Environmental Protection Agency

Evaluation of the Role of Public Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement in Stormwater Funding Decisions in New England: Lessons from Communities Environmental Protection Agency

Publisher Marketing: The findings set forth in this report confirm that stakeholder support plays a critical role in the successful adoption and implementation of stormwater funding mechanisms. In order to build stakeholder support and successfully adopt a stormwater funding mechanism, public outreach strategies and focused stakeholder engagement are critical. The specific factors that municipal decision-makers must take into account-such as citizen or business opposition, the policy environment (e.g., enabling legislation), anti- tax sentiments, chronic flooding, and other issues-will differ from town to town. Therefore, the specific design of any public outreach and stakeholder engagement strategy must be tailored to uniquely address these factors and related stakeholder concerns. The specific approaches used by the eleven communities for engaging stakeholders differed. However, communities that effectively addressed their stakeholders' specific concerns were more likely to adopt and implement their proposed funding mechanism. The experiences of the eleven case study communities suggested several ways that public outreach and stakeholder engagement processes contributed to the development and adoption of stormwater funding mechanisms: A forum to proactively educate stakeholders about the need for improved stormwater management and funding, and for stakeholders to educate stormwater utility proponents about their concerns. An opportunity to test and refine program designs by soliciting stakeholder feedback. An opportunity to develop innovative, collaborative solutions. An opportunity to find the balance between costs and services that fee payers could support. Access to local knowledge and expertise. Creation of support and momentum for a consensus-based solution.