Sustainability Plan Survey Planned

FENWICK ISLAND – Two resort committees met last week to begin the community involvement portion of a Community Sustainability Plan funded by a state grant.

Last Friday, members of the Fenwick Island Dredging and Environmental committees met in a joint meeting to kick-off the next phase of a Community Sustainability Plan, which identifies sustainability goals and creates a roadmap of sorts to achieve them.

Last year, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Division of Energy and Climate awarded $245,000 in grant funding to the cities of Wilmington and Newark, and the towns of Frederica, Milton and Fenwick Island, to create a local sustainability plan that would ultimately serve more than 100,000 Delaware residents.

The plan is expected to identify ways to save energy, reduce pollution, increase green space, and overall, make communities health and livable.

Fenwick Island received $40,000 from the grant award and provided a $12,000 match to complete a sustainability plan for the town.

“This grant was offered by DNREC as an opportunity to look at resiliency within our community,” said Town Manager Terry Tieman.

Since receiving the grant last year, Tieman said officials have been gathering data from the town’s comprehensive plan and examining studies and maps. She added the sustainability plan would address resiliency issues plaguing the municipality, including sea level rise, dredging, beach replenishment, back bay flooding and the lack of sidewalks.

“It is a more focused comprehensive plan on what the community and visitors believe are key sustainability issues,” she said.

Tieman said officials are currently in the process of forming a survey that will be posted online and mailed out to community members at the beginning of the year.

“We want to get as many people as possible returning it as possible,” she said.

Tieman highlighted the importance of the sustainability plan.

“It helps us put together what we think are critical issues and how they can be addressed,” she said. “Some may be easily addressed and some may be outside the scope of the municipality.”

For more information on the Community Sustainability Plan, visit https://fenwickisland.delaware.gov/community-stability-plan/.

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.