City details comprehensive stormwater master plan, cites $4.9 million state grant and 75 projects

Kathy Engel, chief of civil design engineering, presented a comprehensive stormwater master plan that the city has developed over four to five years and said the work was enabled by a $4.9 million Community Flood Preparedness Fund grant.

"We luckily got a $4.9 million grant from the state, the community flood preparedness fund grant which enabled us to do everything that we wanted to do," Engel said, summarizing a program the city began in 2022 that combined stormwater, floodplain and resilience planning.

Engel said the initiative produced 78 discrete tasks and identified 75 candidate projects across 23 watersheds; 25 projects have conceptual plans. The city is developing a detailed computer model (about one‑third complete) to test project performance, and it uses a spreadsheet‑based prioritization tool that scores projects by served area, buildings impacted, social vulnerability, function (flood control, water quality) and cost to generate a benefit‑cost prioritization and to account for staff capacity and budget constraints.

The plan includes revisions to design criteria and ordinances to reflect heavier, more frequent storms. Engel said peer reviews and state studies recommended increasing the rainfall standard used for design roughly 15–20% to reflect observed changes and near‑term projections.

Project examples Engel cited include Wickham Avenue piping projects, the Brierfield drainage channel, basin retrofits in City Center that yield MS4 credits, stream restorations and larger flood‑control BMPs that can double as parks or habitat. Many projects will require coordination with other agencies (Engel noted coordination with CSX for Warwick Boulevard work).

Engel also discussed programs intended to reduce hazard exposure: the long‑running floodplain assistance buyout program (the city has purchased 85 properties and restored about 15 acres to green space), a partnership with the Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District that can fund roughly 80% of private drainage fixes, and a new Flood Ready Homes pilot that provides home evaluations and elevation certificates with a second‑phase grant application planned to subsidize contractor work.

The presentation noted the city entered FEMA’s Community Rating System (CRS) as a class 7 in April 2022, moved to class 6 in October 2025 (yielding roughly a 20% discount on flood insurance for policyholders) and aims to reach class 5 for a 25% discount.

Councilmembers asked about outreach to the building community and developer concerns; Engel said the team reviewed peer localities and adjusted rainfall inputs accordingly. Members also raised pedestrian‑safety concerns in neighborhoods with open ditches (Old Oyster Point Road cited); Engel said EPA limits on piping and safety considerations (ditches over roughly 2.5–3 feet require piping) constrain options and that pedestrian solutions require coordination with transportation and potential right‑of‑way and funding commitments.

Engel said staff will submit plan adoption materials and associated ordinance updates (including an updated floodplain ordinance expected to come to council in July) so the city can use the plans to pursue grants and start implementation.