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Projects

Current Projects

  • VA No Adverse Impact Legal Guide
    • This project is developing the Virginia No Adverse Impact Legal Guide, based specifically on Virginia law, for understanding the legal landscape of risk related to development and to denials of permits in floodplain management. This is crucial as Virginia’s constitutional protections of private property rights differ from those of the U.S. Constitution, and Virginia tort law has features that distinguish it from many states.
  • Changing Vertical Datums
    • This project will catalog references to vertical datums in the Virginia Code, Virginia Administrative Code, and at least one set of representative local government documents, evaluate potential impacts, evaluate how this might affect policy, and make recommendations to address latent policy changes if necessary. This project is funded by the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program through a grant to DEQ from NOAA under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act.
  • Grandfathered Water Intakes
    • This project works with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and Virginia Marine Resources Commission to assess how many intakes of surface water, primarily from industrial sources, are unpermitted under current Virginia law. The project will begin by conducting a literature review of existing Virginia laws and data related to surface water intakes and continue with interviews with state agencies to understand why there are so many instances of unpermitted intakes and what solutions there may be to mitigate the problem.
  • Integrated Stormwater & Floodplain Management Standards
    • This project is a multi-phased effort to examine how to integrate stormwater management practices together with baseline floodplain management efforts under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), accounting for exacerbated stormwater flooding events driven by increased rainfall and more severe weather trends.  
  • Permitting & Regulatory Ecosystem for Shellfish Enhancement Programs in Federal Waters
    • This project is part of a larger collaborative effort between the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary, Rutgers University, the University of Georgia, Virginia Sea Grant, New Jersey Sea Grant, and the Consensus Building institute. The project aims at creating a region-specific resource enhancement framework for shellfish in federal waters. The project involves identification and understanding of existing regulatory, legal, and policy environments for shellfish enhancement techniques in federal waters.