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Committee accepts draft sea-level rise adaptation plan as planning tool; staff to seek grants and implement pathways
Summary
The committee reviewed a draft Sea Level Rise Adaptation Plan funded by the Resilient Florida grant that ranks city assets, describes five adaptation themes and identifies pathway-based strategies; the committee recommended forwarding the draft to the full commission.
The Land Use and Sustainability Committee on April 15 reviewed a draft Sea Level Rise Adaptation Plan that frames adaptation around five themes: keeping water out, living with water, nature-based protections, strategic relocation and updates to plans and policy.
"This is a draft adaptation plan," said Commissioner Laura Dominguez, the sponsor, and Amy Knowles, Chief Resiliency Officer, presented the draft and a short slide summary. Knowles said the work began in winter 2022, was funded by the Resilient Florida grant program and included a vulnerability assessment that scored roughly 67,000 city assets for exposure, sensitivity and consequence.
The plan uses projections based on NOAA and U.S. Army Corps data and frames responses by feet of sea level rise rather than by calendar year. Knowles told the committee that the city has seen roughly 11 inches of sea-level rise over the last century and an additional six inches recently, and the plan identifies combined-event flood risks for key assets by 2040 and 2070. She said the city has already won about $80 million in related grants and will use the asset database to prioritize future grant applications.
Major takeaways highlighted by staff include greater risk on the west side of the island because of lower elevations, an estimated annual value of the coastal dune and beach system about $20 million per year as a natural buffer, aging water and wastewater pipelines (some older than 70 years) and roadways that are vulnerable to flooding in combined events.
Staff emphasized the planwhich will be posted online with an Esri story mapis intended as a flexible, non-prescriptive tool to guide future project selection and grant eligibility rather than a prescriptive permitting rule.
Commissioner Dominguez moved the item for transmittal to the full commission for consideration; Chair Alex Franz seconded. The committee adopted the referral by acclamation and directed staff to include the plan in planning and budget processes as an informational and implementation tool.
Why this matters: the plan consolidates vulnerability data and adaptation pathways so staff and elected officials can prioritize capital projects, grant applications and regulatory updates that match flood types and asset criticality.
Next steps: staff will post the full draft and story map online and bring the adaptation plan forward to the full commission for acceptance and to support grant-seeking and project prioritization.
