HomeMy WebLinkAboutStormwater Extension Program UpdateStormwater Extension Program
Update to City Council
Kyle D. Coolbaugh, CFM | October 7, 2025
1
Agenda
•Program Summary
•Program Background
•Resources
•Funding
•Public Awareness
•Program Metrics
•Discussion
2
Program Summary
The Stormwater Extension Program works to
expand access to flooding mitigation information,
grant opportunities, and real time flood
information to residents and businesses
throughout Virginia Beach.
•This program is unique among communities
by establishing dedicated resources to flood
mitigation
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Program Background
•Identified as a phase II adaption program in the Sea
Level Wise Adaptation Strategy report, the
Stormwater Extension Program supports the goals of
Sea Level Wise by providing research and
appropriately-scaled mitigation strategies to
residents and businesses.
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Program Background
•The program began in January 2024, and initial
efforts were focused on researching mitigation
strategies to determine which would be appropriate
for use in our community.
•The initial focus of the program was to create the
Flooding Mitigation Toolbox containing information
about mitigation strategies, and to determine the
workflows of the program.
•The toolbox is now available on the City’s website at
VirginiaBeach.gov/StormwaterExtension.
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Resources
•The Flooding Mitigation Toolbox aggregates information
about mitigation strategies and presents the
information in an easy to understand, standardized
format.
•17 strategies are discussed.
•A table in the document allows residents to compare
variables between strategies.
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Resources
•Residents may schedule a site visit with the
Stormwater Extension Program Manager to discuss
site specific issues and get a more in-depth
understanding of their situation.
•Advocacy on behalf of residents and business
owners.
•Assisting those interesting in pursuing grant
opportunities.
•Engagement programs to help the public understand
how flooding effects the world around them.
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Resources
•Stormwater Extension oversees the sensor program
within Public Works.
•These sensors collect rainfall, water level, wind, and other
data points continuously throughout the city.
•This data is used before, during, and after storm events to
gauge the effectiveness of the stormwater system, locate
problem areas, evaluate storm intensity, and plan future
improvements.
•Cameras are being added to the sensor network to
increase situational awareness and to provide
redundancy.
•A.I./machine learning are being explored to further
enhance the sensor networks.
•Sensors will play a large role in the SWOCC center.
8
Funding
•The program was first funded by City Council in the
FY2023-2024 budget. The program currently has one
(1) FTE.
•Funding for the program comes from the
stormwater utility enterprise fund.
•Should the program continue to grow and demand
from the public increase, metrics-based decisions
will need to be made regarding additional staffing.
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Public Awareness
•Messaging about Stormwater Extension has been
slowly ramping up in preparation for fully opening
the program to the public.
•WHRO and WVEC-13 have both done items about
Stormwater Extension, as well as the City’s social media.
•With this presentation, the program is considered
fully open.
•Engagement with groups throughout the city (civic
leagues, HOAs, interest groups etc.) about mitigation,
stormwater, and flooding is available.
•More public messaging will be coming across various
means of communication.
10
Program Metrics
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Cases per District:
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
2 7%
6 20%
1 3%
5 17%
0 0%
7 23%
3 10%
4 13%
4 13%
2 7%
District 1
7%
District 2
20%
District 3
3%
District 4
17%
District 6
23%
District 7
. 10%
District 8
13%
District 9
13%
District 10
7%
37
Total Cases
8
Active Cases
Count %
Discussion
•Program Information:
•VirginiaBeach.gov/StormwaterExtension
•StormwaterExtension@VBgov.com
•757-385-1690
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VirginiaBeach.gov Flooding Mitigation
Toolbox
(AmazonAWS.com)