Nearly 200 people attended the first annual Delaware Resilient and Sustainable Communities Summit at the Del Tech Conference Center on November 27, 2017. The event drew a diverse audience from throughout Delaware, including representatives from 22 towns, 16 Nonprofit and Community Groups, 15 Federal and State Agencies, 14 professional services companies, six county and regional planning organizations, and five institutions of higher learning.

The theme of the event, “Lessons of the 2017 Hurricanes: Learning From the Past to Prepare Our Communities For the Future,” featured presentations on community resiliency success stories, storm climatology and implications for Delaware, and how people perceive storm warnings and evacuation orders, courtesy of our keynote speaker, Nancy Balcom from Connecticut Sea Grant.

DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin also announced the release of new State of Delaware Sea Level Rise Scenarios, a planning and decision-making tool that projects sea-level rise out to the year 2100, developed by a technical committee convened by DNREC Delaware Coastal Programs (DCP) and chaired by the Delaware Geological Survey.

For those that attended, thank you for coming! And many, many thanks go to the Outreach Committee and all the volunteers who helped make the day a success! Full list of summit registrants.

Summit Presentations

Panel 1: Storms, Climatology and Changing Conditions in Delaware

Alan Cope, Science and Operations Officer, National Weather Service, Philadelphia/Mt. Holly Forecast Office

Dan Leathers, Delaware State Climatologist, University of Delaware

John Callahan, Climate Scientist, Delaware Geological Survey

Panel 2: Improving Resiliency at the Community Level

Alastair Probert, South District Engineer, Delaware Department of Transportation

Marianne Walch, Science and Restoration Coordinator, Delaware Center for the Inland Bays

Connie Holland, Director, Office of State Planning Coordination

Keynote Speaker

Nancy Balcom, Associate Director, Connecticut Sea Grant
Communicating Storm Risk: Insights on Human Behavior in the Wake of Superstorm Sandy and the 2017 Hurricanes

Stories from the Field

Cindy Todd and Mike Powell, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control

Rob Pierce, Planning and Economic Activities Coordinator, City of Milford

Harry Ward, Mayor, Town of Slaughter Beach

For full presentations or presentation-specific questions, please contact the speakers directly.

Related Topics:  coastal, communities, education, ocean and coasts, resilient communities, summit, sustainable, training