Coastal flooding due to sea level rise and storm surge are the greatest climate change threats to Cape Ann. The extent of coastal adaptation across the region will vary based on flood risk, income level, and land use.¹

Some structures in coastal and wetland areas will eventually need to be relocated. All efforts should be made to support the owners and inhabitants of these buildings as they decide when and how to relocate.

Policy makers must establish and communicate clear policies and goals for residents facing relocation due to rising flood insurance premiums and physical damages.²

While high-density, high-income areas with greater home values are more likely to pursue shoreline armoring, Cape Ann will likely go through a process of non-managed, market-based relocation as individuals make independent decisions to move away from flood-prone coastal areas.³

Property owners, developers, investors, financial lenders, and insurers may make decisions based on the potential financial impacts of climate disaster on future projects. This can trigger disinvestment in local development.⁴

In fact, this process is already occurring. In Massachusetts, coastal homes at risk of erosion and storm surge lost $273.4 million in appreciation between 2005 and 2017, and this rate will continue to increase.⁵ Individual properties at a substantial risk of flooding lose an average $5,264 in value annually. In 2021, Gloucester lost $9.69 million in property values due to flooding, the third largest such loss in Massachusetts.

For some, market-based relocation will be out of reach. Enhancing the stock of affordable housing is therefore a critical need on Cape Ann. Cape Ann has significant reserves of undeveloped land, including many parcels above projected flood elevations. These parcels provide possible sites for future development in Cape Ann’s upland communities, including in areas that were formerly inhabited and abandoned, such as Dogtown Common.

The process of constructing housing involves community participation in the form of Town Meeting and Zoning Board meetings. These forums are an important democratic feature of municipal decision-making. However, they may also unintentionally bias policy discussions in favor of an unrepresentative group of overwhelmingly older, male longtime residents and homeowners. Such participatory inequalities have far-reaching implications for the future of equitable housing on Cape Ann. It is critical that discussions about relocation foreground affordable housing and enable representative community participation.⁶

Flooding is unpredictable. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) releases flood maps that act as a tool to understand risk. These maps are not based on future conditions but instead use historic data to determine the size of the 100-year and 500-year floodplain.

FEMA floodplain maps therefore do not reflect the real risk of flooding or vulnerability.⁷ They should be used as a baseline that defines areas in need of urgent protection.

There are 1,392 residential structures and 3,079 residential parcels in the FEMA floodplain across Cape Ann. The total value of these parcels is $3,759,116,189.

Relocation will differ within each community.

The median house value varies widely across Cape Ann, and so does flood exposure. Essex is the most vulnerable to sea level rise. One-third of the properties in Essex will be in a flood hazard zone by 2070.

Each fiscal quarter, there are less than 100 houses for sale at or below market value on Cape Ann. Many of these houses are located within the FEMA floodplain. In the immediate aftermath of an extreme hurricane or other flooding event, around 84 households will be available for families to purchase out of the floodplain. For every household that can purchase a home out of Cape Ann’s floodplain, fifteen other households will relocate off Cape Ann. The disruption after a natural disaster creates significant relocation stress as well as a financial burden for households and municipalities, which may lose a large portion of their tax base.

The majority of households will find a home at or below market value in the surrounding inland towns near Cape Ann, such as the commuter suburbs of Boston and coastal southern New England, where housing is more affordable.⁸⁹
Less than 20% of households will relocate out of the New England region.

Relocation on Cape Ann requires developing upland areas in order to receive residents relocating from floodplain zones. There are strategies to build housing and increase density to accept residents in upland areas. These strategies require amendments to existing zoning ordinances in each municipality.

Each municipality should immediately move to authorize accessory dwelling units without requiring lots to be two times the minimum lot size and without a special appeal to the zoning board. These appeals can be biased.

Downtown areas should be infilled to create new, walkable development on vacant and underutilized parcels within downtown and mixed residential-commercial areas. Lots within a half mile radius of public transportation hubs should be upzoned with height increases and reformed minimum lot allowances to allow for dense, transit-oriented development that brings people into commercial areas. Low-impact development on municipally owned parcels can create new options for housing and mixed-use development in areas that were formerly inhabited, including Dogtown Common. Transferring development rights from coastal lots inland can reduce flood risk and increase security.

Relocation also requires strategies to move vulnerable residents and infrastructures out of existing floodplains.

There are land trusts on Cape Ann that can facilitate this transition. Sea level rise adaptation land trusts (SALTs) accept properties donated at the end of residents’ lifetimes. These properties are then unbuilt and the marshland property restored and stewarded by the trust.¹⁰

Sea level rise purchasing options (SLPOs) transfer ownership from private to public hands. These options, which vest after damage due to flooding, may appeal to climate change deniers, as well as individuals living on higher elevation land that rely on low-elevation transportation routes.¹¹

Land swaps between public and private owners maintain the Cape Ann tax base. Residents who have built homes on leased land, including Long Beach and Conomo Point, can take advantage of land swaps.

