Flood Resiliency

Town Plan Resiliency Elements

​Following the passage of Act 16, a town plan must be consistent with state planning goals in order to be approved by MARC in accordance with 24 V.S.A. §4350, including the new goal:

24 V.S.A. §4302(14) To encourage flood resilient communities.
(A) New development in identified flood hazard, fluvial erosion, and river corridor protection areas should be avoided. If new development is to be built in such areas, it should not exacerbate flooding and fluvial erosion.
(B) The protection and restoration of floodplains and upland forested areas that attenuate and moderate flooding and fluvial erosion should be encouraged.
(C) Flood emergency preparedness and response planning should be encouraged.

Flood Resiliency Quicklinks

• Plan Today for Tomorrow’s Flood
• ANR’s Natural Resource Atlas
• FEMA’s Map Service Center
• U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit
• U.S. EPA-Flood Resilience: A Basic Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities
• Vermont Flood Resiliency Checklist
• CT River Watershed Council Flood Preparation Videos
• Adapting to Climate Change: Dams and Flooding -West Windsor Dam Removal Project​

Flood resiliency is now a required element for both regional and town plans, which must:

• Identify flood hazard and fluvial erosion hazard areas, including:
• Floodways and floodplains (Special Flood Hazard Areas and Local Flood Hazard Areas);
• River corridors as mapped by VT ANR;
• Shoreland areas;
• Wetlands;
• Upland forests;
• Information from available stream geomorphic assessments;
• Designate those areas to be protected in order to reduce the risk of flood damage to infrastructure and improved property, and
• Recommend policies and strategies to protect these areas identified above and to mitigate flood and erosion risks.

Recommendations to Achieve Flood Resiliency

A list of possible recommendations to achieve greater flood resiliency, based on some of the resources cited include:

• Restore floodplains through the removal of berms and levees
• Buyout flood-prone structures
• Conserve land and wetlands that serve as important floodplain storage areas or are prone to flooding and/or erosion
• Amend land use bylaws to control development along rivers and floodplains

Mitigate risks for village areas by:

• Make strategic infrastructure investments (e.g. storm drainage upgrades, dams, dikes, etc.)
• Avoid building new critical facilities sited in flood or erosion hazard zones
• Flood-proof existing buildings within flood hazard zones
• Prevent the storage of valuables in flood-prone areas (e.g. town archives, library collections, etc.)
• When planning for a new development, identify suitable locations outside of areas with higher levels of flood and erosion risk.
• Improve stormwater management to retain water onsite and prevent runoff to reduce downstream flooding
• Avoid development and maintain forest cover on steep slopes (25% and greater)
• Manage runoff from steep roads and driveways
• Adopt current road and culvert standards to accommodate the bank full flow of streams
• Maximize onsite stormwater infiltration to help recharge aquifers and limit the potential for severe flooding
• Update Local Hazard Mitigation Plans
• Develop or update a Capital Budget and Program to finance priority mitigation strategies for municipal infrastructure and facilities