Compact Currents is a quarterly newsletter from the Southeast Florida Regional Compact Climate Change Compact highlighting the progress of the Compact, and the counties and municipalities in Southeast Florida.

Rebuilding for All: Post-Disaster Redevelopment and Recovery

After a disaster, it is critical that communities rebound quickly and that the rebuilding process supports long-term resilience objectives. Without thoughtful planning, the “rush to recover” can result in rebuilding in the same vulnerable places or the loss of affordable housing. Post-disaster redevelopment plans aid in faster recovery, while allowing for smart, equitable decision-making and buy-in. This summer, the Compact brought together emergency management, urban planning, and resilience professionals from across the region to learn about how post-disaster redevelopment plans can help communities strategically plan for recovery.

Tools: Resources for practitioners on the statewide post-disaster redevelopment and recovery planning initiative.
Case study: Lessons learned from Palm Beach County’s first post-disaster redevelopment plan.
Equity: A primer on practicing equity-focused resilience planning and tools for a data-advised process for rebuilding after a disaster.
Funding: Information related to the $616 million in funding provided to the State of Florida by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support long-term recovery efforts following Hurricane Irma through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program (CDBG-DR).

This RCAP Implementation Workshop continued the Compact’s series of workshops designed to advance the implementation of the Regional Climate Action Plan, with a particular focus on risk reduction and emergency management recommendations (RR-3 and RR-4). Watch the video and view resources from the workshop.

Read more on the Compact website.

Across the Counties

Monroe County Invests Big in Tiny Homes

Photo: Nick Doll Photography/Wonder Studios

This August, Monroe County and the newly-formed Florida Keys Community Land Trust opened the first of four new tiny homes on Big Pine Key. Inspired by the “Katrina cottages” built in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, Big Pine Key’s new cottages are less than 800 square feet, elevated 12 feet from ground level, and built to withstand 200 mph winds. In order to maintain affordability, monthly rent is capped at $1,588, 80% of the area median income, and the Trust is giving preference to families still displaced by Hurricane Irma. These four tiny homes are just the start—five more homes are scheduled to be built by January and the Trust hopes to build 20 more in 2019.

Read the full story.

Broward County Talks Climate and Resilience with City and Business Leaders

This summer, Broward County Mayor Beam Furr and Senator Nan Rich, Broward County Commissioner, hosted a roundtable on climate and resilience for almost 60 local public and private leaders. Over the next two years, Broward County government will lead the development of a resilience plan in collaboration with city governments, the business community, and other stakeholders. Communication and coordination emerged as key areas of focus to educate residents, and ensure compatibility of city investments through a larger plan. Moving forward, Broward County will develop a resilience checklist for project review of public and private planning and investments.

The Resilience Accelerator Launches Projects Across Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties

Since 2016, Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami, and the City of Miami Beach have participated in The Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities (100 RC) initiative as the only regional collaboration of multiple jurisdictions. Now, 100 RC has launched a new initiative, the Resilience Accelerator, which is well-aligned with the region’s long-standing culture of collaboration and will leverage 100 RC resources and lessons learned for the entire region. Earlier this year, the initiative determined five priority resilience projects in Southeast Florida—from smart transit hubs, to road elevation and harmonization projects—to help kickstart implementation and produce better resilience outcomes. Two of the five projects selected are in Palm Beach: a living shoreline redesign at Monceaux Park in the City of West Palm Beach and the planning and design of a new approach to delivering affordable and workforce housing. An August Resilience Accelerator workshop focused on the strategy and designs for these projects.

Bloomberg Mayor’s Challenge Advances Innovative Solutions in Miami-Dade County Cities

Across Southeast Florida, cities face funding challenges as they work to design projects that make their communities more resilient. In Miami-Dade County, several cities are leveraging the Bloomberg Philanthropies 2018 Mayor’s Challenge to help make resilient designs a reality:

Miami and Miami Beach have collaborated to secure funding for the development of a data-driven system and shared data platform to predict and plan for rising sea levels. This project will develop a public tool to help residents better understand sea level rise projects and plan for their short- and long-term futures. This system will enhance the cities’ ability to work with residents and businesses to decrease flood risk. The tool is being developed through prototyping and testing to best reflect what type of information, and in what format, is most beneficial for residents.
Coral Gables is developing solar-powered microgrids into their electrical system, to continue to power emergency public safety services when the broader grid goes down during coastal storms or natural disasters. Coral Gables is engaging with residents to shape their communication to stakeholders and drive consumer demand.

Report Published on Miami Beach Stormwater Management and Climate Adaptation

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has released their final report on Miami Beach’s proactive stormwater strategy to reduce flooding and mitigate the impacts of sea level rise. Supported by 100 RC, ULI was invited to assess the city’s current stormwater and climate adaptation strategy, convening a panel of advisors to review the plan and develop recommendations. The advisory group found that the city has been extremely process oriented, taking careful steps to understand scientific data and implement solutions, lauding its use of the Compact sea level rise projections.

The report suggests a series of opportunities for improvement, including integrating flood management into a broader resilience strategy; expanded use of green and open space for water management and filtration; and proactively building public trust through a robust, transparent process for two-way communications and public input. It concludes that to move toward a more resilient future, the community, the city, and its stakeholders should continue to build on work already underway, crafting a more integrated overall strategy and striving to preserve and enhance the value, sense of place, and identity unique to Miami Beach. While this report was written for the City of Miami Beach, many of the recommendations are broadly applicable to communities across Southeast Florida that are developing their own climate action plans and resilience strategies.

