The City Council plans to address lingering concerns — including cost — Tuesday regarding a $2.6 billion project that will build a floodwall and other storm protections around Norfolk neighborhoods, after an earlier vote was delayed this month.
The Coastal Storm Risk Management Project is a 10-year plan to build 8 miles of new or extended floodwalls around downtown Norfolk and surge barriers and pump stations in other neighborhoods, protecting the city from storms and sea level rise worsened by the effects of climate change. But the plan excluded historically Black southside neighborhoods from structural protections against flooding and instead proposed elevating homes and filling basements.
A resolution introduced April 11 would reassess protections for Norfolk’s southside neighborhoods after residents objected to the lack of floodwalls or surge barriers.
The vote to adopt the plan and partner with the federal government is slated for Tuesday’s council meeting, after voting was delayed earlier this month. The council also introduced a new resolution that would instruct the city to work with the state and federal government in implementing the project and to resolve cost concerns.
The new resolution says that although protections from flooding are a worthy investment, the funding obligations are “daunting” and may become burdensome to Norfolk residents.
If approved, Norfolk will fund 35% of the project, to the tune of $931 million, with the federal government funding the remaining $1.7 billion.
To mitigate concerns about cost, the council is proposing to obtain an agreement from the commonwealth to fund half of the project not covered by the federal government.
The city also wants to be protected in case it runs out of money for the project. If that happens, the resolution says, the city will notify the Army Corps of Engineers, which will either continue or halt the project, but the city won’t be deemed in breach of its obligations.
The scheduled vote on the resolutions comes after council members discussed the project during a City Council retreat Friday.
“This council has never questioned the efficacy of the project,” said City Manager Chip Filer said Friday, calling the floodwall “remarkable.” Filer attributed the deliberation on the part of the council to the cost of the project and said the floodwall is “easily the biggest infrastructure project in the city’s history.”
“There’s some urgency because of the schedule of the project,” Filer said. “We want to be respectful of that urgency while being pragmatic and answering the questions council members have.”
“Although I understand we must act, we’re not clear what we’re acting on,” Councilwoman Mamie Johnson said during Friday’s retreat. “Every time we bring up this discussion, there’s more added to what our projected future is.”
Discussion about changes to the project followed an adjustment the Army Corps of Engineers made to the plan agreement last week.
“We need to get this done,” Johnson added, saying she wanted clarity on different elements of the project before the vote.
Councilwoman Andria McClellan expressed urgency at the council meeting on April 11, saying she thought delaying the vote could put the city’s future at risk.
McClellan had the same stance at Friday’s retreat.
“I think we have to move forward,” she said. “We should have voted on this in January. We should have voted on this in February. We should have voted in March. I’m glad we delayed it because we had the opportunity to listen to the southside and I think we’ve made some adjustments that are very appropriate. But I think at this point, we are at risk right now for losing the money.”
McClellan doesn’t think the changes that the Army Corps of Engineers proposed last Tuesday are substantive. Kyle Spencer, chief resilience officer, explained the changes bring the project in line with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and do not affect obligations laid out for the city or the federal government.
“Once a project is started and authorized by Congress, the government is obligated to finish that project,” Spencer said, explaining that floods in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina showed failures in systems that weren’t completed.
Cianna Morales, 757-957-1304, cianna.morales@virginiamedia.com
