HomeMy Public PortalAboutCOTI_PR20130516_FourforFuture.docxWriter: Roger Nielsen, 706/542-2524, nielsen@uga.edu
Contact: Maegan Rudd, 706/542-2738, mrudd@uga.edu
Tybee Island, Chatham County recognized with Four for the Future Award
Athens, Ga. — (May 16, 2013) The collaboration of Tybee Island and Chatham County government leaders in long-term planning for rising sea levels was honored with presentation of a Four
for the Future Award at an awards luncheon at the University of Georgia.
The barrier island city of Tybee Island collaborated with Chatham County and other partners on a two-year impact study funded through the Georgia Sea Grant program and conducted by the
Carl Vinson Institute of Government, both public service and outreach units at UGA. Researchers assessed what infrastructure assets are most vulnerable to rising sea levels and which
ones can be protected most cost effectively.
Other collaborators include the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Coastal Resources Division and the UGA College of Environment and Design.
The UGA Office of Vice President and Public Service and Georgia Trend magazine joined together to recognize the Chatham-Tybee partnership with a Four for the Future Award. The newly
established award acknowledges communities and regions that worked across public-private sector boundaries on challenging issues. These partnerships demonstrate effective collaboration,
leadership and innovation, and offer the promise of long-term community benefits. Three other collaborative projects from around the state also received awards.
“The communities we are recognizing are showing great foresight in investing their time and energy in a way that will have a payoff in the long term. It’s great to see, because it’s
going to benefit all of Georgia,” said UGA Vice President of Public Service and Outreach Jennifer Frum, who presented the award along with Neely Young, Georgia Trend editor and publisher,
and UGA President Michael F. Adams.
Environmental sustainability experts from the Institute of Government provided community leaders with detailed options for addressing rising seas in the decades to come and projected
the potential costs and benefits of each approach to help inform decision making.
Specific approaches being considered include renourishment of the beaches, raising U.S. Highway 80—the road connecting Tybee Island to the mainland—another three to four feet, raising
wells that supply municipal water out of the flood zone and stormwater retrofits.
Tybee Island City Manager Diane Schleicher noted that community leaders, as good stewards and planners, ought to be evaluating choices and preparing for the future.
Schleicher praised the collaboration, saying, “There’s a tremendous amount of respect and cooperation between the entities. I enjoy working with them; they recognize the uniqueness of
our situation. Everyone is thinking and encouraging their people to think.”
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Caption: Tybee Island City Councilwomen Jan Fox and Wanda Doyle receive the Four for the Future Award from Georgia Trend editor and publisher Neely Young (left), UGA President Michael
F. Adams and Vice President for Public Service and Outreach Jennifer Frum.