Miami Beach Advances Water Quality Monitoring Program

In late 2016, the City of Miami Beach voluntarily launched a city-wide water quality monitoring program, adding more than 60 sampling sites in Biscayne Bay and other surrounding waterways. Following the first year of sampling, the city retained a third-party water quality expert to analyze the first year of data and provide recommendations for improving the program. Based on the analysis, the results appear typical to urban areas and there is no cause for alarm. As the Miami Beach water quality monitoring program nears the completion of its second year, it will continue to serve as a useful screening level program for early detection of major or potentially chronic water quality concerns that could impact Biscayne Bay so the city can address them swiftly. Through this program, the City of Miami Beach advances the RCAP recommendation to foster water management research and develop integrated risk-based decision-support processes to analyze the selection of infrastructure design and water resource management strategies (WS-15).

SFWMD Updates the Lower East Coast Water Supply Plan

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) has developed the Draft 2018 Lower East Coast Water Supply Plan Update (LEC Update) to assess projected water demands and potential sources of water for the period from 2016-2040. This update is inclusive of SFWMD climate change and sea level rise current and future adaptive management strategies and reflective of the Compact’s efforts congruent with the RCAP recommendation (WS-3) to plan for future water supply.

Read the full story.

Register today—only a few spots remain for this event!

Miami-Dade County will host the 10th Annual Southeast Florida Regional Climate Leadership Summit, celebrating a decade of progress with critical discussions on adaptation, innovation, and resilience. The Summit will feature keynote speakers Shamar Bibbins from The Kresge Foundation and Jacqui Patterson from the Environmental and Climate Justice Program NAACP. It will also feature panels with local, state, and federal government officials, business and nonprofit leaders, and other experts discussing plans to ensure the region not only survives, but thrives, in the face of sea level rise and other climate impacts. Learn more about the Summit.

If you miss out on registration, go to the registration page and register as normal to be added onto the wait list once registration closes. You will be notified by October 19 if a spot opens up.

New County Staff

Compact Staff Steering Committee Welcomes New Academic Liaison

Dr. Jayantha Obeysekera, the new Director of Sea Level Solutions Center (SLSC) at Florida International University (FIU), will join Dr. Tiffany Troxler and Dr. Mike Sukop as a co-director of the FIU branch of the Florida Climate Institute (FCI). In this role, Jayantha will participate actively in the efforts to support the ongoing and future collaboration between FCI and the Compact. As the Academic Liaison to the Compact’s Staff Steering Committee, Jayantha intends to explore ways for partner universities to more effectively engage and support the Compact agenda. He will also function as a statewide FCI co-director with Dr. Jim Jones of University of Florida, the current host institution of FCI.

Karina Castillo currently serves as a Resilience Coordinator for Miami-Dade County’s Office of Resilience. Karina has extensive experience in educating and engaging diverse audiences in climate change, especially in the South Florida region. In 2017, Karina made Grist’s annual list of emerging green leaders known as “The Fixers.” In 2016, Ford Motor Company named Karina as a Mujer Legendaria for representing their green pillar because of her work in climate and the Latino community. Karina holds a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology and Applied Mathematics from the University of Miami and a Master of Professional Science in Weather, Climate, and Society from the University of Miami.

Katelyn Cucinotta currently serves as an Environmental Analyst at Palm Beach County’s Office of Resilience where she will focus on GIS resource development, PACE administration, coastal resilience initiatives, and creating the County’s Climate Action Plan.

Prior to joining Palm Beach County, Katelyn worked as a wildlife specialist for a renewable energy company, responsible for ensuring the conservation of wildlife and habitat on wind and solar sites around North America. Some of her previous work experience includes serving as a GIS assistant for NOAA Fisheries; graduate research assistant for Nova Southeastern University’s Coral Reef Restoration, Assessment, and Monitoring (CRRAM) Lab; and Healthy Habitats and Oceans program manager for the nonprofit organization Sea to Shore Alliance. She holds a Master of Arts in Marine and Coastal Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Policy.

Monica Gregory currently serves as a Resilience Coordinator, Adaptation, for Miami-Dade County’s Office of Resilience. Previously, she worked as a NOAA Fellow with North Carolina’s Division of Coastal Management in Morehead City. Her work focused on local-scale vulnerability assessments in communities from the middle region of the coastline to the northern Outer Banks. She has worked in the climate change and resilience sector for the National Park Service in South Carolina and for a nonprofit in the Dominican Republic. Monica holds an MPA in Environmental Policy and Natural Resource Management from Indiana University-Bloomington.

Jake Leech currently serves as Environmental Analyst at Palm Beach County’s Office of Resilience. In this role, he applies his scientific background to South Florida’s climate challenges. Previously, Jake served on the University of Miami’s geology faculty as a lecturer. Jake holds a Ph.D. in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from Georgia Tech and studied at Florida Atlantic University.

Sandra St. Hilaire currently serves as a Resilience Coordinator for Miami-Dade County’s Office of Resilience, specializing in communications and outreach. In this role, she develops and provides education, communication, and marketing about government and community sustainability and resilience initiatives and projects. Previously, Sandra was the Program Director of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center, where she managed environmental education, outreach and programming activities, communications, marketing, finances, and scheduling. Sandra holds a Bachelor of Arts from University of Miami in Marine Affairs and Policy and a Master of Arts in Marine Affairs and Policy from the University of Miami.