Planning, Law, and Policy for Flood Resiliency in a Changing Climate - Todd

RESILIENT SHORELINES

MODEL ORDINANCE TEMPLATE

TODAY’S PRESENTATION

WHO ARE WE?

TAMPA BAY REGIONAL PLANNING COUNCIL

Mission Statement:

To serve our citizens and member governments by providing a forum to foster communication, coordination, and collaboration in identifying and addressing needs regionally.

Who we serve (members):

• 6 Counties

• 21 Municipalities

• 13 Gubernatorial Appointees

• 3 Ex-Officios

LACK OF POLICY CONSISTENCY

• Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition’s Resilient Shorelines and Spaces Work Group

• Need for documents to support updates to local Comprehensive Plans, Codes and other programs which included new best practices for shorelines

• University of Florida Levin College of Law analyzed 29 local government comprehensive plans

• “Patchwork of policy” across the region

TEMPLATE DEVELOPMENT

RESEARCH AND STAKEHOLDER INPUT ACTIVITIES

• 4 workgroup meetings in 2019-2020 2 workshops in 2021

• Reviewed 30 comprehensive plans

• Reviewed code from Broward, Monroe, other counties and cities

• Reviewed multiple states’ programs and policies

• 10+ meetings with engineers, attorneys, CFMs

• January-July 2022 – additional stakeholder webinars, reviews with engineers, CFMs

BENEFITS OF A REGIONAL MODEL ORDINANCE

WATERFRONT PROPERTY OWNERS & CONTRACTORS

• Offers more shoreline adaptation techniques

• Provides clarity on responsibilities and future risks

• Consistent criteria supports private property

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

• Support Peril of Flood goals

• Vetted resource to help you update local code and plans

• Increase consistency across departments and jurisdictions

• Address interconnected steps/issues

NATURAL RESOURCES

• Support TBEP CCMP goals

• Coordinated approach that facilitates more natural shorelines

SHORELINES POLICY GUIDE & MODEL LANGUAGE

Support adoption of best practices for creating and maintaining living shorelines, enhanced shorelines, and hardened shorelines includingseawalls/bulkheads, to achieve a greater level of resilience in the region.

a. Provide a standard for tidal flood barriers accounting for future water levels through 2070, including a minimum elevation

b. Ensure new shoreline structures and major modifications function as tidal flood barriers

c. Facilitate living shorelines and NNBFs where appropriate

Funded by a Grant from FDEP

Florida Resilient Coastlines Program

FY21

d. Establish policy to protect and preserve natural shorelines, promote living shorelines and hybrid shorelines and appropriate locations for hardened structures

APPLICABILITY

Specific conditions which trigger property owner action:

1. New tidal flood barriers;

2. Existing shorelines and shoreline structures which need substantial repair or substantial rehabilitation;

3. Failure to maintain a tidal flood barrier in good repair; and causing or allowing the trespass of tidal waters onto adjacent property, public rightof-way or other public infrastructure.

The model ordinance is not self-executing or retroactive

MINIMUM ELEVATION

(a) By 2040, all new or substantially repaired or substantially rehabilitated banks, berms, greengrey infrastructure, revetments, seawalls, seawall caps, upland stem walls, or other similar infrastructure shall be designed and constructed to perform as tidal flood barriers. Tidal flood barriers shall have a minimum elevation of five (5) feet NAVD 88 to account for projected sea level rise in combination with high tides by 2070. Heights specified by this Section shall be reviewed no less than every 5 years in conjunction with updates to the national sea level rise projections

Working Group recommended height considerations:

• 50-year planning timeframe/average life of sea wall is 40-50 years

• Derived from Sec. 380.093, F.S.: NOAA 2017 Intermediate High 2070 and NOAA High Tide

Flooding

Other factors

• 5 feet is consistent with Pinellas County, Broward County, multiple cities,

• Others current code in our region at 4 ft

• Provide minor surge protection 3-4 decades

DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION

Natural Shorelines: designed to gradually slope to achieve the minimum elevation for tidal flood barriers and can support native wetland and upland plants.

Hybrid Shorelines: include an engineered treatments such as a sill to reduce wave energy and include natural vegetation upland of the sill

Seawalls/bulkheads: a shoreline design with a vertical structure to achieve the minimum elevation for tidal flood barriers to high wave energy conditions and/or spatial limitations

SHORELINE OVERLAY DISTRICTS, SHORELINE STRUCTURES AND HIERARCHY OF RESPONSE

• Creating a Shoreline Overlay District supports consistency and easier implementation for waterfront property owners.

• Defines what project types can be permitted, conditionally permitted and require Public Interest Determination process for approval.

• Acknowledges nonconforming shoreline uses and variances in existing Code

SHORELINE OVERLAY DISTRICTS

• A Shoreline Overlay District shall be established identifying the types of tidal flood barriers that will be permitted based upon regionally uniform environmental conditions, engineering attributes and resilience factors.

• The purpose of the Shoreline Overlay District is the protection of private property, public right-of-way, or other public infrastructure, natural shoreline and coastal resources.

• The Shoreline Overlay District map identifies the shoreline types at the individual parcel level, as well as a generalized representation of the extent of the JURISDICTION’s shoreline overall.

CLASSIFICATIONS & PERMITTED

Existing Shoreline

Condition / Type

Future Permitted Tidal Flood Barriers

Natural Living Shoreline

Future Conditionally

Permitted Tidal Flood Barriers

Sill with plants (if erosion exists)

Future Tidal Flood Barriers subject to the public interest determination

Seawall/bulkhead (armored)

Hybrid Sill and plants

Sill without plants

Seawall/bulkhead (armored)

Seawall/bulkhead (armored)

Enhancements (riprap and sediment tubes with plants)

Enhancement (riprap only)

Seawall/bulkhead (armored) with no enhancements

PUBLIC INTEREST DETERMINATION

Comments from stakeholder meetings and coastal/marine/engineering consultants indicated a desire/need for consistent review and more efficient approval process.

• The Model ordinance uses language and existing criteria defined in the Florida Environmental Resource Permit Applicant’s Handbook Volume 1, December 2, 2020, approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and all five water management districts

• Adds resilience criteria to the traditional “public interest test” in environmental resource permits

• Familiar language and standards for the regulated community

• Provides property owners, contractors and staff with clear guidance, and flexibility to approve

MAINTENANCE & OPERATIONS

• Requirement for maintaining shoreline in good repair

• Defines state of disrepair and impacts

• Defines code enforcement if lack of improvements impact adjacent property, public infrastructure etc.

• Clause in seller’s contract informs buyer of requirements for minimum elevation standards for new construction, repair or rehabilitation.

SHORELINE EXAMPLES

BROWARD COUNTY HYBRID EXAMPLE

Low seawall elevation ~2.0). Illustration of redesign that raises the elevation, provides recreational access and ecological benefits.

LIVING SHORELINE

OLD WALL SHOWING UPLAND EROSION

NEWLY INSTALLED LIVING SHORELINE W/ RIPRAP

SAFETY HARBOR PARK

AFTER HURRICANE ELSA

THANK YOU!

WWW.TBRPC.ORG/MODEL-SHORELINE-ORDINANCE/

Alana Todd, alana@tbrpc.org