Constraints for Greater Change

Inadequate Definition for City Emissions Regulations

Although there are progressive efforts made for the municipality, Chelsea lacks a reliable emissions regulation plan that is supported by comparable data. There must be better recognition towards the emissions produced by company’s, industry’s, and consumed by private home-owners, and recognize what geographic boundaries they are infringing upon.

As a consequence to heavily trafficked industrial corridors, such as Marginal Street, Broadway, and the Chelsea Creek, are contributing to an additional environmental threat of carbon emissions. Emissions are produced in mass near industrial facilities that facilitate both maritime and land vehicles idling, loading, and offloading materials.

There are also hazardous sites included within the coastal boundaries isometric present is the Chelsea Marginal Street Dump, which appears to be an permitted land dump, documented in the City of Chelsea’s GIS dataset. Measures like green roofs, additional vegetation, and gardens are recommended to increase green space in order to reduce the impacts of all three major hazard types. White roofs and the reduction of unused impervious surfaces could also prove effective in mitigating heat.

Lack of Waterfront Access

Chelsea’s waterfront is largely consumed by water-dependent industries due to Regulatory Zoning codes. The entirety of the Chelsea creek harbor has zoned it’s land use as Designated Port Area (DPA). DPA land ensure the city’s future ability to develop more industry that requires the features of the harbor. However, this severs the public’s ability to access the coast and wetlands that are so critical for people too. Chapter 91 is a regulation that supports the use of tidelands, wetlands, and waterfronts for public use, and protects this use by adapting the definition for viable water-front and water-dependent businesses. Even then, Chelsea still lacks substantial water front access. Currently, DPA land permits 25% of boundary land for the purpose of commercial or accessory land use. This constraint could be less limiting if this percentage was increased to 50-70%, and took advantage of MA Article 97: land swap. land swamp would implore the opportunity for present land owners to agree to give land for communal use if the revenue would be shared amongst owners. Different models could also look like land easements, or land trust models.

Funding Storm Surges & Flooding Mitigation

It has become an increase and prevalent reality for many coastal cities the threats concerning global climate change. Located just within the mouth of Massachusetts bay, Chelsea is at risk of not only rising sea levels, but as well suffers the consequences of surface heat island temperatures. Due to the city’s high ratio in paved impervious surfaces to permeable land, the surface temperatures have only been increasing. In addition, rising sea levels and storm water surges have become an increasing challenge that the city will need to address soon. Water-centric industries along the coast of Chelsea prevent proper zoning to be conducted for better adaptation and mitigation strategies to occur.

Water-centric industries that are accepted to acquire land within the Chapter 91 corridor must acquire one of four licenses: the waterways license, the waterways permit, a license/permit amendment, or a harbormaster annual permit. Fewer impervious surfaces would open room for additional grounded green space and therefore reduce flood risk.

To address the flood risk to the region, the construction of flood barriers along the coast may help reduce the risk posed by salt storage to residents, as well as mitigating damage caused by sea level rise and storm surge inundation. As industrial salt storage is of major risk, we recommend working with the owners of these materials to manage or minimize the risk of outdoor salt storage.

Soil Contamination or Hazardous Conditions

Operated by Sunoco, the tanks above hold all of Logan Airport’s jet fuel, essential to the global mobility of the whole city and the vacations and business trips of transient professionals. There are PCBs, or industrial pollutants settled in the river bottom. From there, these contaminants travel up riverine food chains, eventually infusing in the river’s fish, lodged as fleshy deposits. Petroleum hydrocarbons, the chemical remnants of oil spills also flow through the water. During heavy downpours and snow melt, wastewater and bacteria from sewage mixes with rainwater and snow melt, running off into the river. 60 Flows here follow into the Mystic, and then into the Harbor itself. Today, a “No Swimming” sign sits against the park fence. Due to the mass production of materials in this area, industriallyzoned areas often are the cause for brown fields and mineral pollution; which is detrimental for coastal ecologies. The radius surrounding 11 Marginal street would be submerged in the event of flooding. NOAA sea level rise mapping data shows parts of the coast already underwater with less than 1 foot of sea-level rise, but levels worsens along the coast as sea-level rise increases while the city takes no action to galvanize a plan to mitigate these threats.