Project
Northeast
Economic and Fiscal Impact Analysis
County
Regional

Coastal Lakeshore Economy and Resiliency Plan for Monroe County, NY

December 16, 2021 Christa O. Franzi, CEcD | Tom Dworetsky, AICP

A map of the CLEAR study area shows Lake Ontario and the location of the Towns of Hamlin, Parma, Greece, Rochester, Irondequoit, Webster, and Penfield, and the Villages of Hilton and Webster along its shoreline.

In recent years, Monroe County experienced multiple flood events causing significant damage in its coastal communities.

These events marked a unique trend toward future frequency and intensity of storms with coastal flooding and shoreline erosion.

A line chart shows the flood timeline for Lake Ontario in Monroe County, New York, between 1996 and 2019. It shows there were five to nine floods in 1998 and 2004, and more than 10 floods in 2017.

The Coastal Lakeshore Economy and Resiliency (CLEAR) initiative supports local communities struggling with persistent high-water levels along Lake Ontario with the development of comprehensive resiliency strategies and plans to implement critical long-term protective measures and strengthen existing investments.

Camoin Associates supported the effort with impact modeling, and development of projects to support business and economic resiliency of the lakeshore economy.

Our impact modeling found that the annual net fiscal benefit of the study area to the Town of Greece is approximately $825,000, before any consideration of flooding costs. In 2017, flooding response costs incurred by the Town totaled an estimated $975,000, and in 2019, costs were $2.9 million. These costs more than negated the net fiscal benefit generated by the study area in those years.

Absent intervention and as flooding impacts worsen, outcomes such as declines in property values resulting from repeated flooding and/or permanent uninhabitability or inaccessibility are possible. Before consideration of costs associated with flooding and adaptation interventions, a 48% decrease in the aggregate study area property value would need to occur in order for the net fiscal benefit of the study area to fall to zero.