Rolling easements use setbacks and buffers from the encroaching shoreline to roll coastal development back over time, moving people out of vulnerable areas.¹² These properties may eventually be acquired in buyout programs funded by local and federal governments. These programs should be implemented proactively before major disasters to take advantage of FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), which provides 75% of funds needed for a buyout with a 25% match from state or local government.¹³

Cape Ann’s municipalities have a significant reserve of 4,094 acres of undeveloped, non-floodplain land to which residents can relocate. A large portion of this land is set aside for conservation, including areas that were formerly inhabited such as Dogtown Common.

Any development projects should prioritize Cape Ann residents moving inland and offer discounted land for those moving their structures as well as mortgage incentives for those purchasing new homes. It is critical that any municipal development occurs out of the FEMA floodplain, above the 2070 hundred year flood projections, and out of areas that are at higher risk of flooding (such as inland waterways, historic wetlands, and filled areas). Development should be prioritized around roadways and areas with existing electrical and wastewater supply lines. This will require communities to make difficult decisions that balance the need to house residents with preserving the Cape Ann’s beautiful and unique landscapes.

In Gloucester, 18% of all residential parcels, including 870 structures, are in the FEMA floodplain. The value of these parcels is $1,898,993,100.

Residents in Gloucester and across Cape Ann could relocate to the nearest underdeveloped municipal parcels after a flooding event. This would preserve the tax base in each community but would create fragmented development and significantly diminish the amount of open space across the region.

To preserve the natural environment and existing ecosystems, development should be concentrated on key pieces of municipal land outside of historic and future flood zones.

The resulting footprint is smaller than that of relocating homes to nearby municipal land. It also preserves the neighborhood fabric of different areas around Cape Ann.

There are 201 residential structures in the current FEMA floodplain in Rockport. This figure includes the summer homes on Long Beach, which stand on land that is owned by the town and leased to homeowners.

As the leases come up for renewal in 2023, Rockport should provide a stipulation in each lease that the town will not bear responsibility for damages caused by storm surge or flooding. After flooding damages any house, or the public road and seawall, the houses will be deconstructed and relocated to the Rear Road and Dogtown Commons parcels. This land swap will keep the tax money that the Long Beach cottages provide while moving vulnerable structures out of the floodplain.

Additional development in Dogtown Common along Route 127 should be considered for homes along the coast. These developments would be discounted for Rockport residents voluntarily relocating from the coast and subsidized by buyers moving from other areas into town.

There are 159 structures in the FEMA floodplain in Manchester-by-the-Sea. The value of these parcels is $906,947,746.

To preserve the natural environment and existing ecosystems, development should be targeted and clustered on key pieces of municipal land outside of historic and future flood zones that densify the downtown area. The footprint of this development is smaller than that of relocating homes to nearby municipal land.

Essex does not have a significant reserve of municipal parcels.

Relocating Essex residents to parcels around Essex would require many smaller parcels of municipal land and create sprawling development requiring significant infrastructural investment.

However, there are significant stores of conservation land in Essex. A land swap program could trade conservation land on higher ground for residential parcels. The parcels would then be unbuilt, becoming open and recreational space maintained by conservation organizations participating in the land swap.

The net zero houses in the low-impact development in Dogtown Common are offered to Cape Ann residents at a subsidized price.

After Raymond Street floods twice during winter nor’easters, residents purchase homes in the protected Village Core and new neighbors move into ADUs. The land is restored to a wetland park by the Cape Ann Land Trust, which assumes stewardship for the parcels.

The land below the Essex Causeway is gradually restored to marshland, including additional saltmarsh planting to buffer inland areas from storm surge and flooding.

The businesses along the Essex Causeway relocate to the new downtown along Martin Street. The elevated bridge delivers customers to their doors during all weather.

All communities must adopt a floodplain overlay district in their zoning plans to quality for the National Flood Insurance Program. Development in this overlay district must conform with the Massachusetts Statewide Building Code and Department of Environmental Protection Regulations.

Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester-by-the-Sea and Essex are all members of the National Flood Insurance Program.¹⁴ However, none of these communities have joined the Community Rating System (CRS), a voluntary incentive program that encourages floodplain management practices that exceed the NFIP requirements. CRS communities receive discounted flood insurance premiums for their efforts to reduce flood damage to insurable property and foster comprehensive floodplain management. All of Cape Ann’s communities should immediately join the CRS.¹⁵

Additionally, each community should establish more stringent development guidelines in the Floodplain Overlay District to ensure public safety, reduce threats to life, and eliminate new hazards. Each municipality should also work to ensure that socially and economically vulnerable populations are not forced to accept the higher risks to live in lower-cost areas within the floodplain.

Communities should order a moratorium on development in the FEMA floodplain and consider an additional overlay district that covers the projected 2070 floodplain.