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Building an inventory of replacement parts for the hurricane barrier. Improving stormwater drainage systems near Route 18 and over by Padanaram Avenue. Rehabilitating the Buttonwood Park Pond dam. Dredging the harbor to create more space for boats to dock.
Those are just a few of the myriad disaster and climate resilience projects that the City of New Bedford wants federal grant funding for within the next five years, according to its newly drafted multi-hazard mitigation plan.
City officials have been working with the Horsley Witten Group and Kim Lundgren Associates since the spring of 2023 to update their 2016 natural hazard mitigation plan into a comprehensive multi-hazard mitigation plan.
New Bedford must submit five-year plans of hazard mitigation and resilience projects to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to be able to access FEMA grant funding for them.
The plans must reflect current environmental conditions and acknowledge evolving risks to the community. They must comply with FEMA requirements.
New Bedford officials and project managers will make the multi-hazard mitigation plan available for public review on March 31. They will hold a final public workshop for the plan on April 5, at the Andrea McCoy Recreation Center. They will take public comments on it online until mid-April.
New Bedford Department of Environmental Stewardship Director Michele Paul said the list is meant to be an “exhaustive” list of projects that the city hopes to receive federal funding for.
“Please make sure the plan is protective of the things that you care most about,” she said.
The 2016 hazard mitigation plan accounted for projects and strategies to mitigate the impacts of natural hazards and severe weather.
The 2025 multi-hazard mitigation plan includes risk assessments and response strategies for New Bedford to natural hazards including hurricanes, sea level rise, and infectious and vector-borne diseases. It provides response strategies to man-made threats such as chemical spills, terrorism, and cyberattacks. It covers technological hazards, including communication failures, transit system disruptions, and vulnerable water and electrical infrastructure.
Paul said the strategies in the new plan also account for climate change, which was not a consideration in the 2016 plan.
During the planning process, city officials and their consultants assessed how well New Bedford implemented mitigation actions from the 2016 plan. They regularly convened a planning committee with representatives from MEMA, community leaders, social service providers, and representatives of socially-vulnerable populations.
The team interviewed city officials across all departments. They held a number of workshops, including events across all six of New Bedford’s wards. They conducted an online survey to gather more input.
Horsley Witten Group senior planner Craig Pereira said environmental justice was also a focus of this plan. The team actively worked to incorporate viewpoints from members of disadvantaged parts of the city, and solicited public comment in multiple languages.
The team updated the 2016 plan based on the data they gathered. They made concurrent updates to New Bedford’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.
After the public workshop and comment period in April, the project leaders will update the plan accordingly. They will then send it to MEMA and FEMA for approval.
City officials expect to have an approved multi-hazard mitigation plan by the end of the year. Once approved, New Bedford will have one year to officially adopt the plan, and prepare to implement it.
New Bedford has done a “great job” enacting projects from the 2016 plan over the last several years, Pereira said.
The local government has weatherproofed many pump stations in flood-prone areas. They have implemented a “Reverse 911” geo-based telephone notification service. They have made improvements to stormwater drainage systems in the Coggeshall Street, Pearl Street, and Clarks Cove areas. They have identified outdated pier and wharf infrastructure in the port.
However, there are several projects that were not completed that must be rolled over to the current plan.
The city still wants to make stormwater drainage improvements on Maple and Chancery streets, and separate combined sewer lines. It wants to replace mooring anchors and gear in the harbor, and repair and expand fishing wharves. It wants to fix seawalls and replenish beaches in the South End.
The city is looking to address the threat of extreme heat more extensively in the new plan, Paul said. It wants to secure more funding for tree planting, and green infrastructure or natural stormwater management systems.
New Bedford Department of Emergency Management director Brian Nobrega said reducing street flooding is an emphasis of the city’s plan, along with technology and infrastructure upgrades for sewer pump stations. He said city officials also want to develop an emergency operations center inside a city building.
Nobrega said that there is uncertainty around federal funding for these disaster resilience projects as of right now. He said those dollars are key to getting this work done, which will make the community safer.
The April 5 public workshop on the plan will be held at the Andrea McCoy Recreation Center New Bedford from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Email environmental reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@newbedfordlight.org.
Good article. Would like deeper coverage of this topic.
Too bad the open house on April 5 conflicts with the nationwide “Hands Off!” political marches called for that day by a coalition of grassroots organizations including Indivisible and Move On. They will occur in Boston, Fall River, Tiverton, Providence, the Cape and many other places. For active citizens, it will be a tough choice to make.
It seems to me that since there is an ongoing effort to destroy our country’s democracy and there is a NATION-WIDE protest planned for April 5th, this local workshop should be postponed.
Adam;
Is there a list available of the members &/or participants in the planning study meetings?
Thank you.
Great Headline “City drafts new plan for dealing with disasters”. So what are they going to do with the City Council ? : )