce, its users, and community desires, allowing residents to benefit from a working harbor in the face of coastal climate threats and aging systems. Gloucester’s Inner Harbor is one of ten designated port areas within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.39 While the Designated Port Area boundary was reviewed and revised in 2014 to improve the port’s viability, this study will further project how zoning laws can better align with the adaptation of the port to support a diversity of marine sector economies.40 Critical port infrastructure is at risk of failing due to age, insufficient maintenance, lack of investment, and the impacts of large storms. This study highlights the need for updating, protecting, and elevating these facilities and infrastructure to support current economic sectors, in lieu of investment in high-tech and other new economies. The study envisions the physical and institutional framework required to support the fishing community (including locally landed fishing, imported fish processing, lobstering, agritourism, and alternative harvests) by revitalizing its aging infrastructure and adapting to current climate conditions.41 Additionally, the study considers a spatial re-organization of the port that will balance industrial with recreational uses of the waterfront with a consideration of viewsheds, aesthetic value, and essential historical elements that residents identify as unique and essential to the city’s cultural identity. The Designated Port Area is currently clustered around the inner harbor. However, this study imagines the spatial possibility of reorganizing the port to prioritize water- dependent uses clustered with upland non-water-dependent uses, while taking into account sea level rise and storm surge, which could require the elevation, armoring, or relocation of port structures.
39 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Regulations Chapter 91 301 CMR 25.00. 40 Office of Coastal Zone Management, Designation Decision for the Gloucester Inner Harbor Designated Port Area, April 2014. 41 The City of Gloucester, Groundfish Port Recovery and Revitalization Plan, April 2014.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
3.4. Building Artificial Reefs
Precedents: Living Seawalls, Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Reef Design Lab, Sawmillers Reserve, Australia
Redbird Reef, New York City Transit Authority, Delaware, United States, 2007
Living Seawalls Project at Sawmillers Reserve. Sydney Institute of Marine Science and Reef Design Lab. https://www.reefdesignlab.com/living-seawalls.
Objectives: • Sites a series of artificial reefs across Cape Ann • Evaluates marine flora and fauna to establish unique marine ecosystems to support fishing and recreation opportunities
Reefs break waves and reduce the wave energy that affects shorelines in the event of major storms across the world. While most commonly found in tropical oceans with high surface temperatures that support tropical coral reefs, Arctic reefs have been discovered to exist in frigid ocean temperatures. Artificial reefs have been deployed across the globe as an alternative to beach re-nourishment, as well as to improve local surfing conditions, creating a new form of
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
recreation that builds on the existing waves in Cape Ann (currently limited to Good Harbor Beach). This case proposes an artificial underground reef around the perimeter of Cape Ann to attenuate wave energy without disrupting viewsheds as a seawall or breakwater would. The underwater reefs, composed of concrete tetrapods or other materials, reduce the amount of wave energy that reaches the shores of Cape Ann, and, as a modular system, can be deployed around the perimeter of the Cape. In addition to the deployment of physical infrastructure, this study also studies the appropriate marine flora and fauna associated with an artificial research system to understand the unique habitats and ecosystems that could be created to support Cape Ann’s fishing and recreational tourism industries.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
APPENDIX
References
Beagle, Julie, Jeremy Lowe, Katie MckNight, and Sam Safran. San Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas: Working with Nature to Plan for Sea Level Rise Using Operational Units. Richmond, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute, 2019. https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/biblio_files/SFEI%20SF%20Bay%20Shoreline%2 0Adaptation%20Atlas%20April%202019_lowres_0.pdf Bruges, James. The Biochar Debate: Charcoal’s potential to reverse climate change and build soil fertility. Devon, UK: Green Books, 2009. Del Tredici, Peter and Michael Luegering. “A Cosmopolitan Urban Meadow for the Northeast.” Harvard Design Magazine, no. 37 (Winter 2014). http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/37/a-cosmopolitan-urban-meadow-for- the-northeast. Elkin, Rosetta S. and Jesse M. Keenan. “Retreat or Rebuild: Exploring Geographic Retreat in Humanitarian Practices in Coastal Communities.” In Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies for Coastal Communities, edited by W. Leal Filho. New York: Springer International Publishing, 2018. Frankic, Anamarija. Sustainable Cape Cod: New Tools and Practices for Clean Water and Community Benefit. Sustainable Cape Cod Conference. Hyannis, MA. October 22, 2012. IEA. The Future of hydrogen. IEA: Paris, 2019. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future- of-hydrogen Cooper, Emma. “A Potential Move, Enhanced Facility on the Town Meeting Docket for Black Earth Compost.” The Cricket, May 14, 2020. https://www.thecricket.com/news/a- potential-move-enhanced-facility-on-the-town-meeting-docket-for-black-earth- compost/article_5c8f604e-0637-11ea-9049-ffc4c0665285.html. Gardner, Jim. “Letter: Help decide Rockport’s waste disposal future.” Gloucester Daily Times, February 25, 2018. https://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/ letter-help-decide-rockports-waste-disposal-future/article_d9b5e142-9c56-55f8-b6de- a7557059ded0.html “Gloucester Community Electricity Aggregation.” Accessed September 28, 2020. https://gloucester-cea.com/. Harvard Center for Green Buildings. “CGBC Headquarters: House Zero.” Accessed July 28, 2020. https://harvardcgbc.org/research/housezero/. Kennan, Jesse M.. “Types and forms of resilience in local planning in the U.S. Who does what?” Environmental Science and Policy 88 (2018): 116-123. Keenan, Jesse M., David A. King and Derek Willis. “Understanding Conceptual Climate Change Meanings and Preferences of Multi-Actor Professional Leadership in New York.” Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning 18, no. 3 (2015): 261-285.
