Ohio Creek Watershed Resilience Park

The Ohio Creek Watershed Project is a neighborhood adaptation project designed to address the combined risk of coastal flooding, sea level rise, and extreme rainfall in the communities of Grandy Village and Chesterfield Heights on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, VA. Funded through a grant from US HUD’s National Disaster Resilience Competition, the project completed construction in 2024, addressing major flooding concerns, improving connection to the remainder of the City, and enhancing quality of life in these two neighborhoods. As part of the interdisciplinary project team, SCAPE helped develop the overall adaptation strategy, including the incorporation of green infrastructure and nature-based features—the project includes 1,600 linear feet of living shoreline on the Elizabeth River—and the integration of harder infrastructure elements into the neighborhood fabric.

SCAPE also designed the 12-acre resilience park, a signature feature of the project. Informed by residents of both neighborhoods, the park incorporates existing community spaces, adds new amenities identified by the community, and restores native ecosystems. A vegetated berm is part of the neighborhood-wide risk reduction system, providing an elevated walking route and framing views of the park. The park also includes a daylit tidal creek and constructed wetland, a nature trail, a multi-use field, playgrounds, activity courts, and more.

Learn more:

• • Visit the City of Norfolk’s project page.
  • Read Leslie Kaufman in Bloomberg: “To Fight Flooding, This City Plans to Renovate—and Retreat” (2021).