Case Study

Zoning Ordinance Overhauled To Increase Community Resilience To Flooding

The city of Norfolk, Virginia, is like many other coastal communities facing sea level rise. The city chose to take a bold step to completely overhaul their zoning ordinance to reduce impacts and increase their resilience. Learn more about Norfolk’s innovative resilience zoning ordinance.

Year
2022

Details

Hazards Addressed
Flooding – Rainfall-induced
Flooding – Coastal
Assets
Property

Follow the link below to access this Peer to Peer case study as published in Digital Coast by the NOAA Office for Coastal Management.

Zoning Ordinance Overhauled To Increase Community Resilience To Flooding »

Organizations to Contact

NOAA Office for Costal Management Digital Coast

Relevant Options

Launch a program that encourages vegetative urban landscaping, pervious surfaces and down spout disconnection to help manage stormwater onsite. Adopt low-impact development (LID) standards, add incentives and remove regulatory barriers (e.g., in the zoning ordinance) to encourage green infrastructure, especially in low lying areas. Green infrastructure Develop a program to buy out repetitive loss and high-risk properties.

Steps to Resilience

Get Started
Understand Exposure
Assess Vulnerability & Risk
Investigate Options
Prioritize & Plan
Take Action
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Image Credit

C Watts, "Norfolk waterfront Virginia," Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0), https://www.flickr.com/photos/watts_photos/