Memphis and Shelby County
Office of Sustainability and Resilience
Shelby County National Disaster Resilience Competition Grant
Learn more about the National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC) and how our office works to improve regional resilience across Shelby County, TN.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS
SHELBY COUNTY NATIONAL DISASTER RESILIENCE GRANT AMENDMENT
Shelby County Government’s Division of Planning and Development will hold two public hearings to share information and receive public comments about the Shelby County National Disaster Resilience Action Plan Amendment #10 which will be submitted by Shelby County Government to the U.S. Department of HUD on or around December 30, 2024. The NDR grant was awarded to Shelby County in 2016 and provides funding to implement long-term resilience strategies that fortify the county against future floods. The NDR activities focus on improvement to three geographical areas, one in each local watershed, and development of the Regional Resilience Plan. All four activities are outlined and described in greater detail in the NDR Action Plan, as amended. All Action Plan materials are available for review at https://www.shelbycountyosr.com/resilientshelby.
The purpose of this public hearing is to solicit input from all stakeholders of the Shelby County Community concerning a proposed substantial amendment to the 10th Action Plan Amendment (APA #10). Once approved, the APA #10 will allow for the following changes to the grant:
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Redistribute funding across activities in the Wolf River Greenway project in the amount of $557,559.29. Funding will be moved from activities 3 NDR 01 (Orchi Road) and 3 NDR 07 (Wolf River Greenway) to activities 3-NDR-02 (Rodney Baber), 3- NDR -02 (Kennedy Park) and 3-NDR-05 (Engineering).
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Cancel the activity 3-NDR-01 (Orchi Road).
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Update direct leverage and supporting leverage commitments by increasing the value from various sources in both types of leverage.
Materials that detail the changes can be viewed, and public comment submitted prior to the APA being submitted to HUD on-line at https://www.shelbycountyosr.com/resilientshelby or at any of the following locations during regular operating hours:
Office of Sustainability and Resilience, City of Memphis
City Hall, 125 N. Main Street
4th Floor, Suite 477
Public libraries, including:
The Benjamin L. Hooks Central
Barlett Library
Arlington Library,
Collierville Library,
Germantown Library and,
Millington Library
The public hearings will serve as another method for the public to obtain information, and provide public comment, about the pending changes to the Action Plan. Each public hearing will begin with a presentation of the changes followed by time for questions.
Meetings will be held at the following locations, dates and times:
December 12, 2024 from 12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m at 6465 Mullins Station Road, Memphis, 38134
December 12, 2024 from 5:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m at 6465 Mullins Station Road, Memphis, 38134
If you have questions or plan to attend the public hearing and have special needs, please contact either of the following individuals or TTY at 901-222-2300 by 4:30 p.m. Monday, December 9, 2024.
Leigh Huffman, Manager
Office of Sustainability and Resilience
Division of Planning and Development
City of Memphis and Shelby County
(901) 636-6699
Scott Walkup, Administrator
Shelby County Department of Housing
(901) 222-7610
scott.walkup@shelbycountytn.gov
Citizen input and public participation is strongly encouraged from all sectors of the Shelby County community. Shelby County does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age or disability in employment or the provision of services. Equal opportunity/equal access provider. To ensure a meaningful and timely response, all public comments about the APA #10 must be submitted no later than 4:30 p.m. on December 30, 2024.
Para mas información en Español, por favor llame al 901-222-2088.
Lee Harris
Mayor
Leigh Huffman, Manager
Office of Sustainability and Resilience
Division of Planning and Development
Overview
About the National Disaster Resilience Competition Grant
The U.S Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) made $1 billion available in CDBG-DR funding to state and local governments impacted by disasters in 2011 – 2013 for the purpose of promoting innovative resilience projects to better prepare communities for future storms and other events. Due to a series of severe storms and floods in April and May 2011, Shelby County was one of 67 eligible jurisdictions for the NDRC. In January 2016, Shelby County was awarded $60M in federal funds for its Greenprint for Resilience project.
The project includes four activities: projects along Big Creek, Wolf River, and South Cypress Creek and a regional resilience plan to model and plan for flood impact and other climate risk across the county and tri-state region. The three place-based activities include scalable solutions to create flood resilience, community redevelopment and connectivity to benefit low- to-moderate-income communities in Memphis and Millington, TN.
Shelby County Application Overview & Key Points
Using a concept of “making room for the river,” Shelby County’s approach to resilience builds off of the Mid-South and Regional Greenprint and Sustainability Plan to address four core resilience values:
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Protect lives and improve quality of life through creation of wetlands and other flood storage to protect communities and create green assets.
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Reduce community burden of vacancy and vulnerable housing by removing residents from homes at risk of continued flooding and developing a vacant lot program to reduce 47% vacancy rates in Memphis.
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Establish connectivity to opportunities and community assets, building on the regional Greenprint with nearly 30 miles of new trails or bike paths connecting to green space, housing and jobs.
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Implement the regional sustainability plan integrating scalable, resilient solutions by creating innovative solutions to flood prone communities along Greenprint corridors.
Our
Story
Shelby County’s Greenprint for Resilience Project awarded $60 million
On January 21, 2016, the federal department of Housing and Urban Development announced that Shelby County is the recipient of a $60 million federal grant to increase its resiliency over the next three years. The funds will be used in local areas with recovery needs from 2011 flooding in addition to developing a Regional Resilience Strategy.
