Economic Resilience Assessment and Plan for Coastal York County

In March 2018, a powerful storm roared up the East Coast, battering the York County coastline with pounding surf, abnormally high tides, and intense winds, leaving a trail of damage for coastal communities to deal with. The storm caused significant damage to municipal and private infrastructure, resulting in a federally-declared disaster by Federal Emergent Management Agency (FEMA) (declaration FEMA 4367-DR-ME).

York County was the only region in Maine covered by the declaration, and five communities (Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Kittery, Ogunquit and Wells) accounted for 81% of the storm related damage. The Economic Development Administration then funded the resulting assessment and plan, which identifies vulnerabilities to coastal storm impacts and presents short- and long-term strategies for enhancing economic resilience.

 

Final Work Products

Economic Resilience Assessment and Plan for Coastal York County - SMPDC Report

SMPDC worked with two subcontractors, GEI Consultants and rbouvier Consulting. Below are their final reports:

• Final Report: Vulnerability Assessments - GEI Consulting
• Final Report: Economic Analysis of Sea Level Rise & Storm Surge - rbouvier Consulting

 To review just the final recommended strategies, they are summarized here: Final Strategies Summary

Town Profiles

• Kennebunk
• Kennebunkport
• Wells
• Ogunquit
• York
• Kittery

 

Economic Resilience Assessment GIS StoryMap

• Scroll through the highlights of the report for each town, and see the results and data in action. 

 
Preview of the GIS StoryMap, a scrollable summary of the report

 

Interactive GIS Web Application 

• Explore and interact with all GIS-based results and data in more detail - allows you to look at specific layers, attributes, and experiment with overlaying the many results. 

 
Preview of the GIS Web Application, a interactive map to explore the GIS data resulting from the report

 

Business Resilience Checklist 

• Resource for businesses looking for actionable steps to make their business more resilient to the increasing risk of coastal storms and flooding. 

 

Project Scope

SMPDC has developed a regional economic resilience plan that identifies vulnerabilities to coastal storm impacts and presents short- and long-term strategies for enhancing economic resilience in the face of storms and future sea level rise for the six communities most affected by the storm event.

The planning study:

• Quantified the current tourism and economic contribution of the six-town group
• Analyzed impacts of climate change on tourism and recreational activity in the region.
• Analyzed potential economic impacts of future disasters and climate change on the sub-regional economy.
• Identified infrastructure at current or future risk due to storm events and climate change and present options for upgrading and/or replacing at-risk infrastructure.
• Presented resiliency planning strategies for businesses
• Identified opportunities and strategies to encourage future economic activity in areas where future climate change and storm events will have limited impact.

 

Participating Communities: Kittery, York, Ogunquit, Wells, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport

Funding: Economic Development Administration (EDA) Disaster Grant Program