The full proposal may be downloaded here: http://cityofgroton.com/download/Planning/resiliency_and_hazard_mitigation/Resiliency-Plan-Draft-RFP.pdf

Overview

The City of Groton is a grantee of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Long Island Sound Futures Fund to prepare a City of Groton: Community Resilience Plan (the Plan). The City, in collaboration with the City owned Groton Utilities, are requesting proposals from firms or teams with experience in municipal and utility company resiliency planning. The firm or team shall have expertise in:

• Environmental Engineering & Sciences
• Civil Engineering & Infrastructure (wastewater, water supply, electric distribution, roads and bridges)
• Stormwater and MS4 requirements
• Land Use Planning, Zoning & Public Outreach
• Coastal Resource Management
• Architecture/Building Code
• Historic Preservation and Architectural Design
• Floodplain Management
• Climatology
• Economics/Business Planning

The City of Groton is a borough of the Town of Groton and consists of a modest 3.1 SQ MI of land area with ~11.5 MI of coast line that captures ~0.9 SQ MI within the Coastal Area Management Zone. The City's population is just over 9,000 and is heavily influenced by transient Navy personnel. Over 20,000 workers are employed in the City, primarily at Electric Boat, Pfizer and UConn Avery Point. Additional relevant demographic data can be found within the Plan of Conservation and Development, updated February 2019, and located at http://cityofgroton.com/ped/pocd/.

The 2019 POCD Section 6.1 Prepare for Climate Change and Sea Level Rise, specifically states the need for the City to address our vulnerabilities, protect our residents and businesses, become resilient and plan to address the physical changes imposed by sea level rise (SLR). The POCD references the CT Institute for Resiliency and Climate Adaption's (CIRCA) projection of a possible 20" increase in sea level by 2050 with higher amounts expected at an exponential rate following this date. The POCD also notes that Moody's will begin to take a community's risk into account within their evaluation and bond rating system.

The POCD recommends the creation of a Coastal Vulnerability Working Group to guide resiliency and vulnerability planning. On November 18, 2019 the City Council passed a resolution establishing the Coastal Vulnerability Work Group as an ad-hoc committee (see the resolution on the City's Resiliency webpage).

In addition to recently updating our POCD, the City adopted new Zoning and Subdivision Regulations in December 2016. The Zoning Regulations responded to changes in floodplain management policies. In early 2019, the City further updated Section 5.3 FP – Flood Protection Overlay Zone to respond to state building code changes.

In January 2019, the Nature Conservancy conducted a Community Building Workshop with various department heads and representatives from local businesses and organizations. The full report is provided on the City's Resiliency webpage and should be used as a starting point for developing the Plan. Findings can be summarized as follows:

Top Hazards

• Coastal Flooding – Storm Surge and Sea Level Rise
• Storms
• Extreme Cold
• Intense Wind Events

Areas of Concern

• Various Vulnerable Neighborhoods
• Ecosystem
• Transportation
• Infrastructure
• Vulnerable Population

A number of resources have been developed by various local, regional, state and federal organizations and are expected to be important references in the preparation of the Plan. These resources are located on the City's Resiliency webpage. http://cityofgroton.com/ped/resiliency/