Shelby County Resilience Council
Appointed by Mayor Mark H. Luttrell, Jr. in July 2015, the aim of the Shelby County Resilience Council (SCRC) is to foster and implement resilience in Shelby County and the mid-south region. In a region with certain future flood events, the resilience measures implemented by the SCRC will act to preserve and protect vital assets of the community, with the citizens of the region and natural environment paramount among these. The SCRC is comprised of key members of county government from the Dept. of Public Works, Office of Sustainability, Dept. of Housing, Dept. of Engineering, and Office of Preparedness.
In the News
The Shelby County NDRC effort has been featured in local and national media. Read, look and listen by clicking the links below:
http://www.highgroundnews.com/innovationnews/DraftResiliencePlan.asp
ABC Local 24 “Shelby County Competes for Grant Money”
“Multiple Benefits of Community Resilience”
About the Award:
Memphis Flyer: County Wins Huge Grant for Disaster Plan
Memphis Daily News: HUD Funds Mid-South Greenprint with $60 Million Grant
High Ground News: $60M grant to reshape flood-prone areas
South Cypress Creek Groundbreaking Ceremony:
Past Events
West Tennessee Fair Housing Conference
On Thursday, April 11, 2019, Shelby County worked with the Tennessee Human Rights Council to sponsor its Annual Fair Housing Conference at the National Civil Rights Museum.
Second Round of Resilience Plan Public Workshops:
Shelby County’s Office of Resilience and its partners held a second round of public workshops to illustrate the progress they have made on the Mid-South Regional Resilience Plan. The workshops were held on May 22nd, May 23rd and May 24th of 2018. To view of a copy of the presentation, click: Second Public Workshop Presentation.
First Round of Resilience Plan Public Workshops:
Shelby Government’s Office of Resilience and Shelby County’s partners in the National Disaster Resilience Grant hosted three workshops to begin to gather public input on the creation of the Mid-South Regional Resilience Plan. The public meetings were held on January 30, 2018 through February 1, 2018.
The purposes of the Resilience Plan are to identify unmet recovery needs in the Mid-South Region following three storms in 2011, identify potential future resilience activities which will make the Mid-South Region less susceptible to and more secure from future disasters, and to develop and prepare resilience strategies to storms, flooding, snow and ice, and other climate- and weather-related events which can be addressed as potential funding becomes available. The geographic extent of the plan includes all of Shelby and DeSoto Counties, as well as parts of Fayette and Marshall Counties.
Interested residents, parties, and stakeholders joined the master planning team at the three workshops and shared their opinions on the best strategies for handling and recovering from future weather-related incidents. To view a copy of the presentation given during the workshops, click to download: Public Workshop Presentation.
Third Public Meeting: Wolf River Wetland and Restoration Project
Ed Rice Community Center was the host of the public meeting held on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 at 5:30PM. Residents of the Kennedy Park, Rodney Baber Park and Orchi Road neighborhoods, and surrounding areas, gathered in the Meeting Room to hear a brief presentation by Kimley-Horn and Associates. The consultants presented design concepts that included modifications to Kennedy Park, Rodney Baber Park, and Orchi Road which will interconnect via the Wolf River Greenway.
The presentation was followed by a question and answer session, where neighborhood residents asked specific questions about fields, parking, lighting and facilities. The attendees also had the opportunity to present comments and questions on index cards. The evening was concluded by the attendees reviewing the proposed design plans.
Second Public Meeting: South Cypress Creek Project
Mitchell High School was again the host of the second public meeting held on Tuesday, December 5th at 6 p.m. Residents of the West Junction Neighborhood and surrounding areas gathered in the cafeteria to hear a brief presentation by Sasaki, Inc. and to participate in an open workshop. The consultants presented three different approaches based on feedback from the meeting on September 28th. Each approach focused on abating the flood issues from South Cypress Creek that have plagued the neighborhood. The “Green Landings” approach featured creek access through board walks and extension of green space. The “Neighborhood Heart” focuses on redevelopment efforts in the heart of the community, while also providing trails and water access to South Cypress Creek. The final approach, “Community Spine”, provides for additional green space and park areas on the southern portion of the neighborhood. The park area is connected to the remainder of the neighborhood through trail connections that meander throughout the neighborhood including the South Cypress Creek floodway. All three concepts and approaches are provided.
After the presentation, the attendees were given a worksheet to complete during the walk-through workshop. The worksheets were collected at the end of the workshop and will be used to further refine the resident’s vision for the neighborhood within the constraints of the National Disaster Resilience Grant.
First Public Meeting: West Junction Neighborhood Design Meeting:
On Thursday, September 28th, 2017, Shelby County and the City of Memphis’ Office of Resilience, along with Sasaki, University of Tennessee’s Extension Institute of Agriculture, and Memphis Tilth, facilitated a design workshop for the West Junction Neighborhood. The workshop was held in the cafeteria at Mitchell High School.
The lead project consultant, Sasaki, gave a presentation to the community that included information about the Resilience Grant, including an extensive history about the grant and how the funds will be allocated for wetland restoration designs, re-purposing vacant lots to accomplish community and economic development, and increase access to fresh, healthy foods.
The presentation was followed by a question and answer session, where neighborhood residents asked specific questions about lot transformation and stream and wetland restoration. The evening was concluded by breaking the attendees into small groups. Each group was facilitated to allow the participants to express their desires for their neighborhood through choosing a specific pre-determined land use type. The consultants are currently analyzing the information gained at the workshop and will present the results to the residences in another design/workshop format in late November or early December of 2017.
Below are some pictures from the West Junction Neighborhood Design Meeting: