Virginia CZM Program Planning and Funding

Virginia receives 100% of its funding under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA).

Virginia is awarded funds based on the size of its coastal population and the length of its tidal shoreline, and the state currently receives about $3 million annually from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office for Coastal Management (OCM) under Sections 306, 306A, 309 and 310.  Read more about these sections below.

Since the Virginia CZM Program began in 1986, and as of the program's award in 2021, Virginia has received over $92 million dollars in federal CZMA funds, matched by over $75 million in state and local funds for a total of over $167 million dollars invested in Virginia’s coastal resources.

Each spring, Virginia CZM Program Office staff at DEQ works with the Virginia Coastal Policy Team to prepare an annual grant application, which is submitted by DEQ to NOAA for approval. This application outlines the projects the Virginia CZM Program will fund with its annual allocation. If approved, projects begin in October 1 of that year and run through September 30 the following year. For more on Virginia CZM's grant application process and grantee resources.

The annual grant project lists below will soon provide links to grant project description pages that give a detailed description of each grant project, including a final project summary and products produced. Until this information is posted, please contact April Bahen, (804) 659-1914, with questions.

• FY 2023 Virginia CZM Grant Project List 
• FY 2022 Virginia CZM Grant Project List 
• FY 2021 Virginia CZM Grant Project List
• FY 2020 Virginia CZM Grant Project List
• FY 2019 Virginia CZM Grant Project List
•  FY 2018 Virginia CZM Grant Project List

For lists of projects prior to FY18, contact April Bahen, (804) 659-1914.

Reprogrammed grant funds may be available through the year on a limited basis. Please contact Ryan Green at (804) 774-8423 for more information about the availability or allocation of these funds.

Virginia CZM Program Focal Area 

Every three years, Virginia CZM Program staff, with input from the interagency Coastal Policy Team, identify a resource or special geographic region on which to focus about $400,000 of the program’s annual grant funds for a three-year period enables the program to more effectively focus its financial and policy efforts.

Since 1999, these “Focal Areas” have included the Oyster Heritage Program, Seaside Heritage Program, blue-green infrastructure, climate adaptation to build natural and community climate resiliency, and promotion of sustainable industries such as shellfish aquaculture and ecotourism.

FY2020-2023 Focal Area: Climate Resiliency 

Climate resiliency was selected by the Coastal Policy Team as the FY2020-2023 focal area theme to help meet the goals and needs in the statewide resiliency plan.

Virginia CZM Program grant projects beginning in October 2020 will address increasing technical capacity through use of tools like the Resiliency and Adaptation Feasibility Tool (RAFT) and the Community Rating System (CRS). Focal Area projects also will promote ecotourism as a way to derive economic benefit from conserved lands that provide climate resiliency, and on the development of project designs to restore or create climate resilient habitats and identification of high priority habitats.

This FY2020-2023 Climate Resiliency Focal Area continues the progress made under the 2016-2020 Coastal Hazards strategy and the next five-year Coastal Hazards strategy that will begin in October 2021.

Contact Jeff Flood, (804) 659-1918, for more information about RAFT and CRS projects.
Contact Ryan Green, (804) 698-4258, for more information about ecotourism resiliency projects.

Virginia Coastal Needs Assessments and Strategies

Learn more about how Virginia identifies high priority coastal enhancement areas and funding recommendations (under Section 309) - Virginia Coastal Needs Assessment and Strategies. 

The Virginia CZM Program supports each coastal planning district commission (PDC) with an annual technical assistance grant, as well as assistance for a variety of regional and local coastal resource management projects sponsored by the PDCs.

With this funding support, Virginia's coastal PDCs have been instrumental in the planning and implementation of many key environmental programs including:

• Climate Resilience
• Chesapeake Bay Agreement and the Preservation Act
• Wetlands Protection
• Ecotourism Promotion
• Erosion and Sediment Control and Storm Water Management
• Virginia's Ground Water Management Program
• Watershed Planning and Management

Virginia CZM Program funding requires that each PDC provide:

• At least four regional coordination meetings and four training opportunities per year for their local government coastal resource managers.  
• A special project each year that helps advance the goals of the Virginia CZM Program. These special projects involve analysis of a coastal resource management issue that is important to the region or to a particular locality, coordination with appropriate stakeholders and result in a product (report, map, brochure, etc.).

The Coastal PDCs and the Virginia Coastal Program have provided the technical assistance, research and guidance needed to establish many environmental programs considered highly valuable as regional solutions to environmental concerns. They meet together on a quarterly basis to share their coastal zone management experiences and information. The group alternates its meeting location so that the host PDC can also provide a field excursion to project sites. 

November 2020 --- The Virginia Association of Planning District Commissions (VAPDC) has awarded the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) with the 2020 Robert M. de Voursney Best Practices Award.

NVRC was recognized for their initiatives in resiliency planning, stormwater education management and the Plant NoVA Natives campaign, and how these efforts have led to improving wide swaths of the region while making it easy for others to replicate.

The VAPDC Awards Committee was impressed by the great success of the NVRC initiatives, particularly the commission’s development of a resiliency roadmap leading to the formulation of recommendations for NVRC’s local government partners and others to use to improve the resiliency of their communities. They also found noteworthy NRVC’s public education campaign focused on critical stormwater management and MS4 permits in the region. Finally, the Committee applauded the Plant NoVA Natives campaign, supported by multiple volunteers and garden centers to help promote native plants in the region.

Corey Miles, Senior Environmental Planner for NVRC, accepted the award. In an email to CZM staff, Corey noted - “Many thanks to the Virginia CZM Program. These projects would not have been possible without CZM guidance and funding.”

Contact the Virginia CZM Program staff below about work with Virginia’s coastal PDCS:

Ryan Green, (804) 698-4258 – Eastern Shore-Accomack-Northampton PDC
Jeff Flood, (804) 659-1918 - Crater PDC, George Washington PDC, Hampton Roads PDC, Middle Peninsula PDC, Northern Neck PDC, Plan RVA (Richmond Regional PDC), Northern Virginia Region Commission

More About Funding Under the Federal CZMA 

The federal Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) has numerous sections, each with specific objectives. Funding to carry out these objectives must be appropriated from Congress each year. Not all sections of the CZMA receive federal appropriations every year or they may receive reduced funding.

Implementation of the Virginia CZM Program - Section 306
Funding for the implementation of the Virginia CZM Program. Section 306 funding must be matched 1:1 by nonfederal fund sources.

Acquisition and Construction Projects - Section 306A
Funding for the acquisition of fee simple and other interests (e.g. easements) in land, low-cost construction projects (e.g. public access improvements) or habitat restoration projects.

Additional documentation is required from NOAA before 306A projects can be approved. Section 306A funding must be matched 1:1 by nonfederal fund sources.

Creation of New Enforceable Coastal Policies - Section 309
Funding for coastal zone enhancement projects which propose creation  of new enforceable policies* in any of nine identified areas: 

1. wetlands
2. coastal hazards
3. public access
4. marine debris
5. cumulative and secondary impacts
6. special area management plans
7. ocean resources
8. energy and government facility siting
9. aquaculture 

Section 309 funding is match-free.

* Any new enforceable policies proposed through projects funded under Section 309 still need to be officially incorporated into the Virginia CZM Program through a public review process, and final approval of the 'Program Change' must be granted by NOAA.

Implementation of the Virginia Coastal Nonpoint Source Pollution Program - Section 310

Funding for the implementation of the Coastal Nonpoint Source Pollution Program. Section 310 funding must be matched 1:1 by nonfederal fund sources. These monies are distributed by DEQ, which administers Virginia's Coastal Nonpoint Source Pollution Program. Only states with an approved Coastal Zone Management Program are eligible to receive coastal nonpoint source pollution control funding. Currently the Coastal Nonpoint Source Pollution Program is not funded.

NOAA Tutorial About Nonpoint Pollution