To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: On January 21, 2021, the State Water Control Board (“Board”) published draft amendments to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations that would require localities to incorporate coastal resilience and climate change adaptation into local land use ordinances. This draft regulation implements amendments to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (“CBPA”) passed during the 2020 General Assembly which requires local governments add consideration of “coastal resilience and adaption to sea-level rise and climate change” to local Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area land use ordinances, and specifically any proposed land development in CBPA Resource Protection Areas (“RPAs”). RPAs are regulated waterbodies and associated corridors of environmentally sensitive land that lie alongside or near the shorelines of streams, rivers and other waterways which drain into the Chesapeake Bay, including a buffer of land within 100 feet of these features. In their natural condition, RPAs protect water quality, filter pollutants from stormwater runoff, reduce the volume of stormwater runoff, prevent erosion, and perform other important biological and ecological functions.