At this Lunch & Learn meeting, Tiffany Zezula and Jessica Bacher from Pace University’s Land Use Law Center will share how local land use policies provide an important set of tools for municipalities to improve flood resilience in their communities. They will discuss their work to date using the Resilience Implementation and Strategic Enhancements (RISE) Local Assessment Tool, developed by FEMA and the US Environmental Protection Agency to help municipalities assess and refine local laws and policies to improve resilience and achieve desired community outcomes. Julie Noble, Sustainability Coordinator from the City of Kingston, will share her experience working through the RISE tool with the Land Use Law Center and incorporating recommendations into their Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan (LWRP).

In 2025, a cohort of municipalities that are Members of the Hudson Valley Flood Resilience Network will have the opportunity to work directly with the Land Use Law Center to walk through the RISE Local Assessment Tool. These municipalities will participate in a Land Use Leadership Alliance (LULA) training to work through the assessment together, thanks to funding support from the Hudson River Estuary Program. We’ll have more information on the details of this program in the coming months.

More information about the RISE Local Assessment Tool is available here: https://dos.ny.gov/system/files/docum...

This program is sponsored by the Hudson River Estuary Program, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, with support from the New York State Water Resources Institute at Cornell University.