Fairfax County Adopts First-Ever Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan
Resilient Fairfax Plan Establishes Goals and Strategies to Reduce Risks from Flooding, Extreme Heat and Severe Storms
FAIRFAX, Va. – Nov. 1, 2022 – Today, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors adopted Resilient Fairfax, the county’s first-ever Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan. Resilient Fairfax focuses on climate effects, helping Fairfax County adapt to increasing climate hazards experienced locally. In Fairfax County, changing climate conditions include a measurable increase in precipitation intensity, extreme heat, and storm severity, among other hazards. As Fairfax County faces increasingly “warmer, wetter, and weirder” conditions on average, the strategies in the Resilient Fairfax plan will help the county boost the resilience of our population, infrastructure, public service systems, and natural resources to climatic hazards.
The Resilient Fairfax plan answers five major questions in one package:
- What are Fairfax County’s current and future climate conditions? (Climate Projections Report; NASA DEVELOP Report on Urban Heat Island Effect in Fairfax County)
- What are Fairfax County's top climate vulnerabilities and risks? (Climate Vulnerability and Risk Assessment; Interactive Climate Map Viewer)
- Do Fairfax County's current policies, plans, and programs address climate resilience? (Audit of Existing Policies, Plans, and Programs)
- What strategies should Fairfax County use to enhance climate adaptation and resilience?
- How can Fairfax County implement those strategies?
There are 48 total strategies in the Resilient Fairfax plan, including 18 prioritized strategies. These strategies are organized into four main pillars: Integrated Action Planning, Climate-Ready Communities, Resilient Infrastructure and Buildings, and Adaptive Environments. The plan includes detailed implementation roadmaps for each of the 18 prioritized strategies, enabling county staff and other key stakeholders to efficiently transition into implementation.
The Resilient Fairfax plan and all technical reports were developed between February 2021 and October 2022. This process was led by the Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC) and involved a remarkable level of interagency coordination and stakeholder engagement, including a 20-department Planning Team, an Infrastructure Advisory Group, a Community Advisory Group, the public, and numerous Board, Authorities, and Commissions (BACs). In total, over 100 advisors were asked to review each deliverable throughout over 200 engagement meetings.
“The Resilient Fairfax Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan is an extraordinary guide for our County and community as we look to reduce risks related to climate change,” said Jeffrey C. McKay, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. “These changing conditions present a challenge, but also an opportunity. We recognize the power of building our resilience rather than responding to costly individual climate disasters in a piecemeal fashion. This plan defines a way forward that will help protect our residents, their homes, public services, natural resources, and the critical infrastructure that we all rely on.”
“Resilient Fairfax is a critical component of the county’s overall climate action effort,” said Dan Storck, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Environmental Committee. “Along with the Community-wide Energy and Climate Action Plan (CECAP), which focuses on emissions reduction, Resilient Fairfax sets us on a path to a more livable, healthy, safe, and sustainable community. Importantly, this plan takes equity into account at every turn, ensuring that the strategies outlined address our most vulnerable populations and those in greatest need of support.”
The Resilient Fairfax Plan and all associated deliverables are available to the public online.
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