DATE: December 4, 2015
MEDIA CONTACT: Jill Horwitz, Natural Resource Specialist II
Environmental Planning and Community Resilience Division, Broward County, Florida
PHONE: 954-519-1287
EMAIL: JHORWITZ@broward.org
BROWARD COUNTY, FL - Broward County, in partnership with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), the South Florida Regional Planning Council, and the City of Fort Lauderdale, has created a variety of tools and resources to help coastal communities in Florida plan for climate resilience. Key to the effort is the designation and implementation of local Adaptation Action Areas in their planning processes. This work was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and coordinated through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Coastal Management Program and the DEO Community Resiliency Initiative.
Florida communities can designate Adaptation Action Areas in their local Comprehensive Plan, vital to the success of resilience plans, through the 2011 Community Planning Act. This designation helps communities address current and future coastal hazards and related impacts of sea level rise by proposing adaptation planning strategies within the designated area and by prioritizing funding for infrastructure improvements. These coastal hazards include sea level rise, excessive storm water runoff, extreme high-tide events, flash flooding events, and storm surge.
These tools also include an Adaptation Action Areas Guidebook, which offers communities guidance in adaptation planning, performing vulnerability assessments, developing adaptation strategies, and integrating these strategies into existing plans. Also included in the Guidebook is a detailed case study of an Adaptation Action Area pilot project in the City of Fort Lauderdale and a Community Adaptation Action Area Checklist.
Other resources made available to communities as a result of this grant include an Adaptation Action Area Policy Options Report that highlights sixteen (16) adaptation planning and policy strategies that coastal communities could adopt and implement in their local community plans, a short film that describes the purpose of Adaptation Action Areas and five podcasts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) that detail how Broward County and the City of Fort Lauderdale have incorporated Adaptation Action Area planning in their community.
All of the Adaptation Action Area resources and other climate adaptation planning resources can be found at the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Adaptation Planning website
About Environmental Planning and Community Resilience
Broward County's Environmental Planning and Community Resilience Division protects, restores and enhances the quality, abundance and diversity of the County's natural resources through coordinated management efforts in five areas: water resource policy and planning, urban and natural lands management, beach and marine resources, energy and sustainability, and environmental monitoring. For more information, call 954-519-1270, visit our website or follow us on Twitter.
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