Press Release  Healey-Driscoll Administration Releases Comprehensive Strategy for Coastal Protection

Chelsea — Today, the Healey-Driscoll Administration released the final ResilientCoasts Plan – a comprehensive statewide strategy designed to help coastal communities protect residents, strengthen local infrastructure, and safeguard Massachusetts’ natural resources.

Developed with direct input from local officials, residents, and regional partners, the plan provides practical, community-driven steps to prepare for future storms, flooding, sea level rise, and erosion – while saving taxpayers billions through smart investments made now.

“This plan is about helping people and local businesses stay safe and save money,” said Governor Maura Healey. “When we invest in stronger roads, flood protections, and coastal restoration, we’re not just preventing damage – we’re protecting livelihoods.”

“How to protect our homes, businesses, and working waterfronts was always top of mind during my time as mayor,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “This plan takes that local perspective and turns it into real, actionable steps for every coastal community. It gives municipalities the support and guidance they need to strengthen their future.”

Research shows that every $1 invested in resilience can yield about $13 in benefits and avoided recovery costs, and communities that delay action risk losing up to $33 in future economic activity for every dollar not invested. The ResilientCoasts Plan supports cities and towns in planning and prioritizing the projects that matter most – stronger shorelines, better storm protection, and safer roads.

The plan is designed to support local decision-making and make it easier for towns and regions to access funding, share data, and coordinate projects. It lays out the steps to protect people and property, strengthen infrastructure, and preserve natural buffers like dunes, wetlands, and salt marshes that reduce flood risks.

Over the past two decades, Massachusetts has invested nearly $200 million in local resilience projects across 98 coastal communities. Governor Healey’s Mass Ready Act advances many ResilientCoasts recommendations, including authorizing $200 million for near-term coastal resilience projects. In addition, Mass Ready moves forward several of the plan’s policy recommendations that will also advance resilience statewide, including requiring flood disclosure to ensure residents are aware of flood risks before they purchase or lease a home, adding resilience expertise to the board that oversees updates to the state building code, streamlining permitting for nature-based solutions, and creating a new Resilience Revolving Fund to provide low-interest loans for municipal projects that protect communities and prevent future damage, such as floodplain protection and nature-based solutions.

“Our coastal communities can’t wait for the next big storm to act,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper. “This plan gives us the tools to be ready – to protect lives, homes, and local economies and to build the kind of resilience that will carry us through the next 50 years.”

“We heard directly from residents, scientists, and local officials across our coast, and their input shaped every part of this plan,” said Coastal Zone Management Director Alison Brizius. “People see what’s happening – the flooding, the erosion, the stronger storms – and they want action. ResilientCoasts reflects that urgency and provides a framework for protecting our coastlines and fighting climate impacts head-on.”

Regional Collaboration

The plan identifies 15 Coastal Resilience Districts, grouping nearby cities and towns that share common characteristics like landform type, natural environment, built infrastructure, population and development character, and coastal risks. The purpose of these districts is to promote regional collaboration, inform prioritization of district-scale coastal resilience projects, and help prevent redundant efforts. In addition, data sharing, collaborative risk assessment, and tracking of progress on coastal resilience will be improved across communities.

Near-Term Adaptation Areas

Within the Coastal Resilience Districts, the plan identifies Near-Term Adaptation Areas with high concentrations of people and housing, development and infrastructure, and/or economic resources expected to be exposed to coastal flooding by the 2030s. Identification of these areas helps direct limited resources where they will make the biggest difference for residents and local economies – for example, in areas with high concentrations of critical local and regional infrastructure at risk.

Targeted Solutions

The plan provides guidance on a suite of resilience measures that can be applied across different coastal landscapes with a focus on areas along the immediate shoreline or within the coastal floodplain where the highest risks coincide with vulnerable development. Examples include:

• Elevating roads and homes above expected flood levels
• Relocating people and housing to safer locations
• Floodproofing critical infrastructure
• Implementing nature-based solutions like salt marsh restoration, beach nourishment, and cobble berms to absorb flooding
• Retrofitting and redesigning seawalls

Statements of Support

Chelsea City Manager Fidel Maltez

“Chelsea stands with Secretary Tepper and the Healey-Driscoll Administration on a forward-thinking plan to protect our communities against flooding, which is becoming increasingly devastating year-after-year. The ResilientCoasts Plan recognizes that by investing in places like the Island End River floodplain—a working waterfront threatened by rising sea levels and extreme weather—we are protecting the lives of thousands of residents, $7 billion in annual economic activity, and the region’s food supply. The plan is an urgent call to strengthen our shores today and avoid the staggering costs of recovery tomorrow.”

Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo

“Investments in resilience are investments in public safety, and they require collaboration between neighboring municipalities, across regions, and throughout the Commonwealth. No one community can face this tide alone. The Healey-Driscoll Administration has elevated climate response and readiness in a thoughtful, pro-active manner and the ResilientCoasts framework provides precisely the broad, regional coordination and collaboration coastal cities and towns need. Massachusetts is acting decisively to safeguard its coastal areas, strengthen our communities, and protect our residents.”

