A New Model for Resilience and Adaptation in Maryland

With more than 3,000 miles of shoreline, Maryland communities face increasing risks from sea level rise, flooding, and extreme storms. Some leaders have recognized that how local governments are organized to make decisions (i.e., their governance structures) needs to transform so that communities can effectively deliver adaptation and resilience projects to secure a future. In Maryland, we see how one state has responded by creating a new model that can work across jurisdictional boundaries to better deliver complex projects.

In May 2020, the Maryland legislature passed Senate Bill 457, authorizing local governments to create and fund Resilience Authorities. Resilience Authorities are a new governance model designed to accelerate infrastructure financing, reduce implementation costs, and address challenges working across jurisdictional boundaries. Resilience Authorities permit multiple local governments to develop collaborative methods to create infrastructure projects to address sea-level rise, flooding, increased precipitation, and erosion. Resilience Authorities are governed by Boards that bring together expertise from various sectors to identify funding and project opportunities. Resilience Authorities can also incorporate Advisory Committees that include regional partners to ensure community representation and create forums for practitioners to collaborate. See Figure 1 above, "Resilience Authorities’ Financing Mechanisms," developed by the National Academy of Public Administration.

To date, two Resilience Authorities have been created, and one is in progress. When they are created, the local governments have the flexibility to define the structure and governing body.

• Charles County – The Charles County Resilience Authority has leveraged public and private partnerships to expand the impact of projects, focusing primarily on stormwater management and community resilience. One of the projects they are currently developing is a partnership with the Montgomery County Green Bank to develop the Private Capital Financial Intermediary, a financial model that will help secure private funding for nature-based climate solutions
• Annapolis and Anne Arundel – The Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel is an example of how innovative governance can help accelerate adaptation efforts. In 2023, the Resilience Authority of Anne Arundel-Annapolis secured approximately $20 million of funding, combining financing from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, federal appropriations, and local grants. This funding was used for ecosystem restoration efforts focused on floodplain restoration and watershed erosion, as well as greenhouse gas mitigation projects. Additionally, the Resilience Authority of Anne Arundel-Annapolis has also focused on resilience and preparing communities for the impact of extreme weather.
• Baltimore County – In December 2022, Baltimore County announced plans to develop a framework for a Resilience Authority. Baltimore County Council approved an agreement with Throwe Environmental, LLC, which would help outline the county’s monetary needs for climate resilience. The agreement also investigated how establishing a Resilience Authority could be structured and financed to promote infrastructure projects which address flooding, sea level rise, excessive heat, and storm surge. Throwe Environmental aimed to develop a full climate resilience financing plan and deliver a final report later in 2023.

These Resilience Authorities have initiated projects including:

• The Resilient and Efficient Codes Pilot – an effort focused on producing a model code that will help with building energy performance standards throughout the Annapolis and Anne Arundel region.
• Stormwater Pocket Park – an infrastructure project that turned an abandoned parking lot in Charles County into a nature park to help with flooding and inundation.
• The Green Infrastructure Training Program (In partnership with the Chesapeake Stormwater Network, Bartlett Trees, the Charles Soil Conservation District, and Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife & Heritage Service) - five sessions to ensure installation of nature-based practices and equipping the people who will maintain them with an understanding of what, how, and why green infrastructure increases resilience.
• The installation of sea level monitors to collect and monitor data on rising sea levels.

Resilience Authorities can focus on just one jurisdiction, like the Charles County Resilience Authority, or counties and municipalities can work across jurisdictional boundaries to pool expertise, resources, and diversify funding streams, as is the case for the Anne Arundel Resilience Authority. To create a variety of funding sources, Resilience Authorities are allowed to collect fees, as well as issue bonds; however, those bonds are not a pledge of the county's or city's full faith and credit or taxing power. Resilience Authorities also rely on grants and federal funding, which can be employed directly to resilience projects through these authorities.

Resilience Authorities do have several limitations. They do not have taxation authority or eminent domain power. Additionally, the reliance on federal funding has created some uncertainty over the availability of funding resources in the future. However, Resilience Authorities are allowed to work with private partners. As the examples above highlight, Resilience Authorities are exploring new partnerships with other private and public entities to continue their climate resilience work. Maryland’s experience underscores that rethinking decision-making structures is not a one-time act, but an ongoing process. As Resilience Authorities continue to evolve, the Academy’s Extreme Weather Resilience Hub will remain focused on understanding how these new institutional arrangements work on the ground.