{"id":1272,"date":"2019-03-13T13:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T18:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/staging\/1734\/?p=1272"},"modified":"2019-03-13T13:00:27","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T18:00:27","slug":"mitigation-challenges-on-the-florida-gulf-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/mitigation-challenges-on-the-florida-gulf-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitigation Challenges on the Florida Gulf Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hillsborough\nCounty<\/a> is a dense metropolitan area, anchored by the city of Tampa<\/a>. Tampa and nearby\nSt. Petersburg<\/a>, in\nPinellas County<\/a>, sit on opposite\nshores of Tampa Bay<\/a>, a 400-square-mile\nexpanse of water connected to the Gulf of Mexico<\/a>. Across\nthat gap sits the Sunshine\nSkyway Bridge<\/a>, a magnificent and scenic section of I-275. On a sunny day,\nit displays coastal Florida in all its glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eugene\nHenry<\/a>, like anyone else, enjoys those sunny days, but he also worries about\nwhat may happen when the region suffers inclement weather. As Hillsborough\nCounty\u2019s Hazard Mitigation Program Manager, it is his job to think about how\nwell the area will fare under the impact of natural and other disasters, which\ncan include hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, sinkholes, and wildfires. At least\nthe first two are complicated by sea level rise, and one can easily argue that\nclimate change in a broader sense may well influence the damage from wildfires.\nFor those uninitiated in the particulars of Florida\u2019s natural environment,\nwildfires are a recurring feature. In what is ordinarily such a lush\nenvironment fostered by rain and abundant sunshine, it takes only one drought\nyear amid high heat to turn dense vegetation into a tinderbox. It has happened\nbefore, repeatedly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the biggest concern, by far, is the arrival of the Big\nOne, the high-intensity hurricane that the county readily admits it has escaped\nin recent decades. In its Post-Disaster\nRedevelopment Plan<\/a> (PDRP), the county states forthrightly that this is\nmerely a matter of good fortune and that planners fully understand that the day\nwill surely come\u2014and that they had best be ready for it. Disaster resilience in\nthe face of hurricanes is not a matter to be taken lightly with 158 miles of\nshoreline along Tampa Bay, numerous rivers and streams, and numerous\nvulnerable, low-lying areas. Absent serious attention to mitigation, damages\nfrom a Category 4 or 5 hurricane, or one like Harvey that stalls and dumps\nvoluminous rain on an urban area, could become catastrophic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Tampa and Hillsborough County have been very fortunate.\nThe last Category 3 hurricane struck the area in 1921. What may have been a Category\n4 struck in 1848, though wind speed measurements were primitive at the time,\nand the U.S. had no official records yet. According to the county\u2019s Local\nMitigation Strategy<\/a>, that storm \u201creshaped parts of the coast and destroyed\nmuch of what few human works and habitation were then in the Tampa Bay area.\u201d\nTides rose 14 feet. Tampa was still a small city then, and Gene Henry wonders\nabout the staggering losses that might occur with a comparable event today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had long wanted to visit the area to see in person how\nthese issues are being addressed. I have known Gene for a long time, and I have\nread the county\u2019s PDRP, an extensive document laying out the county\u2019s\npreparations for recovery from disasters. But I had never been to Tampa. As the\nresult, however, of a personal invitation from a high school classmate, David Taylor<\/a>, who now\nlives in Sarasota<\/a>,\nmy wife and I flew to Tampa February 20 and stayed with Dave and his wife,\nLinda, for five days. Sarasota is about one hour\u2019s drive south of Tampa. As\npart of the trip, I arranged to meet with Gene the day after we arrived and\ntour the county to see the hazard mitigation projects underway there. I also\ndelivered a one-hour lecture the following afternoon in West Palm Beach<\/a>,\non behalf of Florida Atlantic University<\/a>, as part\nof a two-hour program that included a panel discussion following my talk on\n\u201cRecovery and Resilience: Facing the Disasters of the Future.\u201d Not one to skip\na learning opportunity, Gene drove four hours from Tampa to attend the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But back to Hillsborough. My wife and I met Gene at the\ncounty\u2019s Emergency\nOperations Center<\/a> (EOC) around mid-morning, hopped in his county truck, and\ntook off. Our first stop was the Florida Center\nfor Design + Research<\/a>, housed in the School of Architecture + Design at the\nUniversity of South Florida<\/a> (USF),\nGene\u2019s graduate alma mater. The school features an urban planning program where\nhe wanted us to meet Professor\nBrian Cook<\/a>. Planning students often take studio classes, which involve\ndesign or research work on real-life community problems. Students learn to\ndefine a community design or policy issue, work with clients, and try to\nproduce solutions that will be of some practical value to the community they\nare serving. They typically work in teams. In this case, students were applying\ngeographic information system (GIS), or mapping, skills to determine areas of\nhigh vulnerability to flooding and sea level rise in less affluent\nneighborhoods. Gene\u2019s county office collaborates with USF instructors to\nidentify areas of practical concern for the students\u2019 work. The photos show\nsome of the design work the students have done, the best of which is often\ndisplayed in poster sessions at state and national professional planning conferences.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Posters (above and below) from the USF design studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The most encouraging aspect of that visit was, for me, the mere fact that the students are engaging with such a pressing problem. I have researched the issue of hazards and climate change in the planning curriculum for both undergraduate and graduate degree programs in urban planning, and most such programs are lacking in this respect, a situation that is disserving the planners of tomorrow who must be well trained to come to grips with these challenges in whatever communities they end up serving. But a growing number of students are <\/em>getting such training\u2014I have myself been teaching such a course at the University of Iowa<\/a> since 2008\u2014and southern Florida is as good a laboratory as they could wish for. To see collaboration between a county agency and USF graduate students and faculty is a most welcome note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Gene had other places to take us in the afternoon,\nbesides, that is, the Cuban-themed La Teresita<\/a><\/em> restaurant\nwhere we ate lunch\u2014a place I am willing to recommend if you ever visit Tampa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First up in the afternoon was the University\nMall<\/a> area north of downtown Tampa and just east of I-275. This involves a\nstormwater management and flood-mitigation project in an area subject to a\ncertain amount of repetitive loss, meaning that the same properties continue to\nsuffer periodic flood losses. The project removed structures while creating\nadditional areas for stormwater storage and reshaping a natural area known as\nDuck Pond, thus creating a system for stormwater conveyance. This includes a\nlarge stormwater pump that transfers slow-moving stormwater to areas further\ndownstream and, in due course, to a reservoir owned by the City of Tampa.\nBefore this project was initiated, storms used to inundate multifamily\napartment buildings, Gene says, as well as a nearby assisted living facility.\nHow does the county pay for all this? He credits a combination of local funds,\nwhich is certainly not unusual, and federal money in the form of Hazard Mitigation\nGrant Program<\/a> (HMGP) funds. The latter are available as part of an overall\nrecovery package after a Presidential Disaster\nDeclaration<\/a>, but require that purchased properties, once cleared, remain in\nperpetual open space. The point is to ensure that a vulnerable area is not\nredeveloped, thus perpetuating the problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At 132nd<\/sup> Street, also in Tampa, another flood-mitigation\nand stormwater management project presents a very different appearance. This\ntoo was subject to repetitive loss and required protection from urban flooding,\nwhich is typically the result of poor stormwater drainage in developed areas. The\nproblems can include poor water conveyance from one area to the next\u2014the nearby\nhighway provided an impediment to drainage\u2014and high levels of impervious\nsurface, meaning coverage with concrete and structures that limit percolation\nof water into the soil. In this case, a small subdivision suffered repetitive\nflooding even with small storms. Here also, the county acquired homes with HMGP\nfunds, which are dispensed by the Federal\nEmergency Management Agency<\/a> (FEMA). The streets were removed, and\nstormwater ponds were added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a location where the county\u2019s partnership with USF\npaid dividends. Researchers analyzed which plants were best at removing\nnitrogen and other chemicals common in stormwater runoff in order to clean up\nthe water before it reaches Tampa Bay. Henry says this project was made\npossible through a combination of local and HMGP funds in combination with\nfederal Community\nDevelopment Block Grant entitlement money<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I included the chain link in my photo to show that the solution may not be complete. After all, chain link fences are intended to limit access. What consideration, I asked, had been given to eventually converting this cleared area to some sort of public park and thus facilitating a public benefit? There can be challenges in part because of pollution cleanup and other public safety factors. Gene readily admitted he would love that solution, but it may take time. The adjoining neighborhood must be comfortable with that use, which can involve solving various site-related problems. A nearby church might be a potential ally, serving as a patron and watchdog, but reaching agreement about solutions and responsibilities, including ongoing maintenance and supervision, takes time. And only time will tell whether such a solution materializes with the support of local public officials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some projects assist a single homeowner with a stubborn\nproblem. This is often the case with homes that are elevated, a common site in\nparts of the Southeast, where coastal and riverine flooding can wreak havoc\nwith homes in vulnerable locations that do not necessarily require buyouts and\nrelocation. That was the case near Rocky Creek<\/a>,\nwhere a homeowner rebuilt a structure elevated three feet above base flood\nelevation (BFE) using a combination of private funds and a Flood\nMitigation Assistance<\/a> (FMA) grant from FEMA. The result is living space\nthat is better protected when flood waters surround the lower level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The same story occurred at a home near the Alafia River<\/a>, where\nanother homeowner was elevated three feet above BFE, using the same combination\nof funds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gene also shared with us an interesting strategy at a\nfrequently flooded and highly vulnerable modular home park, where an area had\nbeen cleared of its former homes to allow repopulation with recreational\nvehicles (RVs). The logic is that, when flood warnings arrive, RV owners will\nbe able, unlike those with more stationary modular homes, to simply drive off\nthe site to safer areas until the emergency subsides. The initiative, Gene\nsays, was taken by the park\u2019s new owner (which owns other parks nationwide), which\nidentified no more permanent structures in the floodway as part of its\ncompliance strategy after the most recent flooding event in the area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This area is slated for RV occupancy only. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we returned to learn a little about the EOC. We\nvisited what is often known in such centers as the \u201cwar room,\u201d where designated\nofficials meet to discuss and establish strategies for dealing with an\nemergency of any sort that activates the emergency operations plan. In the\nphoto, each chair is designated for a specific official, with groups of people\nwith related tasks seated in color-coded sections of the room. Many such EOCs\nare much smaller, but Hillsborough County is very urban and populated, and the\nneeds are complex and interrelated. It is expected that those involved will\narrive with authority to respond to the disaster, to indicate what they are and\nare not capable of doing as part of the overall response to disaster. It is not\na place where one expresses a need to go back to another office and \u201cfind out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Hillsborough County Emergency Operations Center “war room”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ready to relax and enjoy a drink and a snack, we followed\nGene down the highway to the Sunset\nGrill at Little Harbor<\/a>, which has a beautiful view of the bay. At dusk,\nnumerous people followed a daily ritual of photographing the sunset over the\nwater. Tourist attraction it may be, as well as a local watering hole, but the\nsurrounding area has a significant mangrove forest and salt-bed areas that were\npreserved as open space using Environmental Land Acquisition Funds from what\nGene describes as a \u201clocally instigated preservation program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Hillsborough County’s Hazard Mitigation Program Manager, Eugene Henry, at rest at Sunset Grill at the end of our day-long tour. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And so, with the sun declining in the west, we sat at an\noutdoor table and hashed over the world\u2019s problems, and sometimes our own. One\npoint that seems clear to me is that Hillsborough County has a great deal to\noffer to other jurisdictions, just as it has undoubtedly learned a great deal\nas well\u2014one reason both he and a resident scholar and Japanese graduate student\nfrom the University of Illinois, Kensuke Otsuyama<\/a>,\nplanned to drive to West Palm Beach the next day to hear my presentation. Although\nthere is sometimes a tendency for local governments to become more insular, to\nallow fewer opportunities for employees like Gene to share and exchange\ninformation in professional forums and conferences, this, I think, is always a\nmistake. The growth in the value of what someone like Gene does lies in this\nfruitful sharing of experience and perspectives that such opportunities allow,\nand I hope that will continue, for certainly Gene made my day by sharing his\ntime to allow me to learn and to share with the growing readership that follows\nthis blog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supplemental Comment:\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the hearing was held today, making live streaming a\nmoot point, significant written and recorded testimony on hazard mitigation and\nclimate resilience issues occurred before the U.S. House Appropriations\nSubcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development. Yesterday, the\nfollowing link was made available from several sources including the American Planning\nAssociation (APA) to provide access to this testimony and information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representatives from APA, PEW, Houston Public Works,\nRutgers University, and the Town of Arlington, MA are delivering testimony to\nthe Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) congressional\nsubcommittee tomorrow, March 13th at 10:00 a.m. EST<\/strong>. THUD, a part of\nthe House Committee on Appropriations, writes laws that fund the federal\ngovernment’s important responsibilities. The testimony is available for\nstreaming here:
\n
\nhttps:\/\/appropriations.house.gov\/legislation\/hearings\/stakeholder-perspectives-building-resilient-communities<\/a>
\n
\nAPA will submit written testimony that will be put into the Congressional\nrecord. The testimony will be available on APA’s website tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim Schwab<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hillsborough County is a dense metropolitan area, anchored by the city of Tampa. Tampa and nearby St. Petersburg, in Pinellas County, sit on opposite shores of Tampa Bay, a 400-square-mile expanse of water connected to the Gulf of Mexico. Across that gap sits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, a magnificent and scenic section of I-275. On […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[441,81,1128,555,178,609,520,120,222,15,50,357],"tags":[1287,1284,1286,1283,1267,74,23,523,33,1076,976,8,1282,1281,1279,1288,810,1280,1285,1278],"class_list":["post-1272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","category-disaster-2","category-emergency-management","category-floodplain-management-2","category-government","category-natural-hazards","category-parks","category-public-safety","category-resilience-2","category-restaurant-reviews","category-urban-planning","category-water","tag-alafia-river","tag-brian-cook","tag-community-development-block-grant","tag-emergency-operations-center","tag-eugene-henry","tag-fema","tag-flood","tag-floodplain-management","tag-hazard-mitigation","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-hmgp","tag-hurricane","tag-local-mitigation-strategy","tag-post-disaster-redevelopment-plan","tag-stormwater","tag-sunset-grill","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay","tag-university-mall","tag-university-of-south-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1282,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1272\/revisions\/1282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}