Nantucket’s first Coastal Resilience Plan (CRP) is a critical component of the Town and County of Nantucket’s preparations for adapting to sea level rise, coastal flooding, and coastal erosion. The CRP provides a roadmap for building resilience to flooding and erosion along Nantucket’s coastline by recommending 40 near-term projects with pathways for long-term adaptation. The project packages combine gray engineering approaches with innovative methods for building with nature to keep people safe, promote healthy and vibrant communities, and honor the heritage of Nantucket.

The CRP development process brought together climate science, community engagement, engineering and technical analysis, urban and landscape planning and design, and implementation planning. This included examination of a range of coastal risk reduction options including structural, non-structural, and nature-based approaches for the entire island and several focus areas. By engaging a wide range of community groups in the process, the Town is ensuring that the CRP can move forward to implementation with broad input and support. The planning process was undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic and combined in-person site visits with online stakeholder workshops and virtual public engagement sessions.

The final report for the Nantucket Coastal Resilience Plan is available here.

• Client: Town of Nantucket, MA

• Performance period: September 2020 – October 2021

• Collaborators: Arcadis, Stoss Landscape Urbanism, The Craig Group