Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP)

The Town of Belmont has been proactive in taking steps to protect the community against natural hazards and the effects of climate change.

The Town obtained designation in 2020 under the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program, which provides Belmont with access to a pool of dedicated grant funding for planning, designing, and constructing nature-based solutions to climate change.

Current Project: Flooding and Climate Resilience Capital Improvement Plan

In 2021, the Town of Belmont received MVP funding to undertake one of the actions prioritized in the Town's Hazard Mitigation and Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Plan (HMP-MVP Plan) to advance Belmont's work towards addressing climate change impacts: a community-wide flooding and resilience plan.

The Engineering Division is currently completing this plan for infrastructure improvements to increase climate resilience and reduce flooding across the community. The project is in its final stages: the team has identified and assessed multiple scenarios that reflect anticipated future rainfall and flooding events, identified priority areas of impact, and prepared a list of stormwater management projects to integrate into facilities and roadway projects throughout Belmont.

See responses to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (PDF) about the project.

Winner of the Belmont Climate Art Challenge:

Community Flooding and Climate Survey Results

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback in our survey on locations of green infrastructure (GI) projects, flooding and hot spot locations, design ideas, and other considerations. View the survey results summary (PDF).

• Convening a Core Team of municipal department heads who provided key input through meetings, online surveys, and interviews.
• Engaging the stakeholders through a virtual Community Resilience Building (CRB) Workshop and engaging the public through a virtual, interactive meeting.
• Conducting a vulnerability and risk assessment of historic hazards and the potential impact of climate change.
• Documenting the Town's capacity to mitigate and respond to hazards.
• Updating the progress of the previous HMP.
• Developing an action and implementation strategy.
• Collecting feedback from the community.

The final HMP-MVP Plan (PDF) is available.

Funding to complete this planning process was funded through the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs' Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Planning Grant program, which provides technical and financial support for cities and towns across the Commonwealth to plan for, and mitigate the impacts from, climate change. In addition, the Town's Hazard Mitigation plan allows access to funding from the state and federal emergency management agencies.