Grants For Flood Mitigation Provided To Alexandria From State

ALEXANDRIA, VA — State grants for projects addressing flooding are headed to Alexandria, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday.

The governor said 30 projects from 22 localities will receive grants from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund, which gets funding from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The projects are designed to build capacity as well as plan and start projects addressing recurrent flooding, sea level rise and severe weather.

The grants include $3,241,200 for design of the Waterfront Improvement Project and $516,500 for phase 1 of a capacity project at Edison Street and Dale Street in Arlandria. This is the second round of grants awarded by the state from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund. In the last round of funding in October, Alexandria received $115,200 for study and design of two green infrastructure concept projects in the Four Mile Run watershed.

Waterfront improvements are part of a multi-year effort by the city to address flooding and revitalize the waterfront. The waterfront experiences tidal flooding, and one of the most significant tidal flooding events in recent history happened in late October.

Capacity projects address a different issue than waterfront tidal flooding. Some inland areas may experience flooding when the stormwater infrastructure takes in more stormwater than it can handle.

There are 11 stormwater system capacity projects identified in the city's fiscal years 2022-2031 plan. The top three priority projects received design funding in the fiscal year 2022 budget — Commonwealth Avenue and E. Glebe Road project, E. Glebe Road and Ashby project, and Hooff’s Run Culvert/Timber Branch Bypass project. The fourth priority project — a storage and conveyance project at Edison and Dale Streets — now has phase 1 funding.

Grants are funded by sale of carbon emission allowances under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. This initiative is a collaboration between Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector. Virginia is the first Southern state to join the initiative, but Republican Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin indicated he would remove Virginia from the initiative. Youngkin called it a "carbon tax that is fully passed on to [electric] ratepayers," as reported by the Washington Post. Democrats countered that Virginia would lose out on millions in annual flooding and energy-assistance funds.