Burlington County is partnering with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and 11 county municipalities to assess climate change-related hazards in towns within the Route 130 Corridor and make plans to improve resiliency to future floods and severe storms.
As part of the initiative, the DEP and the county will host three upcoming public workshops for residents to learn more about the planning initiative and provide their input.
The first workshop will be held at the Burlington Township Municipal Building on Thursday, April 10, from 5:15 to 6:45 p.m. The meeting will focus on hazards and resiliency in Burlington City, Burlington Township and Florence.
The second workshop will be held at the Kennedy Center in Willingboro on Tuesday, April 22, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The focus will be on the communities of Willingboro, Beverly and Edgewater Park.
The final workshop will be held at the Delran Municipal Building on Thursday, April 24, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The focus will be on Delran, Palmyra, Riverton, Cinnaminson and Riverside.
The meetings will feature presentations from DEP’s Resilient NJ Municipal Assistance planners and Dewberry, a consultant firm contracted by the DEP to lead the Route 130 Corridor resiliency project.
The Burlington County Engineering and Planning Office is also a partner on the project.
The 11 municipalities are all located along the Delaware River and its tributaries, including the Rancocas, Assiscunk and Pompeston creeks. All 11 have been impacted by flooding and severe storm events.
The resiliency planning is being led by the DEP and its Office of Climate Resilience. Previously, the office has worked on climate planning in the Northeast part of the state, the Raritan River and Bay communities, Long Beach Island and the Coastal Region.
The planning project is the first undertaken by the Office of Climate Resilience involving contiguous communities not directly on the Atlantic Coast.
