COASTAL CAUCUS

WE ARE NOW LOCATED NEXT TO SOME AWESOME WETLAND...CONSERVATION COMMISSION FOR TOWN OF WESTON HERE

C O A S T A L C A U C U S , C T

NOT NEW - BUT RELATED...
Rural Caucus - better known as UPLAND CAUCUS - just joking.

THE BIG STUDY ON COASTAL RESILIENCE - go direct to cool mapping by Nature Conservancy: https://maps.coastalresilience.org/connecticut/

LIBRARY: https://www.conservationgateway.org/ConservationPractices/Marine/crr/library/Pages/default.aspx#ny

THE COASTAL CAUCUS DECEMBER 3, 2019: http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/ctnplayer.asp?odID=16926

We watched on Dec. 27th...BLUE PLAN to be adopted in 2020 Session.

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER DEEP - BEEN AT DEEP FOR 30 YEARS.
Irene and Sandy

Mean high water - town and state jurisdiction lines.
Coastal Management Act 1980.

Hard structures a no-no.
Energy. Only flood of water structures.
Amendments: Sea level rise ("resiliency") - moving forward. 12-101 post-1980 structure rebuilds.
1990's, cemeteries.
"Retreat" policy. Dunes. Reasonable mitigations. Flood storage.
Control runoff.

LIVING SHORELINES - High tide line separates Federal control from Local Control. FEMA? So where does the State of CT fit in?
Points out why municipalities are on the hook. "Love Letters In The Sand" - why this song has new meaning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ENzT9k1LRs

MY THOUGHT IN 2012 ON CLIMATE CHANGE - LEGEND: Wetlands/cluster zoning yellow & green, high density mixed use urban development/commercial red and orange.

QUESTIONS: Sea level rise conversation - would a state mandate help?

How long does it take to implement New Haven project?
Sewage treatment plants: How to pay for it? $2.5 million
Pump stations must be resilient. Regional waste water plan $5 million per. Municipal responsibility.
ROADS - drainage. Intense rainfalls slugs of runoff. Appropriate sizing.
Flood and erosion Boards - Plans of C&D. LOCAL WILL.
How far inland is part of the issue? Focus is on L.I. Sound...however resiliency an issue. Town on rivers are involved.
Mitigation.
Should CT make investment considering changes coming...
"Local responsibility" back to State - P&Z issue
Unfunded mandates vis a vis Global Management.
COGS the answer? How can volunteer bodies know what they can do? Watch out by 2050 or so...

JANUARY 22, 2020 11am next meeting and Co-Chair. from P&D reports need for brainstorming which committees should have bills...just change the dates on the older bills!

THE COASTAL CAUCUS INAUGURAL MEETING OCT. 28, 2019: http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/ctnplayer.asp?odID=16826

Planning & Development and Environment


"COASTAL CAUCUS" (P&D PLUS ENVIRONMENT) HEARS FROM DEEP AND EXPERTS...WE WATCH IT FROM THE BEGINNING HERE.

38 members. PFAS brought them together. Impact on CT Waterways. CIRCA thinks its role is to undertake those that are multi-town (i.e. watersheds) - Hurricane Sandy useful for data. Tax revenues.

Is CT behind? How complicated is the science? Lawyer remarks that towns all over CT are having problems with roads - as we are seeing in Weston.

RESILIENCE AND THE I TOLD YOU SO FACTOR: This actually shows the trends in frequency of storms on the L.I.S. coast from Greenwich to New Haven and New Haven to R.I.


https://circa.uconn.edu/
I was struck by how interesting all of this is when matched against Town of Weston road evaluations.

Upon a second viewing for details, we tried to confirm if our original read was correct:

Projections too far out are fantasy;
"Resiliency" studies' findings are only examples, and not comprehensive.
Focus on shoreline and rivers excluded what Weston has noticed - deterioration of roads. Which was mentioned at the end by attorney.

ONGOING RESEARCH

In the WestCOG region: https://circa.uconn.edu/wcog-reg-crs-program/

Four towns including Danbury (to Weston's north) in study area.