Title
Comprehensive Plan Amendment No. 18-00001 by the City of Hampton to Adopt an Amendment to the Hampton Community Plan (2006, as amended) Pertaining to Resilience
Purpose
Background Statement:
This proposed Community Plan amendment reflects the work presented in the Resilient Hampton Phase I report Living with Water: A Holistic Approach to Addressing Sea Level Rise. The Phase I report was presented to Planning Commission in December 2017 and endorsed by City Council in January 2018. The Resilient Hampton initiative is a result of the 2015 Dutch Dialogues: Life at Sea Level design workshop, at the completion of which the City Managers of Norfolk and Hampton pledged to be leaders in resiliency in Hampton Roads.
Resilient Hampton recognizes an increasing concern about recurrent flooding, sea level rise, and vulnerability to coastal storms and weather events. Resilience focuses on building on the strength of a community’s existing assets in order to make the community able to recover from extreme events faster and relieve chronic stresses, with the ultimate outcome that the community is stronger than before. Hampton aims to move towards being a more resilient city before a potential extreme event can become a reality.
Adoption of this plan amendment would formally incorporate the work done to date into official guiding policy for future land use development. This primarily includes the goals established in the Phase I report, the guiding principles that detail how the City will undertake its resiliency work, and the eight community values staff heard through community outreach and research.
The proposed amendment provides updates to the following sections: Visions and Goals; existing land use conditions, anticipated future land use conditions, and land use policies in Land Use and Community Design; natural hazards, flood control, and anticipated future conditions in Environmental Stewardship and policies in Housing and Neighborhoods, Community Facilities and Transportation. The breadth of changes reflects the far reach needed for resilient efforts to be successful in the City of Hampton.
This amendment would satisfy the requirement under section 15.2-2223.3 of the Code of Virginia to incorporate strategies to combat sea-level rise and recurrent flooding into the comprehensive plan.
Recommendations:
Rec
Staff Recommendation:
Approve
Planning Commission Recommendation:
Approve