The Town of Narragansett is identifying opportunities to incorporate new standards into the Town’s municipal regulations that support natural hazard mitigation, environmental protection, and climate change resilience.
This approximately 1.5 year-long project will build on recent resilience and mitigation plans and initiatives, including the Municipal Resilience Program Community Resilience Building Workshop (2022) and Hazard Mitigation Plan (2024), which have identified priority natural hazards to address, such as coastal flooding and erosion, stormwater flooding, and extreme heat. These climate impacts put people, public health, ecosystems, infrastructure, and the built environment at risk. In turn, many municipalities are turning to land use planning as a strategic tool to increase resilience. Land use tools and policies such as zoning ordinances, land development regulations, and design guidelines can help municipalities increase their long-term resilience. For example, land use tools, regulations, and other policies can help:
- Protect natural systems that mitigate the impacts of natural hazards. For example, healthy coastal ecosystems can help buffer the impacts of coastal storms and flooding.
- Require and incentivize resilient building and design practices in new construction and substantial retrofits, so built infrastructure (such as homes and businesses) is better protected from damage and property loss.
- Encourage the use of green infrastructure and beneficial landscaping practices, which can help mitigate stormwater flooding, reduce extreme heat, and improve local water quality.
Project Partner Group
A steering committee consisting of Town staff and board/commission liaisons, state agency staff, and local academic and organizational partners is being assembled.
How Can You Get Involved?
Project materials and information on public events will be posted here as available. Please stay tuned for more information!
This project provides no-cost technical assistance to the Town through a partnership between the Rhode Island Division of Statewide Planning and Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, with funding provided by the RI Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4). The Horsley Witten Group (HW) has been contracted by the State to assist the Town with this initiative.
