Staying Even with Mother Nature

On the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan, the city of St. Joseph is vulnerable to flooding from storm surges. Residents and city officials recognized the need to build resilience and worked together to enact a "no-build" ordinance to help minimize coastal erosion and retain beach access. Private donors supported the engineering project to analyze extreme weather events and water levels using 100 years of data, which inspired the creation of the ordinance. Educational meetings were hosted by the city to answer questions from the community on shoreline protection structure, coastal hazards, and together determine the placement of proposed setback line.