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.
The 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.
