Currently 34 of the 135 municipalities in the Long Island Sound coastal boundary have plans that identify resilience priorities (25%). 8 of the 77 municipalities in New York have resilience plans (10%), and another 18 New York municipalities have plans in development (23%). In Connecticut, 26 of the 58 municipalities have plans (45%).
Answer: So far 34 out of 135 coastal municipalities have identified resilience priorities through standalone resilience plans or as a component of other municipal or regional plans. Creating plans to address environmental vulnerabilities sets up communities to be proactive and move forward with priority projects that can reduce risks from increasingly extreme weather events, sea level rise, and other environmental challenges.
*The Objective’s Measure of Success defines reasonable outcomes and ensure that progress towards the Objective can be clearly and precisely tracked over time.
Based on the Measure of Success, the overall status of this Objective is:
As of 2025, 34 municipalities have identified resilience priorities.
The primary measure of success is for all 135 municipalities within the coastal boundary to identify key resilience priorities.
There has been an increase in awareness and interest in creating resilience plans from municipalities. As of September 2025, there are 34 municipalities within the coastal boundary that have identified resilience priorities through a municipal or regional plan. Five new plans were developed from January-September 2025. 26 of the 58 municipalities in Connecticut currently have resilience plans and 8 of the 77 municipalities in New York currently have resilience plans. Another 18 municipalities in New York are actively working on resilience plans. Since 2024, the SRC team has offered an annual Planning Support Program that can be used by municipalities to hire contractors for developing such plans. This, along with guidance from state sustainability incentive programs should steadily increase the number of municipalities with these plans.
Communities striving for sustainability and resilience should work from agreed-upon local or regional plans to strategically advance priorities. Ideally these plans will identify potential threats to key structures and functions within communities, and understand the interconnection between a community’s economy, society, and ecology, and prioritize key resilience strategies and solutions. Development of plans should prioritize vulnerable communities and ensure that stakeholders are convened and included in each step. Resilience plans and priorities should be reviewed at least every 10 years and updated as appropriate. While resilience planning is encouraged through the entire watershed, this objective only tracks plans throughout the coastal boundary for capacity reasons.
Community capacity is a big hurdle for communities to develop these plans. In general, it is important to increase awareness about existing technical and financial resources available for resilience planning. The Long Island Sound Partnership funds two assistance programs that can help address these challenges: the LIS Resilience Grant Writing Assistance program and the LIS Resilience Planning Support Program, both offered through NY and CT Sea Grant.
Resilience planning is a critical process for communities to undertake in order to identify their vulnerabilities to a changing climate, assess their adaptive capacity, and strategize about the most effective ways to reduce these risks.
Sarah Schaefer-Brown, NY Sea Grant, sarahschaefer-brown@cornell.eduSarah Schechter, CT Sea Grant, sarah.schechter@uconn.edu
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