Grants allow towns to address areas vulnerable to climate changeDate: 9/13/2023 The Healey-Driscoll administration recently awarded a total of $31.5 million to cities and towns through the state’s Municipal Vulnerability Program.
“The MVP program is one of our critical tools to partner with communities and build resiliency,” said Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll in a press release. “We’re grateful to this year’s recipients for their hard work to mitigate the impacts of climate change.”
The MVP grant program supports municipalities as they identify and mediate areas in which they may be susceptible to the effects of climate change. This may include protecting environmental justice communities, improving public health, climate resilience-focused regulatory updates and nature-based solutions to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat and flooding.
Multiple towns have identified areas that are susceptible to flooding due to the interplay between increasing storm severity and development that has led to erosion and long-term waterway degradation.
Problem areas
Wilbraham is focusing its efforts on the town’s culverts, many of which can be damaged or fail during severe storm events. “It seems like every couple of years there’s a storm,” that leads to flooding, said DPW Director Tonya Capparello.
Two years ago, Hampden and East Longmeadow jointly received a Municipal Vulnerability Program Planning Grant to “look at climate vulnerability in different parts of town,” said Hampden Town Manager Bob Markel. In Hampden, the result of that assessment identified issues at East Brook and Big Brook, over which there is a bridge on East Main Street.
There has been “significant flooding” there and Markel said the culvert may not be sufficient to handle the volume of water that passes under the bridge.
“When you build houses adjacent to a stream, water can’t go into the ground,” Markel explained. Instead, stormwater flows into the brooks, increasing the volume of water flowing through them, leading to erosion of the banks.
Longmeadow has seen similar issues with Cooley Brook. Assistant Town Manager Corrin Meise-Munns said that the issues are largely due to development. “The way we use the land impacts the water cycle and where the water goes,” she said. Meise-Munns also said there is pollution in the water from nearby vehicles where Cooley Brook runs under streets.
The Cooley Brook Watershed Improvement Project began in 2018 when residents began advocating for the rehabilitation of Bliss and Laurel parks. In 2020, the Conway School of Landscape Design performed an assessment of the conditions in the parks, including Cooley Brook and Laurel Pond. A large amount of erosion was documented along Cooley Brook. At the same time, Laurel Pond is shrinking in depth and size. Meise-Munns said the quality of the water is also low.
Longmeadow previously received a Municipal Vulnerability Program grant, which paid for a hydrologic and hydraulic study of the portion of Cooley Brook near the park. The report from the study was released earlier this year. Meise-Munns said the study “quantified what was happening in the stream.” It showed that the erosion in Cooley Brook varied from moderate to severe.
“Now we know what the problems are,” phase two will figure out “possible solutions.”
Grant funding
Capparello said the state is funding stormwater projects “to limit flooding but also because it’s good for the environment.” Capparello said that stormwater infrastructure is of “critical importance” in town because they connect waterways and failed culverts can lead to flooding.
While Wilbraham conducts culvert assessments most years, Capparello said this would be a more “robust” assessment and become a “capital improvement plan for our culverts.” She called it a “proper plan to mitigate emergencies.” Some of the town’s culverts are known to be more prone to flooding but the assessment will give a better idea of the larger picture, Capparello said. The $60,000 grant will allow the town to organize the information it has on its culverts and prioritize which waterways need attention. She said the culverts need to be looked at as a system, because while the solution may be as simple as changing to a larger diameter pipe, that might lead to flooding downstream.
Hampden will use the funding to design a new bridge over East Brook and address erosion issues upstream. Markel emphasized that the bridge is safe to use and the goal is to fix the problems before a shut down of the bridge is needed.
Meise-Munns said the town’s $424,375 grant will fund phase two of the Cooley Brook Watershed Improvement Project. It will pay for hydraulic and hydrology modeling for unstudied parts of the watershed on private, residential properties, citizen science water quality sampling by volunteers, alternatives analysis for streambank restoration, designs and pre-permitting meetings for the chosen alternatives and teaching limnology in Laurel Pond and assessing habitat value based on existing conditions with fourth-grade classes from Longmeadow Public Schools.
This action grant will allow the town to examine how water moves downstream of the parks and how it affects homeowners by using “real, robust community engagement,” Meise-Munns said. Engineering consultants will pitch designs, get community feedback and incorporate it into the final designs.
Meise-Munns said she expects the designs to be final by fiscal year 2025.
“This is a community driven project,” Meise-Munns said. She said the town does not “have an agenda of what the design will look like.”
Green infrastructure
Capparello said the key to solving the vulnerabilities is “beyond fixing infrastructure.” A significant part of the solutions to the towns’ climate vulnerability woes will be “green infrastructure,” natural methods of limiting erosion and encouraging stormwater absorption. These can include planting native vegetation with deep root systems to help anchor the soil in place. Markel said he expects Big Brook to be reinforced with this method.
Meise-Munns said large boulders can also be placed along banks to keep water from washing away soil. This has the added benefit of creating small habitats for frogs and other animals in the crevices between rocks. The design may also call for taking up impervious surfaces and planting rain gardens.
Nature-based solutions are “a really well-rounded way to address our waterways,” Capparello said.
Next steps
Markel cautioned that the process for identifying solutions and putting them in place is a long and expensive one. He estimated the work to be done in Hampden will cost “several million dollars.”
After the designs are finalized, Hampden’s project will be added to the Greater Springfield Metroplitan Planning Organization’s transportation improvement program. Each year, the federal government releases money for the extensive projects on the TIP.
Longmeadow’s match for the Municipal Vulnerability Program grant is 25%, or $106,092. Meise-Munns said most of that said will come in the form of town employee labor. However, she has applied for a Long Island Sound Futures Grant, which can be used to match the Municipal Vulnerability Program grant.
“We will pursue grants as available,” Capparello said, but if needed, “I wouldn’t hesitate to present it to the town as an improvement,” with local budgetary funding.
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