Community engagement was a central component to developing the Town’s Climate Adaptation Assessment, and participants included staff from various Town departments, local and regional organizations, environmental stakeholder groups, businesses, and homeowners. There were three types of engagement: 1) Community-wide activities appropriate for all members of the general public and other stakeholders; 2) partner meetings designed to gather and vet ideas with special interest groups and invested stakeholders such as CalTrans and the County of Marin; and, a 3) representative community and technical advisory committee with individuals from the Town, businesses, the school district, and county and regional agencies known as the Resilience Advisory Committee (RAC).

The Town developed an outreach and engagement plan to ensure the broadest possible level of participation in the planning process. The Outreach Plan outlined a range of activities and timeframe for stakeholder engagement activities. To help increase engagement, the Town offered multiple avenues for feedback and learning opportunities for community members. It should be noted that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted these planned activities, and all engagement after March of 2020 was held virtually.

•  Community-wide activities included seven workshops, five of which were online due to COVID-19, this project website, an online survey (focused on the perceptions of risk from climate change), newsletter and media outreach, a “storymap” detailing existing plans and projects (700+ views), and a community visioning survey (focused on community goals and visioning). 

• Three rounds of public review helped shape the final version of the assessment. You can find the frequently asked questions and answers from the second public review period here and the summary of public comment from comments from the second review period here.

• The Resilience Advisory Committee met six times throughout the project to review technical information and refine questions and  materials designed to collect effective community feedback. 

• The Town Staff and Partners met at several key junctions to inform the existing social, environmental, economic conditions within the town and provide feedback on and recommendations for potential projects and strategies. 

• Town Staff presented to, and consulted with, Marin BayWAVE and Town of Corte Madera Flood Board several times.

• The Town Council was updated on progress throughout the process.