EPR Team awarded pivotal project implementing natural infrastructure flood mitigation in North Carolina
The North Carolina Department of Mitigation Services has awarded a contract for the Stoney Creek Pilot Project to Ecosystem Planning & Restoration, LLC. The project will mitigate flooding using natural infrastructure, which mimics natural processes.
“As experts in Nature-Based Solutions and a long-standing consultant to NC Department of Mitigation Services, EPR is uniquely qualified to lead a successful pilot project that will inform future phases of work in North Carolina,”Kevin Tweedy, EPR Principal and Project Manager.
Team members, Moffit and Nichol, Greenman Pedersen, Inc, and WSP USA join EPR, forming a team that will utilize local knowledge and extensive experience to natural infrastructure solutions that alleviate flooding.
“EPR Team members have spent their careers developing successful projects in local communities. Efforts to make improvements within a local community are best achieved when there is active engagement, input, and direction from the community being served.” Sonny Kaiser, EPR Principal.
The Team will provide planning, stakeholder engagement, and implementation of flood mitigation projects within the Stoney Creek watershed, a subwatershed of the Neuse River Basin, that encompasses much of the City of Goldsboro. Other critical components of the project include acquisition, permitting and agency coordination, construction oversight and surveying, operations and maintenance planning, and performance monitoring.
The Stoney Creek Pilot Project will target flooding which impacts businesses, roadways, and access to emergency services in Wayne County and Goldsboro. These systems can include strategies like building wetlands and restoring streams and floodplains which help store water and attenuate flooding.
Success in the Stoney Creek watershed will serve as the basis for expanding natural infrastructure flood mitigation projects to additional watersheds. Lessons learned through the Stoney Creek project will help develop scaling solutions to enhance community flood resilience across North Carolina.
The Stoney Creek Pilot Project kicked off in early January 2023.
CONTACT: Kevin Tweedy, EPR Principal and Project ManagerPhone: 832-399-3400
E-Mail: ktweedy@eprusa.net
Ecosystem Planning and Restoration, LLC
www.eprusa.net
In 2020, the NC General Assembly created the Natural Infrastructure Flood Mitigation Program (NIFMP) within DMS, incorporating flood storage capacity enhancement projects into the Department’s activities. The 2021 Appropriations Act further supported this mission by setting aside $3.5 million to create pilot projects addressing chronic flooding in the Stoney Creek watershed. DMS also received funding through the NC Office of Recovery and Resilience from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to be used for NIFMP development.