It was supposed to be a big year for the cities of Everett and Chelsea, with construction of a $120 million flood resilience project set to begin at the end of 2026 on the Island End River, a tributary to the Mystic River that sits between the two Gateway Cities and generates dramatic flooding during severe coastal storms.

But instead of breaking ground on the 4,460 linear-foot storm surge barrier and 3,000 square-foot underground storm surge control facility, project managers like Emily Granoff, Chelsea’s deputy director of housing and community development, are back at square one.

One year ago in April, the Trump administration abruptly announced its intent to shut down the bipartisan Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) initiative that has allocated billions of dollars in federal grants to pre-disaster mitigation efforts in communities across the country since 2020. The move halted $3.6 billion in approved funding that was not yet allocated and cut $882 million in grants for the following fiscal year.

Applying for the federal grant was an onerous process, Granoff said, requiring hours of staff time and even consultants to help compile the relevant data and documents.

“You don’t do it unless you really need it,” she said.

Granoff’s team spent months working with property owners and stakeholders, compiling letters of support, calculating cost estimates, generating maps and project models, writing and signing agreements, establishing a project schedule, conducting a cost-benefit analysis, and more. The cities spent around $70,000 on consultants who aided in the project modeling and economic analysis required for the application.

“We don’t know when the next huge coastal storm is going to happen,” Granoff said. “But we know that we need to be ready. We know it’s coming, and we know the risk is getting higher.”

The project, like many others across the country, was put on pause while the fate of the BRIC program was challenged in the federal courts. But one year later, uncertainty remains.

A federal judge has issued two court orders requiring FEMA to restart the program. For Granoff’s team, that news isn’t as good as it seems. At the time of the cuts, Everett and Chelsea lost out on a $50 million BRIC grant that was in progress. They subsequently lost $20 million in additional funds from the state that would have matched the federal grant. Because the Island End River project was selected for further review but not yet awarded with a signed contract, restoring the program won’t necessarily make the $50 million reappear.

“We went from being relatively close to being able to fund construction to having no money,” Granoff said.

One year after the axe fell on BRIC, projects like the one on the Island End River remain stuck in limbo despite the federal court’s order to restart the program. The project, which was close to construction, has now been delayed by two to three years, with no guarantee that funding will be restored. It’s time that Granoff and other climate resilience advocates say they don’t have as flood events become more frequent and severe, and construction costs rise. Now, local planners are trying to piece together funding from other sources so the project can continue, even partially.