Fairfield officials and consulting teams on Wednesday described the start of a townwide Flood and Erosion Resiliency Master Plan and asked residents to provide site‑level observations and ideas for mitigation.

David Murphy, a consultant with Resilient Land and Water, said the planning effort will reassess vulnerabilities across riverine, coastal and stormwater settings, produce visualizations and concept designs, and deliver a final plan by late fall or early winter. “We’re a consultant helping out to get this planning process started,” Murphy said, adding that the consultant team will not be the firm doing the full 12‑month plan but will help carry the process forward.

The town framed the plan as a tool to populate Fairfield’s capital improvement plan and future hazard mitigation updates, and to strengthen grant applications. Officials repeatedly urged residents to provide addresses and descriptions of flooding—“I got 4 feet of water in my basement,” one resident said—so consultants can map where water is actually coming from and confirm gaps in earlier studies.

Why it matters: the presenters said flooding accounts for more than a third of the town’s recorded natural‑hazard losses and that precipitation extremes and sea‑level rise make future events more damaging. Murphy and town staff said the plan will weigh a mix of permanent measures (for example, elevating structures) and temporary or deployable responses (barriers and volunteer response), and prioritize cost‑effective projects and grant readiness.

Planned work and schedule: Weston & Sampson and Ray’s Coastal Engineering will reassess risks, develop visualization tools, advance concept designs, propose a long‑term vision, and prepare the plan document. Residents should expect public workshops and visual products in late spring and early summer, a draft plan in the fall, and final deliverables by December or January, Murphy said.

Resident role and outreach: Town staff asked attendees to sign in and to opt into a flood and erosion control newsletter to receive updates about permits and projects. Officials said the consultants will spend several days driving and walking the town’s waterways to observe problem locations; residents were asked to register addresses and provide photos or videos showing where water comes from. “If you think of something two hours from now, send it in the comment section,” a staff member said.

Limits and expectations: presenters cautioned that not all ideas raised by residents will be feasible—“the consultants will evaluate them…they’ll be able to tell us, yes, that’s great, or no, that’s too expensive or impossible to permit,” Murphy said. The town also emphasized that the plan aims to identify achievable, staged projects rather than single, billion‑dollar fixes.

Next steps: the consulting team will begin targeted site visits and data gathering. Residents were encouraged to submit flood anecdotes, photos and videos; the town will post meeting slides and a recording online and circulate the newsletter to those who sign up.

The meeting closed with an open discussion and a promise by staff to incorporate resident input into the mapping effort and the consultant evaluation.