The 2019 Community Satisfaction Survey shows that 39.7% of residents have observed increased flooding in their neighborhood, down from 73.7% in 2016. The City of Miami Beach is investing in aging infrastructure to reduce food risk, adapt to climate change, and is committed to building resilience on several fronts. Over the last few years, the City has updated its land use development regulations for new construction to address water retention, setbacks and increase in base food and freeboard elevation. These measures also contemplate sea level rise scenarios to reduce the risk to the new inventory of buildings.
Miami Beach has approximately 53 miles of seawalls, of which 92% are owned by private property. Existing City legislation does not address tidal waters overtopping seawalls and impacting adjacent property and public right-of-way.
The proposed Ordinance was modeled from seawall ordinances recently adopted by Broward County and the City of Fort Lauderdale. The City of Miami has also drafted an ordinance that is going through the review and approval process. The proposed Ordinance looks at best management practices from these other municipalities but is specific to Miami Beach, and accounts for the feedback from the community. The main purpose of the Ordinance is to provide the City the enforcement ability to address overtopping and to integrate the city’s seawall elevation requirements adopted in 2016 into Chapter 54 Floods.
The Ordinance was developed after discussions and direction at the Land Use and Sustainability Committee. On July 24, 2020, the Committee forwarded the ordinance, by acclamation, to the City Commission for first reading. On December 9, 2020, the Mayor and City Commission unanimously adopted the Ordinance on first reading.
Stakeholder Engagement
Staff has engaged the following entities that provided feedback on the draft ordinance:
- Marine and Waterfront Protection Committee
- National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System Program for Public Information
- Sustainability Committee
- Marine Industry Focus Group
- General Public Engagement Meeting
On August 17, 2020, staff held a focus group discussion with marine contractors to gain insight on the industry’s perspective on the proposed ordinance and discuss potential of setting special rates for Miami Beach property owners. Each seawall is unique and is designed to accommodate existing conditions and specific design elements required by the property. In addition, contractors pricing includes many factors such as variable material costs the amount of work in relationship to their equipment and staff.
On October 6, 2020, staff held a public meeting and provided a seven-day public comment period to obtain feedback of the proposed ordinance from residents. The meeting had 62 participants the questions and comments can be broken down into the following three areas:
- Affordability and financing of private property upgrade costs
- Complexity and time needed for permitting and construction of new seawalls
- Necessity to protect private properties adjacent to low and failing seawalls
The public has expressed concerns related to affordability of seawall upgrade and the process to replace seawalls. The city examined a special assessment district (discussed at June 2019 Sustainability and Resilience Committee) and convened banks and funders to develop a special program for Miami Beach property owners (discussed at September 2019 and January 2020) to identify means to facilitate funding of private property adaptation. After thorough research and discussions with the financial industry, it has been determined that these are not feasible alternatives at this time.
Seawall replacement requires permitting approvals from the Army Corps of Engineers, the State of Florida, Miami-Dade County Resources and Regulatory Department, and the City of Miami Beach. The ordinance presented to the Land Use and Sustainability Committee in July 2020 proposed that 550 days be provided to a property owner to have enough time to complete the permitting, design, and construction. Based on discussions with the marine industry and feedback from residents regarding design and permitting challenges the Ordinance has been updated to allow for 730 days for reconstruction of failing seawalls. The City has also initiated discussions with Miami-Dade County to understand if the local regulatory permitting process can be streamlined.
To understand how neighboring municipalities are addressing overtopping and enforcement, staff also convened meetings with City of Miami, Broward County, and the City of Fort Lauderdale. Broward County and the City of Fort Lauderdale have passed ordinances addressing overtopping and the City of Miami is in the process of developing an ordinance.
Proposed Seawall Ordinance Overview
The proposed Seawall Ordinance codifies minimum elevations for new seawalls and requires seawalls that are in disrepair and are causing flooding on adjacent properties be maintained.
The Ordinance establishes that all new seawalls must be constructed to an elevation of 5.7 ft NAVD, or 4 ft NAVD if designed to support a future elevation of 5.7 NAVD. The elevation requirements are already in effect. On May 11, 2016, the City passed a resolution to require that new seawalls, and those meeting the substantial reconstruction requirements, have higher elevation standards (R2016-4009). The Ordinance further codifies this requirement and includes that seawalls must be upgraded if the property has new construction or substantial improvements. It should be noted that property owners are encouraged to consider designs using materials to further biodiversity of the City’s coastal marine habitat.
The Ordinance also establishes overtopping as a trigger for seawall elevation and seawall maintenance requirements. Seawalls must be maintained in good repair as to not allow soil to eroded into the bay or waterway or to allow tidal waters to flow through the seawall and impact adjacent private property(s). The Ordinance also requires that seawalls must be maintained to prevent tidal waters from flowing overland and leaving their property.
Enforcement of the maintenance requirements set forth in the Ordinance will be enforced by either the floodplain administrator, a Code Compliance officer, or a police officer. The Ordinance includes a $250 fine for the first offence (day) and $500 per day fine for subsequent infractions and requires that following a citation, the property owner has 730 days to complete repairs. A violator that has been served a notice can request an administrative hearing within ten days to appeal the decision of the enforcement officer.
Information about the new Ordinance and how to report potential violations will be included on the City’s website at www.mbrisingabove.com/seawalls.