The City of Conway has received a grant from FEMA’s Fiscal Year 2021 Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. The $2.17 million grant will allow the City to build a massive stormwater and park project in one of the neighborhoods most impacted by flooding in recent years. 

Chestnut Bay will be a constructed Carolina Bay, possibly the first manmade Carolina Bay in the world. Carolina Bays are natural wetlands that provide critical storage for water after major rain events.  They are not unique to the Carolinas, nor are they true bays.  They are so named because of the bay trees that typically surround them.

A community park will be centered around Chestnut Bay.  The land upon which Chestnut Bay will be constructed is currently unused.  This grant will allow the City to activate the area and add another recreational amenity for citizens and visitors.

“The City of Conway continues to make flood mitigation our top priority,” says Conway Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy. “We can’t stop the rain, but we will do everything that is within our power to make sure that the water that falls on our city can make its way to sea without disrupting the lives of our citizens.”

The City of Conway has partnered with The Nature Conservancy on this project.
CHESTNUIT BAY MASTER PLAN