April
15th, 2013:
St.
Marys' City Council has chosen (unanimously) to forge ahead with the St. Marys/Georgia Sea
Grant partnership. This coming Friday the grant proposal will be submitted (we
are in competition with 32 other cities). My sincere thanks to the many leaders
and pivotal staff (city, county and state) who have sent letters of support to
bolster our application.
Already
we are garnering attention as a progressive, open-minded community. During the
recent National Sea Grant Symposium in Santa Monica the audience was stunned by
the fact that we had approximately 150 people turn out for our Feb. 28 Sea Level
Rise Seminar in St. Marys. (Apparently that kind of audience for such things is
unheard of). Well done, everyone!
The
proposed project “Implementing Comprehensive Community Resilience Planning in
St. Marys, GA and Hyde County, NC” will be be submitted by Georgia Sea Grant,
North Carolina Sea Grant, and the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute
of Government.
This amazing grant-partnership would cost not a single penny for the taxpayers of St. Marys. Our contribution would be 200 hours of "in kind" work annually over a two-year period and done by the EarthKeepers and select members of the City staff. The City would, of course, not be required to implement suggestions - but we would be equipped with invaluable information with which to make sound planning/spending decisions.
Coastal flooding, sea level rise, and other climate hazards are clearly having a strong impact on many areas throughout the SE Atlantic region. Development and evaluation of climate adaptation planning strategies is absolutely critical for the long-term sustainability of coastal communities. 90% of the structures in St. Marys historic district have their lowest floor elevation located below the current 100 Year Floodplain.
The grant application will contain letters of support from various individuals and entities e.g. The National Park Service, the Camden County Administrator, Congressman Jack Kingston and others - with more to come in the next few days. I believe that we have an incredibly good chance at winning this prized grant.
This amazing grant-partnership would cost not a single penny for the taxpayers of St. Marys. Our contribution would be 200 hours of "in kind" work annually over a two-year period and done by the EarthKeepers and select members of the City staff. The City would, of course, not be required to implement suggestions - but we would be equipped with invaluable information with which to make sound planning/spending decisions.
Coastal flooding, sea level rise, and other climate hazards are clearly having a strong impact on many areas throughout the SE Atlantic region. Development and evaluation of climate adaptation planning strategies is absolutely critical for the long-term sustainability of coastal communities. 90% of the structures in St. Marys historic district have their lowest floor elevation located below the current 100 Year Floodplain.
The grant application will contain letters of support from various individuals and entities e.g. The National Park Service, the Camden County Administrator, Congressman Jack Kingston and others - with more to come in the next few days. I believe that we have an incredibly good chance at winning this prized grant.
