Building a resilient Greater Miami

Last week, I presented before the Miami-Dade County Commission a significant report regarding the County’s ongoing efforts to address coastal flooding and sea-level rise. Commissioner Rebeca Sosa embraced the recommendations and led the Commission in directing our Office of Resilience to prepare the extensive reports, which catalog research, current activities and future plans to address seasonal King tides, potential hurricane storm surge, and action to stabilize insurance markets and reduce individual policy rates.

Miami-Dade County spent $30 million in fiscal year 2015-16 on sea-level rise and flooding mitigation. The county also has budgeted nearly $49 million in fiscal year 2016-17 to proactively respond to the effects of rising seas.

We also have initiated the use of Adaptation Action Areas to provide focused strategies for parts of the county sharing drainage infrastructure.

Our work attracted the attention of the Urban Land Institute, which provided significant funding to address current and future flooding issues.

This year, we joined with the cities of Miami and Miami Beach in gaining access to the 100 Resilient Cities program of the Rockefeller Foundation, with access to expertise from the Rockefeller network, leading to the completion of a countywide Resilience Strategy in early 2018.

With continued and expanded cooperation with the University of Miami, Florida International University and Miami Dade College, our partnership also gained certification with MetroLab Network, a national organization that leverages cities and universities to spur urban innovation.

Miami-Dade County will continue to lead in taking action to address sea-level rise and building a resilient Greater Miami for future generations.

This story was originally published November 5, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Building a resilient Greater Miami."