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The town of Aurora is one of three municipalities in the county to receive funding from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality as part of their Resilient Coastal Communities Program. 

“This program will help to better situate the Town for future project funding primarily with our Waste Water Treatment Lagoon and all things stormwater related,” said Judi Lannon, town clerk and finance officer for the town of Aurora. 

In addition to Aurora, the town of Belhaven and the city of Washington have been selected to receive funding through the RCCP. Beaufort County and Hyde County were two of the seven counties selected for assistance through this program. A total of $675,000 in funds will be available to all 25 communities selected by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management. Coastal communities were invited to apply for the RCCP and municipalities were selected based on their level of risk exposure to vulnerable populations and critical assets, their economic status and need and their internal capacity and momentum with related efforts according to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality 

“DCM is proud to launch the Resilient Coastal Communities Program, which is the first of its kind in this state and modeled after successful programs in other coastal states. This initial round of funding will provide support for 25 communities to lay the groundwork for efficient investments in long-term resilience to coastal storms and flooding,” said Braxton Davis, Division Director of the Morehead City Office. 

The program has four phases: 

• Community engagement and risk & vulnerability assessment
• Planning, Project Selection and Prioritization
• Project Engineering and Design
• Implementation

The first two phases will occur at the same time under a single contract per community, Contractors for each project will be matched with municipalities by the Division based on the need indicated by the community during the application process.