Adaptation Action Areas: Fort Lauderdale

Adaptation Action Areas (AAAs) are a designation in the coastal management element of a local government comprehensive plan which identifies areas experiencing coastal flooding due to extreme high tides and storm surge that are vulnerable to the related impacts of rising sea levels for the purpose of prioritizing funding for infrastructure needs and adaptation planning. The City of Fort Lauderdale has adopted AAA policies to meet its climate resilience, sea level rise, and natural resource protection goals. These include investing in infrastructure, drainage systems, bridges, roads; protecting assets from inclement weather and high tides; and managing increased water supply demands.

Implementation Process

Fort Lauderdale has incorporated AAAs into the city’s vision, Fast Forward Fort Lauderdale Our City, Our Vision 2035; strategic operations through the Press Play Fort Lauderdale, Our City Our Strategic Plan 2018; and budget and planning activities. The process the municipality underwent to adopt AAAs policies included extensive community outreach, talking early and often with members of the community about the implications and benefits of AAA designation. Throughout this journey, staff reached out to city commissioners, the Council of Fort Lauderdale Civic Associations, neighborhood groups, property owners, residents, and business owners, providing many opportunities to obtain input and develop community awareness of the challenges of climate change and potential solutions to reduce risk and improve resilience.

Following the December 2014 adoption of an amendment incorporating AAA language into the City of Fort Lauderdale Comprehensive Plan, the city’s next step was to designate specific AAAs. Designation indicates that a location is being prioritized for infrastructure improvements in order to reduce risk to assets experiencing coastal flooding or that are vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise. These infrastructure improvements can range widely, from the installation of tidal valves to incorporating sea level rise projections into the design of new construction capital projects. The designation of AAAs in Fort Lauderdale will be directly tied to the city’s Community Investment Plan to realize the nexus between the need for resilient infrastructure improvements and funding.

Implementation Timeline

In 2013, the City of Fort Lauderdale, in collaboration with the South Florida Regional Planning Council and Broward County, served as a pilot community to test the development and advancement of adaptation policy options, including their integration into the City Comprehensive Plan as a text amendment. The city commission provided final approval to amend the Comprehensive Plan’s Coastal Management Element and Administration Element to incorporate AAA language in October 2014.

The intent of the amendment is to increase the city’s resilience to the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels by providing the foundation and framework for the development and implementation of adaptation strategies and measures in order to reduce risk to these challenges.

In January 2015, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity recognized the city’s adopted comprehensive plan amendment.

A Designated Adaptation Action Areas and Projects map is currently being developed. The map will be reviewed and updated annually by staff for inclusion in the city’s Community Investment Plan and city commission funding consideration in September of each year.

Implementation Funding

Policy development was made possible through funding from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. As a result, the South Florida Regional Planning Council, Broward County, and the City of Fort Lauderdale collaborated to research AAA implementation strategies and adopt AAA policies.

Following completion and fulfillment of the grant in December 2014, City of Fort Lauderdale staff have been developing a Designated Adaptation Action Areas and Projects map that will include both AAAs as well as capital projects furthering the city’s adaptation and resilience capacities within those AAAs. Ultimately, the city will either fund or pursue outside funding for implementation of the capital projects identified.

Community Benefits

Building upon the city’s leadership in the area of sustainability, the use of AAAs is a tool being integrated into operations to combat coastal flooding and reduce risk to rising sea levels. The designation of AAAs is an example of how residents’ ideas and support, coupled with the best available data integrated into the 2035 Vision Plan, can be transformed into action through proactive, informed policy-making in order to build community today and meet the challenges of tomorrow. AAAs are a mechanism to identify neighborhoods at risk and improve climate resilience.