The Lynn Haven City Commission authorized Interim City Manager Chris Lightfoot to submit a Resilient Florida grant application that staff said would fund engineering for an east-side regional stormwater facility.

Staff said the city’s vulnerability assessment, completed through a prior DEP grant, strengthens applications by documenting vulnerable infrastructure and priority projects. “The first application we plan to anticipate or are applying for is the engineering for the east side regional stormwater facility for a million dollars,” Lightfoot said.

Why it matters: the city is seeking state funding to design a regional stormwater facility intended to address chronic flooding and improve resilience for vulnerable infrastructure identified in the vulnerability assessment. Staff said the Northwest Florida Water Management District and local partners have been involved in identifying grant opportunities and that having the assessment improves scoring.

Vote and next steps: the commission voted unanimously to authorize the mayor to sign resolution documents allowing the city manager to submit the grant application. Staff said the application will be one of several Resilient Florida opportunities and that additional project nominations may follow.

Ending: staff said they will pursue multiple grant avenues and bring project details back to the commission as applications develop.