State Senator Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett)

“Climate change is creating severe and frequent natural disasters across our state, and it is essential that we pull together resources, coordinate projects, and leverage all the powers of state government to protect our communities and residents from severe flood risks over the coming years. This ResilientCoasts Initiative will be critical in both addressing the dangers posed by the climate crisis in a holistic approach, while simultaneously making our communities safer and more welcoming for all our residents.”

State Representative Judith Garcia (D-11thSuffolk)

“Coastal resilience is essential to the long-term safety and economic vitality of communities like Chelsea. The ResilientCoasts Plan reflects a forward-looking, coordinated approach to protecting our infrastructure, homes, and natural resources. I’m proud that Chelsea is part of this statewide effort to strengthen our coastlines and prepare for the challenges ahead. I want to thank the Healey-Driscoll Administration, Secretary Tepper, and their team for their continued partnership and commitment to building a more resilient Massachusetts.”

Chris Osgood, Boston Director of the Office of Climate Resilience

“The Commonwealth’s ResilientCoasts Plan provides a timely roadmap to address the coastal flood risk that could have an impact on all of Massachusetts. Having completed climate planning along our coastline, Boston is deeply committed to advancing the goals we share with the state government: restoring natural ecosystems, investing in resilient infrastructure, and helping our communities thrive for generations to come. We look forward to partnering with the Commonwealth, our residents, and neighboring municipalities on the critical work ahead to protect our communities.”

Julie Wormser, Cambridge Chief Climate Officer

“We’re not a coastal community right now, but without intervention we will be by mid-century when the dams that protect us overtop. We are thrilled that the State has launched ResilientCoasts to help us work with neighboring communities to keep Boston Harbor out of our neighborhoods.”

Adam Chapdelaine, Executive Director, Massachusetts Municipal Association

“We greatly appreciate the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s work to develop this comprehensive and long-range statewide framework for coastal resilience. Local leaders are on the front lines battling climate change impacts and recognize the urgent need for effective resiliency strategies. As the frequency of coastal flooding increases – in a state with some 1,500 miles of coastline – local leaders see solutions in this plan that continue to empower them to address the specific and unique challenges that they face in their communities. We are grateful for the efforts of all involved to provide suggested state and local strategies, backed up with data and research that our members can lean on at the municipal level.”

Katie Theoharides, President and CEO, The Trustees of Reservations

“The Trustees applauds the collaborative effort between the Office of Coastal Zone Management and stakeholders to produce this report and the emphasis it puts on nature-based solutions to community resilience. As forever stewards of over 120 miles of coastline we’ve seen first-hand the significant climate impacts to these coastal ecosystems and we support the urgency of the Healey-Driscoll Administration to build resilience and help protect people and communities.”

Kris Sarri, State Director, The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts

“Massachusetts communities face mounting threats from sea level rise, intensifying storms, and coastal erosion that threatens homes, infrastructure, economies, and natural habitats. We’re proud to have partnered with the Healey-Driscoll Administration and CZM on a bold coastal resilience plan, which prioritizes nature-based solutions and building capacity at the right scale to protect both the ecosystems and communities that depend on our coasts.”

Kathy Abbott, President, Boston Harbor Now

“Boston Harbor Now is grateful to the Healey-Driscoll Administration for their leadership in climate resilience and for Secretary Tepper and her team at CZM for developing this detailed, useful report that will help to ensure Massachusetts’ coastal communities are protected from climate change impacts. We look forward to collaborating with state leaders on improving permitting and creating new funding sources to help projects move forward.”

Lizzi Weyant, Executive Director, Metropolitan Area Planning Council

“There is no doubt that residents across Metro Boston are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. But our coastal communities are especially vulnerable, and that’s why it’s so important that the state is releasing the ResilientCoasts Plan. This is a strategic and comprehensive initiative that will help to protect and strengthen our cities and towns. Importantly, it will scale up regional solutions and support cross-municipal collaboration. The ocean does not adhere to municipal boundaries, which is why it is so important to look at these challenges with a holistic lens, as the Healey-Driscoll Administration is doing in this plan.”

Rebecca Herst, Associate Director for Resilience, Green Ribbon Commission

“ResilientCoasts is the comprehensive framework we need to enable the public and private sectors to work together to protect against climate threats. Our communities and our economy depend on our urgency in designing, financing, and building the infrastructure that will make the vision of ResilientCoasts a reality.”

Kate Dineen, President & CEO, A Better City

“A Better City applauds the release of the ResilientCoasts Plan, a crucial, actionable framework for advancing coastal resilience solutions across municipal boundaries. We are proud to partner with the Commonwealth on this effort to safeguard our communities, critical infrastructure, and regional economy from the escalating impacts of climate change. Now more than ever, states must lead the way in crafting solutions to both combat and adapt to a changing climate – and under Governor Healey’s leadership, the Commonwealth is meeting that challenge head-on.”

Nasser Brahim, Director of Climate Resilience, Mystic River Watershed Association

“MyRWA and our Resilient Mystic Collaborative partners are highly invested in regional coastal resilience solutions, whether at Island End River, the Amelia Earhart Dam, or Belle Isle Marsh. The ResilientCoasts Plan provides new tools for regional collaboration and ambitious state actions that inspire hope and excitement about opportunities to build a more resilient region.”

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