Abstract

The Town of Branford has approximately 28,225 residents living within 22.0 square miles of land. The town has over 20 miles of coastline along Long Island Sound. Recent events such as Tropical Storm Irene and Hurricane Sandy have underscored the risks associated with occupying coastal areas and highlighted the fact that property owners and municipalities bear a heavy financial burden to recover from these types of events.

This Coastal Resilience Plan has been developed as a toolbox to build coastal resilience in the coming years. The plan presents a menu of townwide and location-specific options that are available to adapt to changing conditions or, at the very least, prepare for the future events like Hurricane Sandy. As time passes and our collective understanding of sea level rise is refined, Branford will have the option to update this plan to reflect the town’s evolving approaches to building resilience.