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We are excited to resume our community outreach and support for the Make Cambridge Resilient initiative. In terms of the nature-based shoreline and stormwater flood risk reduction project, we anticipate the grant award in January 2024.

In the interim, we are moving forward on other aspects of the Make Cambridge Resilient initiative. We have brought on board BayLand Consultants and Designers Inc. for engineering support and retained Smith Planning and Design LLC for stakeholder coordination and public outreach. We plan to hit the ground running once we have project design funding. Using grant funding designated for planning, we are:

updating our website,
resuming our public outreach program,
development and submittal of grant applications,
updating our steering committee, and preparing meetings.

City of Cambridge is continuing its efforts to “Make Cambridge Resilient” to sea level rise and major storms.

Shoreline & Stormwater Flood Risk Reduction Project

The concept design includes a hybrid living shoreline integrated with an embankment flood barrier along the Choptank River, the City’s highest risk area, providing flood protection above the City’s Base Flood Elevation (BFE). The system also includes a stormwater system with nature- based water storage and control features designed for a 100-year rain event. There is no standard of practice for the design of hybrid green-grey flood protection systems. The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences is supporting the city in optimizing the design of this flood mitigation project to reduce our risk and to minimize any negative impact downstream. This will include modeling and post construction monitoring that will inform and validate the design concepts for our hybrid flood mitigation system that could be used to establish guidelines and standards for the design similar systems for other high-risk communities in Dorchester County.

Another key recommendation from the Make Cambridge Resilient Flood Reduction Plan is to provide for community capacity and capability building in the development and implementation other flood risk reduction activities, projects, and initiatives. Building upon the previous planning goals, new goals have been established for the 2023-2025 timeframe.

NEW 2023-2025 GOALS

Goal 1: Design and construct hybrid living shoreline integrated with an embankment flood barrier along the Choptank River, the City’s highest risk area, providing flood protection above the City’s Base Flood Elevation.

Goal 2: Design and construct stormwater system with nature- based water storage and control features designed for a 100-year rain event within project area.

Goal 3: Garner public input on Flood Mitigation Project Planning, Design and Construction.

Maintain our MakeCambridgeResilient.org Website in support of public outreach and communication and maintain our Steering Committee for technical and regulatory support in project planning.
Use the project development process that we have implemented and documented for our "living shoreline" project as a model for the planning and design of future complementary flood mitigation projects overtime.

Goal 4: Institutionalize floodplain management and flood risk reduction in future planning and development efforts city wide.

Provide support the city in the implementation of our Make Cambridge Resilient Plan into the City’s Comprehensive Plan and Working Waterfront Plan.
Provide support to the city in the integration of nature-based flood mitigation features in the planning of new infrastructure projects such as the sewer and water supply systems, parks, and roads.
Provide support the city, businesses and residents in the planning and implementation of nature-based flood mitigation projects on city and private properties to reduce surface water runoff and reliance on our engineered storm water management system to mitigate the impacts of flooding due to increased surface water runoff due to sea level rise and major storms.

Goal 5: Develop a Green Infrastructure Plan that identifies a range of natured based systems for design and construction.

Implementation. may be implemented based on site conditions and future development including infrastructure and property improvement planning efforts. These efforts will be updated on an annually. Annual reports will be posted on project website for public input and use by business and residents for their planning purposes.

Goal 6: Develop and implement additional nature-based solutions city-wide.

Potential solutions such as stormwater parks, bioswales, rain gardens, permeable pavement, green streets, and detention and retention ponds to promote water storage, and infiltration, and reduce and remove contaminants from stormwater runoff.

Goal 7: Reactivate and maintain our Stakeholder Group to provide technical assistance and input on a policy level.

This group of stakeholders includes representation from both city and county departments, agencies, and organizations, as well as regulators and other subject matter experts.

Goal 8: Provide support to property owners to identify risk reduction strategies.

This includes outreach to community members (businesses and residents) on how they can reduce their personal risk and potential grant funding and programs to support their efforts.