MCOG Monthly Newsletter

Reed Silvers grew up in Cumberland, ME and is excited to now call Brunswick home in a move to the Midcoast. In 2022, he graduated from Plymouth State University with an environmental planning degree and a GIS certificate. Upon graduation, Reed completed the Resilience Corps Fellowship: an AmeriCorps program hosted by the Greater Portland Council of Governments. There, he supported the agency's Vision Zero, public transit planning, and broadband expansion efforts. At MCOG, Reed will be working primarily with communities in Waldo County on housing, transportation, and resilience planning. Reed is looking forward to getting to know a new part of Maine and to helping communities thrive in the state he most loves. Outside of work, you'll find Reed skiing or hiking on a Western Maine mountain.

Brownfield sites are "Real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant." MCOG would like to know of potential Browfield sites in your community. Our intent is to apply for two grant programs that will enable us to assess the contamination, develop a plan for redevelopment, and create a grant and loan program to support those efforts. If your community has such a site, please share that information with Mathew Eddy at meddy@midcoastcog.com by August 15.  Thanks!

General Series Description:

Please join staff from the Maine Coastal Program and the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry’s Bureau of Resource Information and Land Use Planning for a series of webinars and in-person workshops to learn about natural hazard basics (such as wildfires, erosion, storm surge, and flooding) and potential strategies to mitigate impacts and increase community resilience.

The series will take place from August 2024 through early 2025 and is intended for municipal staff and volunteer committee members interested in being more proactive about natural hazards in their work. In these sessions, we will cover the intersection of natural hazards and land use planning and will explore topics such as comprehensive planning, vulnerability assessments, infrastructure upgrades, and model zoning and ordinances.

Through this process you will be able to learn from other practitioners and nearby communities’ challenges and successes. We will make space to share strategies that work and discuss when things do not go as anticipated. We plan to cap this process by celebrating the accomplishments of some of our participants.

1st Session: Introduction to Natural Hazards and Land Use Planning Webinar

Please join us on August 14th, 2024, from 1-2pm via Zoom for an Introduction to Hazards 101 webinar. Register here for the Zoom link: https://forms.gle/hEQbvbyRGfa9Du1b8

As the first session in our Hazards Series, we will start with the basics of natural hazards you might find in your community, how they tie into land use planning, and introduce you to potential actions you can take to address them more proactively. This session will not cover strategies in depth but will provide a solid foundation to make informed decisions in your community, and to share feedback with us about what you’d like to learn more about in future monthly sessions. Please join us in-person in the Fall for future sessions to explore strategies more in-depth and learn how to apply them in your community! Details to come.

Save the Dates for Future Sessions!

2nd Session: Assessing Risk to Natural Hazards

September 17, 2024, from 5:30-7:30pm – Location in Midcoast Maine TBD

3rd Session: Comprehensive Planning and Hazard Mitigation Plans

October 24, 2024, from 5:30-7:30pm – Location in Midcoast Maine TBD

4th Session: Zoning and Model Ordinances for Risk Reduction

November 19, 2024, from 5:30-7:30pm – Location in Midcoast Maine TBD

5th Session: Financing Hazard Resilience

December 11, 2024, from 4-5:00pm – Zoom Webinar

MCOG is happy to announce the launch of "Weathering the Storm: Resilient Stream and Tidal Crossings in Knox and Waldo Counties." This initiative responds to the critical need highlighted by the storm events of 2021 and 2022, which resulted in significant culvert failures across Knox and Waldo Counties. The cost of engineering and reconstruction with resilient culverts is often prohibitive for small communities. Therefore, the project's primary goal is to develop regional and local improvement plans for culverts and tidal crossings and prepare municipalities for implementation funding. The project includes identifying vulnerable culverts, preparing “Stream Smart” plans for appropriate priority sites, and matching these with specific funding opportunities.

By creating a coordinated regional approach, we will help make communities competitive for federal grants and provide support to upgrade their culvert systems. Through workshops, training, and local funding strategies, we will help equip municipalities with the knowledge and resources to implement best practices and prepare for future challenges.

We will be hosting two info sessions to provide the details about what the project entails, and how towns can participate. Thursday, August 1st at noon (Zoom link here) OR Friday, August 2nd at 8:30 am (Zoom link here).

Pre-applications for Catalyst, Forest Economy Program and Timber for Transit grant programs are due by September 6 at 5:00 pm. Pre-applications must be submitted using NBRC’s Grants Management System. For those interested in applying for fall grants, a pre-application workshop is scheduled for August 2 at 10:00 am. The workshop is open to all prospective applicants, but registration is required. Registration link: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/e60c9131-97e4-44f2-b8e3-46da445e558d@5182d965-b682-4a62-8795-5487d0943e54  

Maine has been awarded a $69 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to bolster the state's climate resilience efforts. This funding aims to safeguard communities, the environment, and working waterfronts from extreme weather, flooding, and rising sea levels. Funding for key initiatives include:

• Community Resilience Partnership: Supporting towns, cities, and tribal governments in planning and addressing climate impacts based on local priorities.

• Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund (MIAF): Expanding funding for critical infrastructure projects to mitigate serious climate effects.

• Protecting Working Waterfronts: Expanding on-going efforts in preserving vital waterfront businesses and ecosystems through natural climate solutions and community support.

• State Resiliency Office: Establishing a dedicated office to lead statewide climate resilience initiatives, especially in communities with significant climate vulnerabilities impacting residents, infrastructure, and the environment.

This grant will significantly enhance Maine's ability to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

For more about the grant, please contact Meg Rasmussen, Community Sustainability Planner at mrasmussen@midcoastcog.com or visit: maine.gov/future/climate/resiliencegrant