Climate Change Resiliency Committee

MISSION STATEMENT

The Climate Change Resiliency Committee’s mission is to promote West Newbury’s resilience to climate change, addressing preparation for threats, the ability to absorb impacts, and to recover and adapt after disruptive events.  This will be accomplished through action and public education.  Working with other affected Town departments, boards and committees, the Committee will build on the Town’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Community status to address our climate change vulnerabilities and take on action items identified in the Massachusetts MVP process completed in 2020.  The Committee will seek members on and coordination with boards/commissions/committees such as Open Space, Conservation, Energy and Sustainability, Planning, Aging, Capital Improvements and Water and will seek to coordinate with the Department of Public Works and all other Town departments or organizations affected by climate change.

The Committee will have no more than 9 voting members and a simple majority of existing membership as a quorum.  Member reappointment will be annually at the beginning of each fiscal year.

FY24 Action Grant to Evaluate Climate Change Impacts on River Road

In November 2022, Town Meeting voted unanimously to appropriate $50,000 as matching funds for an MVP Action Grant to study climate change impacts on River Road. The Town seeks to understand and plan for flood risk and bank stability issues at vulnerable locations along the Merrimack River. The Town is interested in evaluating the flood risk due to more frequent and extreme flooding events caused by climate change and sea level rise, and how this risk may affect residences, access to residences, and roadways. Specifically, the interest is along River Road and the lower portions of Coffin Street and Bridge Street where they intersect with River Road. This directly affects the Rocks Village Bridge, which is a critical connector to Haverhill and Merrimac, neighboring municipalities with Environmental Justice (EJ) communities. Among other things, school buses serving West Newbury and Merrimac traverse this bridge, as do commuters and others from and to adjacent areas and beyond. Additionally, the Town seeks to proactively explore climate resiliency solutions to providing access to houses that may be impacted by road erosion and flooding. To learn more about the Action Grant, visit the Town Projects webpage here.