Questions about how climate change will affect Topsham residents in the future are spurring the town’s Energy Committee to ask residents about how it is currently affecting them.

The committee will host a Climate Action Plan Workshop from 6:30-8 p.m. July 30 at the Town Office. The workshop t is a follow-up to the over 250 responses to the Topsham Climate Action Plan Survey, which closed in May.

Topsham Energy Committee Chairperson Yvette Meunier and volunteer Nancy Chandler were at the town solid waste facility Saturday inviting people to the first community conversation about the plan updates.

“We are going to introduce the climate action plan in process,” Meunier said. “We are going to be gathering feedback and have three different engagement activities there.”

Topsham resident Jeff Munson (right) listens to questions about how climate change is affecting him with Topsham Energy Committee Chairperson Yvette Meunier (left) and volunteer Nancy Chandler (middle) at the Topsham Solid Waste Facility on July 13. Paul Bagnall / The Times Record

One activity is an interactive tabling activity similar to what Meunier and Chandler were doing at the solid waste facility: asking people what would make the town more resilient and what resources the town can provide to citizens to help them with sustainability and resiliency. This method tracks interests in the different areas where climate change will impact the town. Some concerns mentioned in survey responses were from people living along the Androscoggin River, with culverts and streets being a primary concern due to high water levels from increased rainfall.

The Topsham Energy Committee has received a $50,000 Community Resilience Partnership Program grant through the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. It is being used to hire consultant team FB Environmental to help the committee write an updated Climate Action Plan, which will be put to the town for a vote at the annual town meeting by May 2025.

The Midcoast Council of Governments is writing the greenhouse gas initiative for the plan. A new aspect of the plan is the Maine Social Vulnerability Assessment, which will examine who is most impacted by climate change.

Meunier said the most vulnerable in our population don’t have the resources to mitigate some of the increased electricity prices and live in places that are more prone to flooding.

“At a future meeting, we are going to start ranking our priorities in the plan,” Meunier said.

Some sustainability measures involve protecting natural resources, food security, infrastructure, electrification, water quality and invasive species like bittersweet and Japanese knotweed.

The Energy Committee was formed in October 2020 and was unanimously approved by the Topsham Select Board. Meunier said the committee helped write the zoning ordinance for solar panels and the solar power purchase agreement for Topsham, which saved the town $38,000, before it became a formal committee.