Environmental Resilience

Resilient Coastal Communities Program

The Town has been awarded grant funding through the NC Division of Coastal Management’s (DCM) Resilient Coastal Communities Program (RCCP) to begin a Neighborhood Stormwater Management Study. The Town has identified five residential neighborhoods that experience routine flooding from stormwater runoff. This study will investigate the causes of the flooding, engage affected property owners, and evaluate potential solutions.

The RCCP Phase 3 Final Report can be viewed here. This will be presented to Town Council at the May 3, 2023 Council Meeting. You are welcome to attend in-person or view the livestream. Please click here for more information.

Ways to Stay Involved
  1. Check out the Town’s resilience project matrix, with descriptions of needed projects identified through the planning efforts listed above. We will post a short survey soon where you can rank these projects by importance to you.
  2. View the Interactive Critical Infrastructure & Hazards Map to learn more about how various natural hazards are projected to affect Duck.
  3. Review the Menu of Potential Solutions being recommended in your neighborhood.
  4. The March 30, 2023 Open House with VHB can be viewed here.
  5. The April 12, 2023 Environmental Open House with Coastal Protection Engineering can be viewed here.
  6. Following the presentation, rank your preferences for Non- Structural and Structural projects/ initiatives by completing this online survey. Your responses will be used by Town Staff to prioritize the listed initiatives and finalize the Town’s updated portfolio of resilience projects. The PDF of the presentation is available as well. Survey responses will be closed on Friday, April 21, 2023.

Thank you to those who provided input for the first round of engagement for the Duck Stormwater Study! The Town map and comments can be viewed at:

Duck Stormwater Management Study (arcgis.com)

Project Background

In 2021, Duck was chosen as one of many communities to participate in the RCCP. This new program addresses the need to advance coastal resilience for over 20 coastal counties in North Carolina. This program provides funding and technical assistance to Duck for developing resilience strategies and associated project engineering, design, and implementation, and incentivizes innovative solutions (natural and nature-based).

The overall goal of the RCCP is to involve the community in setting coastal resilience goals, assessing the existing conditions and needed capacity, and identifying and prioritizing projects that will enhance Duck’s resilience and response to coastal hazards. This process will eventually result in a Resilience Strategy for the Town of Duck.

Map of NC Resilient Coastal Communities Program participants and contractors

The RCCP is broken down into four phases, shown below:

Diagram showing the four phases of the NC Resilient Coastal Communities Program: 1. Community Engagement; Risk & Vulnerability Assessment 2. Planning, Project identification, & prioritization 3. Engineering & Design 4. Implementation
From NC RCCP Handbook

The Town has undertaken numerous planning efforts that will aid this process:

The project team has been building a foundation for the Resilience Strategy through these Town planning efforts. The Town is well on its way through Phase 2 of this program – Planning, Project Identification, & Prioritization. Phase 2 of the project wrapped up in Spring/ Summer 2022. The Town is now in Phase 3.

The project team will primarily use this website and the town E-news releases to let members of the community know about project updates and ways they can provide input and participate in the planning process.

Project Related Materials

Contact Information

The project’s core team includes town staff who are managing the program and the consultant team. For questions or for more information, contact:

Sandy Cross
Senior Planner
scross@townofduck.com