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Portsmouth to add sea-level-rise and resiliency reviews to Chesapeake Bay preservation area rules
Summary
Planning staff alerted the commission that state law requires local updates to Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area regulations: applications will need resiliency assessments for sea-level rise, flooding and storm surge, and the city must adopt the changes by Oct. 31, 2025.
Principal planner Valerie Melzyn told the Planning Commission that the City of Portsmouth must update its Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area ordinance (Chapter 9.1 of the city code) to incorporate mandatory state requirements for resiliency and sea-level-rise assessments.
Melzyn said the state code now requires localities to assess how sea-level rise, flooding and storm surge could affect proposed development in Resource Protection Areas during the plan-of-development review. The city’s required updates must be adopted by Oct. 31, 2025. Once adopted, resiliency assessments will be part of the materials submitted for Chesapeake Bay exception applications and for administrative review of plan-of-development applications within the preservation area.
Melzyn said some proposed local amendments would also exempt living shorelines — that is, stabilizing shorelines with natural materials such as sand, stone and plants rather than seawalls or bulkheads — from water-quality impact assessment requirements, and would add provisions to conserve mature trees within RPAs. She said other edits will correct scrivener’s errors and align the Bay-preservation ordinance with the city’s stormwater and erosion-and-sediment-control codes.
The presentation was informational; Melzyn said the commission will receive a detailed proposed amendment for formal review at an upcoming meeting, likely in August or September.
