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Town of Granby Climate Change Experience Survey

Town of Granby Climate Change Experience Survey

Climate change is increasing the frequency of extremes in our weather, including summer temperatures, storms with heavy downpours, and severe winter storms. The Town of Granby faces multiple challenges related to the impacts of climate change and natural hazard-related weather events. In recent years, the Town has experienced a series of disruptive and dangerous weather events including the severe snow and ice storms of 2009 and 2011, and the arctic cold weather in the winter of 2017/2018.

The Town of Granby is updating our Town Master Plan to include climate resilience recommendations from our Community Resilience Building process and this survey is part of that process to learn how and where residents are experiencing climate change impacts.

The survey should take about 5 minutes to complete. The survey is completely anonymous and answers cannot be used to identify respondents.

Thank you so much for taking the time to complete this survey.

Granby Planning Board


 

2. What changes in weather patterns have you observed throughout your lifetime?
3. How often have you heard or used the following terms?
  • Stormwater management
  • Green Infrastructure
  • Low Impact Development
4. How old are you?
5. How often have you experienced the following while living in Granby:
Space Cell Rarely / NeverSometimesOftenNot Applicable
Basement flooding (if you do not have a basement, please indicate "Not Applicable")
Yard flooding at my house or apartment building
Failing septic system due to saturated ground from prolonged, intense rainfall (if you do not have a septic system, please indicated "Not Applicable"
Water pooling in winter to form ice on my property, on roads, or on sidewalks or walkways
Roadway flooding in my neighborhood
Roadway flooding in other parts of town
6. Of these same events, how often have you noticed that they are occurring?
Space Cell Occurs the same amount as in the pastOccurs more than it did in the pastNot sure
Basement flooding
Yard flooding
Failing septic system due to saturated ground from prolonged, intense rainfall
Water pooling in winter to form ice on my property, on roads, or on sidewalks or walkways
Roadway flooding in my neighborhood
Roadway flooding in other parts of town
7. How concerned are you about increased rainfall, extreme flooding, and other effects of climate change?
How familiar are you with each of the following statements:
8. Trees provide storage for carbon.
9. Trees help to soak up rainfall.
10. Trees help keep temperatures cool during the summer.
11. Trees help improve air quality and beautify our communities.
12. If all of the above statements are/were true, do you think the town should take steps to prevent people from cutting large trees or stands of trees?
13. If yes, which settings should this apply to?
How familiar are you with the following "nature-based solutions" being used in other communities:
14. Adopting policies and regulations that promote removal and reductions of impervious surface (asphalt and/or concrete), can help reduce localized flooding


 
15. Restoration of wetlands, as well as floodplain areas along rivers and streams, serve to accommodate floodwaters and reduce localized flooding
16. Installing rain gardens and bioswales to soak up or slow rainfall where possible 


 
17. Installing porous paving, which allows rainfall to soak into the ground below
18. Promoting water harvesting to capture and store rainfall for irrigation of lawns and gardens 
19. Protecting important lands, including tracts of intact forest, wetlands and floodplains, and lands best suited to growing food 
20. Improving locations where roadways cross streams to allow for passage of higher flows and to avoid road washouts
21. Funding a town to take on the responsibility of maintaining and fixing private detention basins in poor condition to optimize flood storage and water quality
22. How familiar are you with the term "smart growth"


*Smart growth is a land use pattern that channels development where the community wants it to happen - generally on land that is not preferable to farming and has existing infrastructure to support development
23. Traditional solutions to reducing localized flooding rely on "gray infrastructure." Gray infrastructure refers to strategies that increase the size of underground pipes to convey stormwater away and the installation of concrete vaults to store flows temporarily. Gray solutions do not take up a lot of above-ground space and have the benefit of working quickly (as long as they are maintained and sized appropriately). Alternatively, the use of nature-based solutions to reduce localized flooding requires the installation of planted facilities, such as rain gardens or bioswales, to slow and soak up stormwater in order to reduce flows to a flood-prone area. Nature-based solutions provide many additional benefits, such as shade from trees, air temperature reduction and air quality improvement from trees and plants, neighborhood beautification, and property value appreciation. However, these systems pose their own challenges in implementation, such as the amount of space required for correctly sized systems. 


Using the information provided in the above paragraph, how would you guide a Granby official in making decisions about public projects to reduce localized flooding?
24. How familiar are you with the town's efforts to require development projects to account for future projected rainfall amounts rather than current rainfall amounts?
25. The Town is intergrating a climate resilience plan into the master plan this year and much of Granby's public water and sewer infrastructure need an upgrade. It is clear that improvements and increased investments will be important to properly manage this infrastructure and avoid costly emergency repairs.

How familiar are you with funding for projects aimed at public water and sewer infrastructure?
26. A consistent, sustainable, and more robust source of funding from one year to the next is critical to upgrading and maintaining public water and sewer infrastructure across town. 

How familiar are you with the town's efforts to increase funding for public water and sewer infrastructure work?
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