In 2019, we conducted an American Planning Association (APA) Recovery Planning Assistance Team (RPAT) for the Wharton Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). Known as the Gateway to the Texas Gulf Coast, Wharton is a city of 9,000 that has historically been severely impacted by flooding along the banks of the Colorado River. Dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, the WEDC requested help from a RPAT, a subset of the APA’s Community Planning Assistance Teams (CPAT) program that helps communities recovering from disasters. The CPAT program organizes multidisciplinary teams of planning professionals that volunteer their time to work with local stakeholders to create a vision plan and implementation strategy.

Services provided included working with the community and agency coordination to explore opportunities to integrate a proposed U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) flood protection system with other plans and projects within Wharton. The study area included the entire city but focused primarily on where a planned flood protection system severed riverfront access and connectivity with residents in Wharton’s African American West End neighborhood. Recommendations included integrating cultural resources programming into city programs and offering ways to share many of the city's undertold stories.

Final documentation included findings, analyses, recommendations, and an implementation strategy, as well as guidance on enacting flood protection design changes through USACE's Section 408 process and enhancing the local active transportation network by coordinating and leveraging infrastructure projects with partner agencies. 

In addition, we have experience in drafting coastal management comprehensive plan policies, in coordinating vulnerability assessments, and planning around the intersection of historic resources, sea level rise, and flooding.