Virginia Should Direct Flood Preparedness Grants to Inland as Well as Coastal Communities

The Pew Charitable Trusts on May 12 submitted comments to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) regarding the draft grant manual for the commonwealth’s Community Flood Preparedness Fund, a revolving loan and grant program to finance flood mitigation projects across the state. Pew urged the department to ensure that the program guidelines achieve an equitable distribution of funding between inland and coastal communities and offered suggestions to better promote the use of nature-based solutions in projects. The comments also asked DCR to reconsider proposed restrictions on the use of grant monies as a match for other revenue sources and to provide guidance and dedicated resources to help localities develop the required resilience plans.