WPB Awarded $5 Million By State To Bolster The City’s Resilience To Future Storms

From City of West Palm Beach:

February 11, 2021

The City of West Palm Beach has been awarded more than $5,000,000 to bolster its resilience to future storms. The funds are being awarded through the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s (DEO) Rebuild Florida Critical Hardening Program. Administered by DEO, the program allows local governments to increase the resilience of critical facilities that serve a public safety purpose for local communities.

The funds awarded to the city have been designated for use as follows:

• $3,306,500 – Install a new generator and harden the City of West Palm Beach’s Fire Station #5 that serves as an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and replace the roof and windows.
• $1,069,624 – Harden the building envelope by replacing the roof and windows; and install a new generator to the Fire Station #1.
• $628,425 – Replace the roof and windows with hurricane resistant materials at Fire Station #6.

“On behalf of the City of West Palm Beach, I thank Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Department of Economic Opportunity for their very significant awards totaling more than $5,000,000 to the city,” said West Palm Beach Mayor Keith A. James. “These funds will go a long way toward preparing our city for future storms and making our city even more resilient so that we can continue to serve our residents at their most critical time.”

“The community expects our firefighters to respond when they need us,” said West Palm Beach Fire Department Chief Diana Matty. “The repairs to these fire stations and our EOC will keep our firefighters safer in a storm and ensure their ability to respond when the public calls. The repairs will prevent severe damage to the buildings and add years to their life cycle.”

“While we continue to help communities recover from the impacts of major storms in recent years, we also need to prepare for future storms,” said Governor Ron DeSantis in a press release announcing the awards. “This funding will be central to that preparation and make these communities more resilient.

Per the Governor’s Office, the funds are allocated through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) program formed in response to the 2016 to 2017 presidentially declared disasters. DEO awarded the funding through the Rebuilt Florida Critical Facility Hardening Program.

This press release was produced by the City of West Palm Beach. The views expressed are the author's own.