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
Koslov, Liz. “The Case for Retreat.” Public Culture 28, no. 2 (2016): 359-387. Manzoni, Mike. “Popular North Shore Beach Disappearing Due to Coastal Erosion.” NBC Boston, June 29, 2018. https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/manchester-by-the-sea- singing-beach-coastal-erosion/1946277/. Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management. “Massachusetts Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Viewer.” Accessed August 10, 2020. https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast /tools/slr.html Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management. “The Worst Massachusetts Hurricanes of the 20th Century.” Accessed August 10, 2020. https://www.mass.gov/service- details/the-worst-massachusetts-hurricanes-of-the-20th-century Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Draft of Resilient Lands Initiative: Expanding Nature Across The Commonwealth to Help People. July 2020. Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program – Municipal Designation Status. 2020. https://eea-nescaum- dataservices-assets-prd.s3.us-east 1.amazonaws.com/resources/production /Master%20List%20of%20MVP%20Municipal%20Status%202-7-2020.pdf National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA Coastal Ecosystem Resilience Grants Washington, D.C.: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/funding/coastalresiliency.html Oyler, James and Genifuel Corporation. “Commercializing Hydrothermal Processing.” Advances in Water Research 29, no. 3 (2019). http://www.advancesinwaterresearch.org/awr/20190709/MobilePagedArticle.action?ar ticleId=1520904#articleId1520904 Prescott, Edie Prescott. “Chilmark Selectmen Reject Sand Mining in Vineyard Sound.” The Martha’s Vineyard Times (blog), November 12, 2014. https://www.mvtimes.com/2014/11/12/chilmark-selectmen-reject-sand-mining- vineyard-sound/. Project Drawdown. “Waste-to-Energy,” Accessed August 15, 2020. https://drawdown.org/solutions/waste-to-energy. Seiple, Timothy E., Richard L. Skaggs, Lauren Fillmore, Andre M. Coleman. “Municipal wastewater sludge as a renewable cost-effective feedstock for transportation biofuels using hydrothermal liquefaction.” Journal of Environmental Management 270, no. c (2020): 110852. Schrass, Karl. Climate Change: Predictions, Impacts, and Responses. Presentation for Essex Planning Public Workshop Meeting. National Wildlife Federation. https://www.essexma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4406/f/uploads/planning_public_worksho p_meeting.pdf Shi, Linda. “The fiscal challenges of climate change Boston Globe: Fiscal Challenges of Climate Change: municipalities depend on the revenue of coastal development. That has to
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
change.” Boston Globe, March 5, 2020. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/05/opinion/fiscal-challenges-climate-change/ Decentralized Water Resources Collaborative. Integration: A New Framework and Strategy for Water Management in Towns and Cities. July 2010. https://decentralizedwater.waterrf.org/documents/DEC1R10/IntegrationMeeting SummaryReport.pdf Thompson, Jonathan, Kathy Fallon Lambert, David Foster, Meghan Blumstein, Eben Broadbent, and Angelica Almeyda Zambrano. Changes to the Land: Four Scenarios for the Future of the Massachusetts Landscape. Petersham, MA: Harvard Forest, Harvard University and Smithsonian Institute, 2014. https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/changes-to-the- land#Authors. United States Economic Development Administration. “EDA Disaster Recovery and Resilience.” https://www.eda.gov/disaster-recovery/ United States Environmental Protection Agency. An Inventory of EPA’s Tools for Enhancing Community Resilience to Disasters. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA, 2016. https://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_record_report.cfm?dirEntryId=311248 United States Environmental Protection Agency. Climate Change: Resilience and Adaptation in New England (RAINE) Database. Accessed July 13, 2020. https://www.epa.gov/raine United States Global Change Research Program. “Glossary.” Accessed July 24, 2020. https://www.globalchange.gov/climate-change/glossary U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. “Exploring Adaptation Options for Water Infrastructure at Sea Level.” Last modified January 17, 2017. https://toolkit.climate.gov/case-studies/exploring-adaptation-options-water- infrastructure-sea-level Vale, Lawrence J. "The politics of resilient cities: whose resilience and whose city?" Building Research and Information 42, no. 2 (2014): 191-201. Woetzel, Jonathan, Dickon Pinner, Hamid Samandari, Hauke Engel, Mekala Krishnan, Brodie Bolan, Peter Cooper, and Byron Ruby. “Will infrastructure bend or break under climate stress?” McKinsey Global Institute. June 2020. https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/sustainability/ou r%20insights/will%20infrastructure%20bend%20or%20break%20under%20climate%20s tress/will-infrastructure-bend-or-break-under-climate-stress-case-study-old.pdf
Relevant Research and Coursework
Gloucester, Massachusetts Alternative Futures, GSD and NPS 1992 https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/484770 (p. 108)
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020
The Future of Provincetown https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/course/the-future-provincetown-1-fall-2018/
Re-imagining Cape Cod’s Hatch Cottage in Film https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/2012/04/re-imagining-cape-cod-s-hatch-cottage-in-film/
Coastal Retreat: Staging Inundation in Provincetown https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/coastal-retreat-staging-inundation-in-provincetown/
Airborne (Re-designed Easement network in Cape Cod) https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/airborne/
MIT Sea Grant (collaboration with NOAA; projects with Gloucester’s fishing communities) https://seagrant.mit.edu/people/
CONFIDENTIAL NOTES_30 September 2020