Staying Even with Mother Nature
On the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan, the city of St. Joseph is vulnerable to flooding from storm surges. Residents and city officials recognized the need to build resilience and worked together to enact a "no-build" ordinance to help minimize coastal erosion and retain beach access.
References:
- Ocean Service Education, 2018: Coastal Currents. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, accessed March 2019.
- Matuszak, John, 2012: How close is too close to the water? The (St. Joseph Michigan) Herald-Palladium, posted 19 June 2012, accessed March 2019.
- Matuszak, Jonn, 2012: A line in the sand. The (St. Joseph Michigan) Herald-Palladium, posted 22 July 2012, accessed March 2019.
- Matuszak, John, 2012: No more mistakes on the lake. The (St. Joseph Michigan) Herald-Palladium, posted 7 November 2012, accessed March 2019.
- City of St. Joseph Coastal Engineering Study, Update 2017 (Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, Michigan: Abonmarche Consultants, Inc. and Edgewater Resources, LLC, 2018).
Story Credit:
Adapted with permission by Metis Meloche and Benjamin Chappelow, Narrative Writing Interns with UNC Asheville's NEMAC, from the case study "Engaging Communities to Promote Coastal Zoning" by Bridget Faust, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, originally published December 14, 2013, and later updated in April 2016 and March 2018, the local story "St. Joseph Protects Public Trust with Ground Breaking Ordinance," both from the Great Lakes Coastal Resilience Planning Guide. See link at right, under Additional Resources.
Banner Image Credit:
St. Joseph's Pierhead Lighthouse at sunset. Photo by Flickr user Chris "Mr. Pants" Landis, CC-BY-2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), via Flickr
Last modified:
23 April 2024 - 9:53am
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