ANNA MARIA – The Anna Maria City Commission has included $75,000 in its proposed 2021-22 fiscal budget to begin planning for future sea level rise. If pursued, these initial efforts would be funded by American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds provided by the federal government.
Mayor Dan Murphy and the city commission are considering spending up to $50,000 of that earmarked ARP money to hire renowned sea level rise expert and author John Englander and the Rising Seas Institute he’s affiliated with.
On Thursday, Aug. 26, Englander presented the mayor and commission with some ideas as to how he and the Rising Seas Institute could help the city plan for future sea level rise. The commission took no formal action and the discussion is expected to resume at a later date.
In 2019, Englander gave a detailed sea level rise presentation to local government officials and another to the general public on the same day. The presentations were sponsored by the city of Anna Maria and city residents Bob and Carol Carter – the latter serves as an Anna Maria city commissioner.
On Thursday, Englander stressed the need for city officials to begin planning now for the sea level rise and tidal fluctuations expected to take place within the next three or four decades and beyond.
Englander said the goal is to create a sea level rise strategy for Anna Maria that supports and protects the city and its lifestyle and property values as sea levels rise.
He recommends creating a “30-year Rising Seas Master Plan” to serve as a long-range policy on a host of issues relating to increased sea levels. These include architectural innovations, land use planning, zoning designations, building codes, infrastructure and transportation changes to help minimize disruptions caused by flooding from storms, heavy rains, high tides and sea level rise.
Englander proposed he and the Rising Seas Institute serve as the city representative and/or consulting advisor at a cost of about $25,000. He suggested the remaining $25,000 be used as incentives offered equally to five firms that would compete in a contest designed to provide the city with sea level rise resiliency and adaptation ideas. The winning firm then would be awarded a contract to provide additional sea level rise planning services.
City Attorney Becky Vose told Englander and the commission the contest format proposed by Englander would not comply with the state-mandated consultant selection process set forth in Florida’s Consultants Competitive Negotiations Act.
Englander said he was not aware of that state law and he would revise his contest concept accordingly.
Commissioner Mark Short asked Englander why he’s not recommending a collective effort that also includes the cities of Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach, which face the same sea level rise concerns and challenges.
Englander said an Island-wide approach would be ideal, but that would require the support of two additional city commissions. He suggested the city of Anna Maria initiate its own planning process and later propose the other two cities consider following Anna Maria’s lead to address sea level rise Island-wide.
“As one town, you can move pretty quickly and your vulnerability is clear. Everybody’s aware of that,” Englander said.
Englander said he will not propose the construction of a seawall that surrounds the city or the entire Island. Nor will he propose elevating the entire city, or Island, to combat the anticipated sea level rise.
He does, however, encourage developers and property owners to use additional fill materials to increase the elevation of the properties upon which elevated homes are being built.
An audience member asked Englander what the average Anna Maria homeowner stands to gain from the city planning for sea level rise now.
“You wind up with a plan for what to do in the short, medium and long term so that what you do in the next five years is done with forethought of where this is headed,” he responded.
Englander addressed the current and anticipated rates of sea level rise.
“It’s only rising at about a quarter of an inch a year. It sounds trivial, but it’s the dripping filling the bucket and the drip’s getting faster. This decade, we’ll probably have two or three inches more. Next decade it could be four or five or six inches. By mid-century it could be a foot or two. That’s the problem,” he said.
Regarding sea level rise in general, Englander said, “The world has never faced this. We had flooding, but the water’s always receded. We’ve never had sea level be higher than it is today. It’s slowly getting higher, but the rate is accelerating.”
After acknowledging the many positive attributes associated with living in a popular but low-lying beach town, Englander said, “Unless you want to move to the mountains, anybody in coastal communities needs to start thinking about these questions.”
After Englander concluded his presentation, Commissioner Doug Copeland said, “I’m very excited about this opportunity. Our city could be at the forefront of looking ahead and planning for the future, as opposed to either denying it or saying I’m going to be dead so it doesn’t matter. The $50,000 seems like an incredible deal compared to some of the things the city has spent $50,000 on. I hope we move forward with this.”
