Research snapshot · Environmental · 13 September 2026

Shoreland and flood across the country: 108 towns on the record, the pace easing

This page is a snapshot, cut 13 September 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Shoreland zoning, floodplain standards and map adoption, setbacks from water, and the rebuilding and expansion rights of existing structures near the shore.Our definition of the class.

Snapshot taken 13 September 2026, based on 176 dated municipal records flagged as shoreland and flood, spanning 108 municipalities across 24 states. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

Source documents 3 of 4 on this page link straight to the town's own record. The rest are available on request. Ask for access.

The story so far

The record starts in Maine, 7 January 2013. Since then 108 municipalities in 24 states have put the topic on a meeting record, at very different speeds: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts hold 73% of the dated events between them.

The last 90 days put 11 meetings on the record, down from 23 in the 90 days before.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Planning Board, Weekly Code Enforcement Application Submiss and Conservation Commission.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTownsStates
Sep 2025 to Nov 20251495
Dec 2025 to Feb 2026423111
Mar 2026 to May 202626249
Jun 2026 to Sep 2026 (current)11105

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Dec 2025 to Feb 2026, with 42 meetings.

Where it is moving24 states

The same topic at different speeds in different states. A state's name opens its own page where one exists.
StateTowns on the recordMeetings, 90 daysLatest
Maine385 ▼ -37.5%2026-08-25
New Hampshire182 ▼ -50.0%2026-06-29
Massachusetts1002026-06-10
Vermont802026-05-21
Connecticut502026-04-20
Rhode Island lighter read402026-04-13
Kentucky lighter read402026-03-23
New York lighter read22 new on the record2026-07-29
California lighter read202026-03-17
Hawaii lighter read202026-02-12
Minnesota lighter read102026-03-11
Alaska lighter read102025-06-03
Arizona lighter read102023-03-28
Colorado lighter read102024-01-01
Delaware lighter read102020-03-10

And 9 more states on the record, in an account view.

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

25 August 2026 · Brunswick, Maine

the agenda, on the town's own site Planning_Board_Agenda_08252026.pdf

10 August 2026 · Falmouth, Maine Town Council

the document, on the town's own site Council Work Plan Priorities FY26-27.pdf

5 August 2026 · Jefferson, Maine

the agenda, on the town's own site PB August Agenda

4 August 2026 · St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana

the agenda, on the town's own site Agenda — 2026-08-04

Companies on this record483 companies, 136 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
Federal Emergency Management AgencyAugusta, Bow, Clinton and 4 more
NHDESBartlett, Goffstown, Newbury and 1 more
ComcastBrunswick, Mansfield, Medford
architectPresque Isle, Rangeley, Skowhegan
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)Boscawen, Clinton, Danbury
Maine DEPHope, Presque Isle, Scarborough
Maine Floodplain Management ProgramPresque Isle, Rangeley, Skowhegan
NHACCAlton, Meredith, Ossipee
USGSAlton, Hartford, Rangeley
CVRPCMontpelier, Williamstown
GPCOGFalmouth, Windham
VerizonMansfield, Medford
Zeland Schwartz Revocable TrustEliot
American Water WorksDouglas, Jay
Army Corps of EngineersActon, Bristol
AT&TDelmar, Jay
BACTSOld Town, Orono
Clean Energy NHBerlin, Boscawen
EversourceBerlin, Groton
MARCChester, Windsor
BJ's Wholesale ClubMedford
BMO Harris BankUtica
Greater Augusta Utility DistrictAugusta
Jasper’s BarUtica
Kim and Todd SpittellUtica
Main Street I, LLCAugusta
Mass Ave Rentals, LLCPepperell
OceanViewFalmouth
Onion River Nordic Ski ClubMontpelier
Resilient Communities, L3CHope

And 453 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 13 September 2026; the topic is not. 51 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 13 September 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Each state's name above opens its own page. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Shoreland and flood, across the country

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

Across the country

Area

Environmental

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

108

with a dated document on this topic

States on the record

24

counted from the record

Earliest

7 January 2013

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

11 against 23 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

13 September 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours