Six Regional Planning Councils receive $1.49M in grant funding

The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and five other regional planning councils around Florida will receive a total of $1,499,000 from the state to develop a cohesive statewide approach to flood planning. The three-year project will provide a framework for municipalities across Florida to create disaster models, prepare actionable strategies and determine how to prioritize and fund mitigation projects.

The funding for the project is part of nearly $20 million in resiliency funding awarded by Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) to 37 municipalities, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations around the state.

The Regional Planning Councils will share information and build templates for municipalities around the state to use in developing mapping, models and mitigation plans to address flooding challenges in their respective areas.

“This will be a highly impactful project in helping to make Florida more resilient to flooding,” said Sean Sullivan, the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council’s Executive Director. “While many coastal areas are already focusing on these types of resiliency efforts, this project is designed to help counties around the state, including inland areas where major rain events cause serious problems.”

The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council will take the lead on the technical work related to the project, the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council will act as project manager, and the Northeast Florida Regional Council will take the lead on organizing data. The work will also involve assistance from the state’s other regional planning councils.

“This project, which involves statewide sharing of information and cooperative work on addressing flooding issues, will be the first of its kind in Florida,” said Patrick Roff, Chair of the TBRPC. “The Regional Planning Councils already work well together, but this project will take that cooperation to another level.”

In addition to the grant to the Regional Planning Councils, four Tampa Bay area municipalities also received funding as part of the state grant, which was announced January 8 by Gov. Ron DeSantis:

• Pasco County received $754,870 to develop a vulnerability assessment to identify at-risk and critical infrastructure subject to natural disasters and provide adaptive and mitigation strategies.
• Pinellas County was granted $992,000 to develop a countywide flood mitigation action plan.
• City of St. Petersburg received $900,626 to develop a comprehensive seawall mitigation strategy to address sea level rise.
• City of Tampa was awarded $500,000 to develop a coastal resiliency action plan to evaluate state, local, and regional requirements.

The funds are being made available through the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Rebuild Florida General Planning Support Program. The program, administered by DEO, provides funding for communities and organizations to develop or enhance state, regional, or local plans which will enable the state of Florida to withstand future disasters.

The funds are allocated through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Mitigation program formed in response to the 2016-17 presidentially declared disasters.

“The resiliency of the state of Florida remains a top priority for my administration as we approach the two-year anniversary of my executive order to achieve more now for Florida’s environment,” said Gov. DeSantis. “I’m pleased to build on our environmental achievements with this first-of-its-kind, mitigation program that will provide Florida’s communities the opportunity to become more resilient to future storms.”

Through Rebuild Florida, local governments, and municipalities have access to resources necessary to bolster their community’s resiliency to future disasters.

DEO is the governor-designated state authority responsible for administering all U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) long-term recovery funds awarded to the state. Rebuild Florida uses federal funding for Florida’s long-term recovery efforts from the devastating impacts of natural disasters. For more information, visit RebuildFlorida.gov.

About the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council
The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council brings together governments to coordinate planning for the community’s future and provide an opportunity for sharing solutions among the local government jurisdictions in the Tampa Bay region. The TBRPC works with six counties and 21 municipalities as they make long-range plans related to the future of the Tampa Bay region. The Council’s work focuses on resiliency, planning for climate change and sea level rise, environmental management, water quality, emergency preparedness planning, protection and restoration of the Tampa Bay estuary, economic analysis, coastal zone management, housing and infrastructure analysis, development of regional impact review, local government comprehensive plan reviews, cross acceptance, dispute resolution and reviews of transportation plans. Learn more at tbrpc.org.