NVRC Update Northern Virginia regional commission - April 2024

Solarize NoVA Campaign Kicks Off in April

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission's successful Solarize NoVA program. We are pleased to work with our local government partners, local solar installers and the Local Energy Alliance Program. To date this effort has resulted in 8.5 MW of solar for nearly $25 million in private investment. This year we will celebrate the 1,000th install of the program. To learn more about the program and to sign up click on the button below.

Have a question?

There are several FREE webinars scheduled to help answer questions residents and or business owners may have regarding this program. Click on the button to register for a webinar.

What is Your Solar Potential?

The Northern Virginia Regional Commission created the first regional solar map in the Commonwealth of Virginia to give interested homeowners or business owners a birds eye view of how large a solar array can fit on their roof, the potential energy savings and environmental benefits. You can visit the map by clicking on the button.

NVRC Awarded Grant from VA Department of Conservation and Recreation

NVRC was awarded a $220,000 grant from the Department of Conservation and Recreation to create regional resilient design guidelines.

Current engineering design standards are based on historical observations and extreme rain events often overwhelm undersized stormwater infrastructure. To better prepare for future conditions there is a need for guidance on how to implement climate-informed design storm depths. To help support the adoption of new design standards, NVRC will develop practical guidance with the associated costs and benefits of new design guidelines by using the Mid-Atlantic Climate Adaptation Partnership's Intensity Duration and Frequency (IDF) curve tool that provides change factors to scale design storm depths accounting for recent and projected climate change.

The Regional Resilient Design Guidelines are intended to be considered for adoption by NVRC localities to fulfill DCR resiliency plan requirements and will provide decision-making support in the form of case studies, cost of adaptation versus inaction, and climate scenario guidance. By developing this plan at a regional scale, we will be able to provide support to local governments interested in updating their regulations and policies to protect their communities and infrastructure from flooding.

NVRC Receives National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Grant on Stormwater Best Management Practices Guide

NVRC was awarded a $22,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to update regional resources for properly maintaining stormwater infrastructure. Stormwater management systems are prevalent throughout Northern Virginia and their effectiveness relies on their long-term maintenance. The maintenance responsibility often falls to individual homeowners, homeowners' associations, and property management companies and is often overlooked.

NVRC published a stormwater maintenance guidebook for private owners and operators in 2007 which provided valuable information about the inspection of stormwater systems, planning for maintenance costs, and troubleshooting tips. In the 17 years since this publication, technology has improved, and maintenance costs have increased. This calls for an updated resource to support our local governments in the education and outreach for stormwater system maintenance.

The proposed project garnered great interest and enthusiasm from our local governments, who requested about 1,500 printed copies across the region.

Northern Virginia Economic and Demographic Trends

On March 7, NVRC's Senior Regional Demographer, Jill Kaneff, presented to the Virginia Career Works Northern Region Board of Directors. The presentation was about the economic and demographic trends, specifically the aging population, retirements, births/deaths, and migration and the impacts of these factors on the labor force for the short and long-term. Jill is working on further research as to who is leaving the region, where they are going and why. You can view Jill's presentation by clicking on the button.

For additional Northern Virginia data please visit our data dashboard.

Trails Newsletter and Update

NVRC’s Nora Jackson Now a Certified Floodplain Manager

NVRC is pleased to announce its newest Certified Floodplain Manager. Nora Jackson, the Commission's Resiliency Planner, passed the CFM exam in late February.

The CFM exam is the nationally recognized certification for floodplain management and covers the National Flood Insurance Program and concepts of floodplain management, flood maps and studies, ordinance administration, and the relationship between floodplain management and flood insurance. To become a CFM, you must pass a 120-question, closed book exam, and submit 16 continuing education credits biannually to maintain certification. As the role of floodplain managers expands across the nation in response to rising flood risks, the certification will better equip Nora to provide assistance and support to local governments in Northern Virginia as the region remains committed to building a flood resilient future.

Congratulations to Nora on achieving this important certification. We are thankful for all of Nora's hard work not only here at NVRC, but with our local government partners and others throughout the region.

Community/Military Partnership

Local governments across the northern Virginia region are applying with greater regularity nature-based solutions to mitigate the effects of urban heat islands and local-level flooding. But the persistent threats from sustained greenhouse gas emissions have raised questions among policymakers about the adequacy of scale of nature-based and related programs.

In Germany, metropolitan regions such as Stuttgart and Berlin have established themselves as global pioneers in the design, planning and implementation of regional-level green infrastructure programs. The nature-based programs of these cities are built around large-scale and interconnected systems of parks, forests and gardens and contributed to cooling urban centers, absorbing stormwater, boosting biodiversity and creating functional open spaces for the public.

Please join the NVRC for a webinar on Thursday, April 18, 2024, 12:00pm – 1:15pm (EST). Jamie Chan, Director of Europe Urban Greening at the Nature Conservancy, will share the ways that her work in Germany is leading a climate resiliency transformation through programs rounded in nature-based solutions and the potential lessons for equivalent work in Northern Virginia.

About the Northern Virginia Regional Commission

NVRC is a consortium of thirteen local governments representing more than 2.5 million residents. While only 3% of Virginia's land mass, Northern Virginia has a GDP of $276 Billion which is 41.6% of the GDP of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Northern Virginia’s GDP is larger than 24 states and the District of Columbia and if a country would be the 48th largest economy in the world.