Challenge
As one of only two cities on Long Island, the City of Glen Cove is focused on sustainability, continuing a path of responsible economic vitality, and improving life for its residents. As part of this initiative, the City planned the Western Gateway project, along the shores of Glen Cove Creek. The project area included a number of recreational fields, industrial use buildings, Nassau County and Glen Cove Public Works facilities, and commercial facilities such as auto repair shops and restaurants. This area is located just west of the City’s downtown, making it a potentially prime means of connecting people visiting or returning home to the City from the west. This includes proactively assessing the area’s vulnerability to climate change and focusing on the development of climate adaptation strategies to provide resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Solution
GZA’s work plan included:
- Understanding and assessing the vulnerability of the project area to climate change hazards such as flooding from sea level rise and increased precipitation intensity, and higher average temperatures.
- Performing public outreach to solicit input from stakeholders, residents, and concerned citizens.
- Developing climate adaptation strategies and strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This includes development of recommendations for coastal resiliency improvements, relocating non-water-dependent uses to areas less prone to flooding, green infrastructure techniques for stormwater management, opportunities for renewable energy sources, and identification of non-motorized potential connections within the project area to downtown Glen Cove and nearby Long Island Railroad stations.
Benefit
The Plan included resiliency planning including an implementation plan that prioritize actions based on a systematic ranking. GZA is developing recommendations in coordination with the Project Team. We will organize the results in a priority matrix which ranks sites / actions based on risk (i.e., vulnerability x consequence) and importance to the City. This will allow for concrete actions to improve the resilience of the area under our changing climate.
