Cambridge Council focuses on charity, flood solutions

“We have several programs and things available for folks in the community in need. We have a food pantry that’s set up like a store so it’s an efficient, consistent and dignified way to distribute food. Folks can go through and select the food that they need,” said Pettit.

Pettit explained that One Mission Cambridge also has community navigation services to work with people and try to connect them to other resources in Dorchester County or other counties. The mission can help people with job applications and job boards for finding work. They also have counseling available through pastors and Christian counselors. Once a month, the mission will also have community dinners and plans are underway for offering Christian support groups.

The council also heard about ways to combat sea level rise and flooding around the city. Cambridge was previously awarded a FEMA grant to develop flood mitigation strategies and concept designs to address flood risk due to sea level rise and major storms. Project manager Larry White provided an update to the council on the project and discussed a proposed “Make Cambridge Resilient Community Development Program.”

“The plan is pretty much done. Since our last meeting we’ve made adjustments based on public comments and we’ve met with about twelve different groups and gave them presentations. So we’ve collected a lot of good input,” said White.

White is calling for more nature-based solutions city wide. He says right now the infrastructure, while engineered, is not nature based and is aging.

“I’ll tell you, as a civil engineer who has been in the business for a long time, if you don’t take care of it, it’s going to fail eventually. We need to integrate this plan with the city’s comprehensive plan and the working waterfront plan,” said White.

One solution White mentioned to mitigate rising sea levels and an aging infrastructure is to position multitudes of plant beds along the city’s shorelines filled with plants that have deep roots for absorbing maximum waters from floods and higher tides. White says the planted grasses and plants reduce the storm surge.

Following that discussion, the council heard from the Residences at River Marsh Homeowners Association. The main road to the development, Heron Boulevard, which is also the main road that takes drivers to the Hyatt Resort, has three wooden bridges in need of repair. A request is in from the developers of The Tides at River Marsh for the city to grant $300,000 to $650,000 in assistance to make repairs to the three wooden bridges.

The developers ascertain that several times that amount is retained by the city in property taxes every year from the residences and that this assistance will help increase revenue when more units can be built.

On a final note to the meeting, the council mentioned that Cambridge Little League ages 8-10 recently won the Maryland State Championship for Little League. They are currently trying to raise $20,000 to pay for team travel to Rhode Island.