The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act: Proposed Modifications to Improve Resilience to Sea Level Rise

There are a number of ways to increase resiliency to sea level rise, and localities should consider all of the potential methods available to them, as not all methods are feasible in every locality. This paper will examine how the CBPA [Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, the Act ] currently works to protect water quality and its current capability to help localities improve resilience. It will also consider some potential changes to the CBPA and other programs that may increase the Act’s ability to promote community resilience to sea level rise through rational development while maintaining the water quality benefits that the CBPA currently provides to the Commonwealth. Chief among the proposed changes to the CBPA considered in this paper is the possibility of expressly providing for rolling easements for Resource Protection Areas (RPAs) to ensure that the benefits of required 100-foot buffer zones are not lost when shorelines change as a result of coastal erosion and sea level rise. This abstract has been adapted from the author\u27s introduction