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Regional hazard mitigation and climate-adaptation plan reviewed; adoption would keep Newington eligible for grants
Summary
CRCOG and CIRA presented an updated Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation plan and a Newington annex; presenters said adoption helps the town retain eligibility for flood mitigation and resilience grants and includes new sections on extreme heat and climate-aligned funding.
Newington staff and regional planners briefed the council on the Capital Region Council of Governments’ five-year Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation plan and the town annex that accompanies it.
Presenters from CRCOG and the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRA) outlined major changes in the 2024 cycle, including an expanded focus on climate adaptation, a new extreme-heat section and alignment with state resilience programs. The speakers said an adopted plan is often required by federal and state grant programs for flood mitigation and disaster resilience.
Town planning staff and emergency-management partners reviewed the annex’s inventories of critical facilities, cooling centers and generator locations, highlighted mapping layers for flood zones and environmental-justice and discussed mitigation strategies such as assessing detention areas, acquiring backup generators and improving tree-forestry management to reduce storm-related outages.
Councilors asked about how the regional plan coordinates with neighboring towns and how projects would be prioritized and funded. CRCOG staff said many implementation projects rely on competitive planning and implementation grants, typically requiring local matching funds at levels that vary by program. The presenters said collaboration across municipalities is expected for watershed-scale flood mitigation and that the annex is intended to strengthen grant applications.
