“The funding enables the City to take meaningful steps toward protecting its historic past while building a resilient future.” — St. Marys Community Development Director Jaime Stein
St. Marys, Ga. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is delivering resources to help protect downtown St. Marys from coastal flooding.
Sen. Ossoff is delivering $517,500 in Federal resources through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) National Coastal Resilience Fund to help the City mitigate flood impacts and restore natural habitats.
With the Federal resources, the City of St. Marys will complete preliminary design to restore a former coastal marsh area, which would help mitigate flood impacts.
“These funds will help build and maintain critical coastal infrastructure necessary to protect St. Marys residents and businesses from flooding,” Sen. Ossoff said. “I express my gratitude to Mayor Morrissey and local leaders and advocates in St. Marys for their work.”
“Receiving the National Coastal Resilience Funds from NFWF will enable the City of St. Marys to realize the vison of a downtown wetland park known as “the Spine”. Noted as the highest priority project for the City in the Camden County Resiliency Implementation Workplan (NFWF, 2022), the St. Marys Downtown ‘Spine’ area is a low-lying ~60 acre drainage basin in the center of the City that serves as critical flood retention by both draining stormwater to the north, east and west and absorbing flooding tides and storm surge where it connects with the St. Marys River at its southern terminal,” said Jaime Stein, Community Development Director for the City of St. Marys. “The funding enables the City to take meaningful steps toward protecting its historic past while building a resilient future.”
Sen. Ossoff continues working to protect Coastal Georgia communities from the effects of sea level rise and flooding.
This month, Sen. Ossoff delivered a $380,000 Federal grant through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) National Coastal Resilience Fund to help protect residents and homes from flooding on Tybee Island.
In October, Sen. Ossoff delivered a $1.6 million Federal grant through the Land and Water Conservation Fund to improve safety and connectivity within Stephen C. Foster State Park, while also taking steps to improve preservation measures at the campgrounds within the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
In May, Sen. Ossoff and EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced a historic $4 billion investment in clean energy infrastructure at the ports and the logistics industry in Savannah.
Sen. Ossoff also pushed to deliver funding and resources through the bipartisan infrastructure law to improve coastal resilience throughout the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, including protected lands in Coastal Georgia.
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