The Maryland Coast Smart Design Guidelines address flooding from all sources. The Coast Smart Council
issued its 2016 final report this week. The program is summarized in a
section that begins on page 4 of the report, here (link).
The Brendan Iribe building at the
University of Maryland College Park is featured on page 17 of the report. While
the project is being constructed outside the 100 year flood plain, its
proximity to the Paint Branch and the potential for flooding encouraged the
planning team to adopt a number of Coast Smart design elements that will serve
the facility well in the future.
Most of you are aware of the 2014
legislation that established the Coast Smart Council and the 2015 bill that
established the basis for the Council’s design guidelines for State projects,
here (link).
Obviously, the most effective
prevention against a potential flooding problem is to locate a new facility
(where possible) outside the impacted area. This should be a critical
consideration during the master planning process. The State also requires
that Coast Smart design be considered during the programming process. The
report says:
The language DBM has
incorporated into the Facility Program Manual, Part II, page 34, is as
follows: “All facility programs shall comply with the Coast Smart
Construction Program under the Coast Smart Council in the Department of Natural
Resources, created by House Bill 615-Section 3-1001-3-1004 (2014) to establish
Coast Smart Infrastructure siting and design criteria to address sea level rise
and coastal flood impacts on capital projects.”
Finally, page 18 of the report
includes information and resources for working with communities. Those of
you whose campuses experience somewhat regular flooding may wish to use some of
these tools in conjunction with your local governments to address the larger,
common problem.
Regardless, I thought the report offered some useful
ideas and examples.
[Photo source: Referenced report.]
[Photo source: Referenced report.]
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