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Managing the Retreat from Rising Seas — Punta Gorda, Florida: Climate Adaptation and Comprehensive Plans and Updates
July 15, 2020
The harborside city of Punta Gorda, Florida has responded to the threat of coastal storms and climate change impacts with two different plans - a Climate Adaptation Plan and a local comprehensive plan - to promote, manage, and protect the city’s natural resources and plan for development in a way that minimizes risks to people and property and conserves ecosystems. The Adaptation Plan is unique because it was developed through a “citizen-driven process” designed to identify effective local responses to climate change and includes a variety of adaptation options that enjoy broad community support, including managed retreat or “planned relocation.” The city incorporated the Climate Adaptation Plan into its comprehensive plan to ensure that climate change is considered in land-use decisionmaking efforts. In 2019, the city released an update to its Adaptation Plan that identifies the city’s progress to date and future adaptation actions the city could consider implementing. Punta Gorda provides a useful example of how effective community engagement can enhance adaptation planning and build community support for managed retreat strategies and how adaptation plans can be used to inform future land-use decisions to ensure safer, more resilient development. This case study is one of 17 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Managing the Retreat from Rising Seas: Lessons and Tools from 17 Case Studies.
Resource Category: Planning
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Million Trees Miami - Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County, Florida’s Million Trees Miami initiative aims to plant 1 million trees in lower-income communities with insufficient tree canopy in order to alleviate heat stress in the county. This initiative stems from the County’s 2006 Street Tree Master Plan, which set a goal to achieve 30% tree canopy in Miami-Dade by 2020. Neat Streets Miami, a multi-jurisdictional County Board, is working to implement this goal through the Million Trees Miami initiative. Through a 2016 Urban Tree Canopy Assessment, the County determined that lower-income areas, including predominantly African American and Hispanic neighborhoods, had significantly less tree canopy than their wealthier counterparts. As a result, the County is prioritizing tree planting in its most impoverished and low-canopy areas through initiatives such as the Street Tree Matching Grant. Increased tree canopy cover in communities provides many important adaptation benefits, including protection from flooding, urban heat island mitigation, and improved water and air quality.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Florida Senate Resolution 1572
March 5, 2020
On March 5, 2020, the Florida Senate passed a resolution expressing its support for adopting policies to prepare the state for climate change impacts, such as sea-level rise and flooding. In the resolution, the senate also recognizes the importance of resilient infrastructure in “fortifying” the state from those impacts.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Florida Senate Bill 178: An Act Relating to Public Financing of Construction Projects
March 11, 2020 (effective July 1, 2021)
On March 11, 2020, the Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 178 (Florida Statute § 161. 551) that establishes new rules and enforcement mechanisms for state-financed coastal construction projects. According to the law, “state-financed constructors” are public entities that manage or commission “a construction project using funds appropriated from the state. ” The purpose of the law is to ensure that (1) projects funded by public monies can better withstand coastal flooding and will not exacerbate flooding impacts on surrounding communities; and (2) project managers consider all design options and alternatives in the face of sea-level rise.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Broward County Florida Resiliency Standards for Flood Protection: Broward County Code of Ordinances Article XXV, Chapter 39.
February 13, 2020
Adopted by the Broward County Board of Commissioners in early 2020, Broward County’s new flood protection standards establish, and account for sea-level rise in, baseline elevation and maintenance standards for coastal and shoreline flood mitigation infrastructure for tidally affected communities in the County. Broward County adopted a new policy (2. 21. 7) in the County Land Use Plan requiring tidally influenced municipalities to adopt a local ordinance consistent with the regional standards, which were incorporated into county code as a model ordinance.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project
The Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project (SERCAP) was established through funding from the U.S. Government’s Office of Economic Opportunity in the 1960s. The Project helps low-income rural communities in the mid-Atlantic and the Southeastern U.S. obtain water and wastewater infrastructure for running water, indoor plumbing, and wastewater treatment. Water utilities in these rural areas often lack funding to provide such infrastructure. Households that are not supplied with drinking water tend to rely on wells and septic tanks, which can get contaminated by pollution from agricultural activity and the lack of suitable wastewater treatment. SERCAP assists both individuals and municipalities, and its services include installing infrastructure, providing financing and loans, and offering technical support. In addition to providing services related to water, SERCAP also provides support on housing issues.
Resource Category: Organizations
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FDOT Resilience Quick Guide: Incorporating Resilience in the MPO Long Range Transportation Plan
January 2020
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) produced this Resilience Quick Guide (guide) in January 2020 to provide concise guidance to metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) on best practices for integrating resilience into long-range transportation plans. The guide notes that Florida's regions are challenged by extreme events and changing conditions including inland flooding, sea-level rise, more frequent and severe storm events, worsening drought, fires, and more - all of which can affect transportation facilities and systems and result in other social and economic impacts.
Resource Category: Planning
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Miami, Florida Resilient 305 Strategy
July 2019
This climate resilience plan was created collaboratively by Greater Miami and the Beaches (GM&B) - a unique partnership between Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami, and the City of Miami Beach. The unified adaptation strategy integrates climate change planning and preparedness for the low-lying coastal communities in southeast Florida (which share area code 305). The Resilient305 Strategy offers 59 action items that will help municipalities to better prepare for and respond to increasing occurrences of hurricanes, sunny day flooding, and sea level rise, as well as social and economic inequities.
Resource Category: Planning
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City of Punta Gorda Adaptation Plan Update
June 28, 2019
On June 28, 2019, the City of Punta Gorda released an Adaptation Plan update to assess public infrastructure vulnerability to coastal flooding and sea-level rise. An addendum to the update report to 2009 climate adaptation plan with a living shoreline element, the updated plan is the product of the NOAA’s 2018-2019 Florida Resilient Coastlines: Resiliency Planning grant, administered by Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and in collaboration with Taylor Engineering, Inc.
Resource Category: Planning
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Mexico Beach, Florida - Floodplain Ordinance 712
February 5, 2019
Mexico Beach is on the Gulf of Mexico in Bay County, Florida and faces climate enhanced hurricanes, coastal storm surge, sea level rise and flooding impacts. In October 2018, Hurricane Michael, a Category 4 storm, made landfall in Mexico Beach demolishing 70% of the town’s homes. The coastal community has amended the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood zones maps to reflect storm surge flood levels and high risk floodplain areas as implicated by Hurricane Michael flooding. An ordinance has been adopted in which new construction in Mexico Beach must be elevated at least a foot and a half higher than FEMA's base-level flood predictions in both the region’s 100-year and 500-year floodplains.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
