RE: Flood Preparedness and Protection Grants - Draft Manuals for Public Comment
On behalf of Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Chesapeake Climate Action, Clean Fairfax Council, Environmental Defense Fund, Friends of the Rappahannock, James River Association, Lynnhaven River NOW, Natural Resources Defense Council, SERCAP, Inc, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Southern Environmental Law Center, The Nature Conservancy, Virginia Conservation Network, Virginia Interfaith Power and Light, and Wetlands Watch, we jointly offer these comments on the draft manuals for the Community Flood Preparedness Fund (CFPF) and the Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund (RVRF). The manuals that guide the implementation of these two important flood resilience funding programs play a crucial role in determining their effectiveness and in effectuating key priorities that are included in the statutes that establish them. We therefore appreciate the opportunity to comment on the draft manuals and hope that you will closely consider our comments.
We commend the great strides the Commonwealth has made in the last several years by distributing nearly $100 million to localities statewide for flood resilience planning and implementation grants. As the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) prepares to issue a new application round for both Funds, we urge you to stay on track with the application and award timeline outlined during the recent Annual Virginia Flood Preparedness Coordination Meeting so that communities can continue accessing these critical funds.
The following is a bulleted list of our comments and recommendations on the two draft manuals. The comments are listed in the order in which they appear in the manual(s).
Comments that apply to both the CFPF and RVRF Draft Manuals:
Community Flood Preparedness Fund Draft Manual Comments:
-- comments continued in part 2 --