To mitigate flooding risks from high tides and the Southeast Florida Sea Level Rise Projection,  the city passed a resolution on May 11, 2016 to require that new seawalls, and those meeting the substantial reconstruction requirements, have higher elevation standards (R2016-4009).   

·       At the December 12, 2018 City Commission meeting, a discussion during item R7 F regarding private seawall policy was referred to the March 2019 Sustainability and Resiliency Committee.   

·       At the March 2019 Sustainability and Resiliency Committee, the Public Works Department presented the item and staff was given direction to identify a draft plan to address private seawalls and the City Attorney’s Office to bring an update regarding a special taxing district.

·       At the June 26, 2019 Sustainability and Resiliency Committee, financing and elevation information and the need for data was discussed.   Public financing options were discussed, such as a special taxing district.  The Committee concurred with the staff recommendation to 1) survey the appetite of the financial and banking sector (within the appropriate procurement mechanism) to create innovative and economical financing packages to incentivize owners to invest in their property, and 2) to proceed with purchasing drone LIDAR equipment, with the purpose of providing adequate seawall elevation needed for financing options. 

·       At the September 25, 2019 Sustainability and Resiliency Committee, staff shared an update regarding banking industry meetings. The city issued an Invitation to Industry Review Meeting (2019-316-AY) for Financing Options for Private Property Resiliency Improvements.   Staff provided an overview of draft model seawall ordinance by Broward County to address overtopping and establish higher seawall elevation requirements, and created a guidance document for property owners containing steps and resources for seawall replacement.  

·       At the January 21, 2020 Land Use and Sustainability Committee, staff shared a draft ordinance for discussion.  The item was continued to the June meeting for staff to obtain seawall elevation data and to engage the community. The item was deferred to the July 2020 meeting.

The City of Miami Beach is investing in aging infrastructure to reduce flood 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 flood and freeboard elevation. These measures also contemplate sea level rise scenarios to reduce the risk to the new inventory of buildings. 

Miami Beach has 63 miles of seawalls, and an estimated 92% are private property. Existing city legislation does not address tidal waters overtopping seawalls and impacting adjacent property and public right-of-way.  This issue was discussed with the multiple departments of the READY Team, City Attorney’s Office and Code Enforcement.  

The draft ordinance was modeled from seawall ordinances recently adopted by Broward County and the City of Fort Lauderdale, but has been developed to be specific to Miami Beach and accounting for feedback from the community (Attachment 1).  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. 

Stakeholder Engagement

From the overall community perspective, the 2019 Community Satisfaction Survey shows that 43% of residents are satisfied, 33% neutral, and 24% dissatisfied with their buildings’ flood risk protections. 

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

·       Biscayne Point Neighborhood Association

·       General Public Outreach (pending)

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.

Proposed Seawall Ordinance Overview

The proposed seawall ordinance establishes minimum elevations for seawalls and sets minimum requirements for existing seawalls that are in disrepair or are causing flooding on adjacent properties.  Note these elevation standards were already approved through Resolution 2016-4009.

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.  This 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 green-grey materials to further biodiversity of the city’s coastal marine habitat.

The proposed 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. 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 proposed ordinance will be enforced through the Florida Building Code when the seawall is deemed in structural disrepair. For maintenance issues related to overtopping, Code Compliance will be responsible for enforcement. The proposed ordinance includes a $500 per day fine for infractions and requires that following a citation, the property owner has 550 days to complete repairs. The enforcement section is currently still being refined and will need to continue to be developed before First Reading.

Affordability and Permitting

The affordability of seawalls and the process to replace seawalls remain concerns.  The city examined a special assessment district (discussed at June 2019 SRC) and convened banks and funders to develop a special program for Mami Beach property owners (discussed at September 2019 and January 2020) to identify any and all means to facilitate funding.  These are not feasible alternatives at this time and staff will continue to explore opportunities. 

Understanding the actual current height of seawalls citywide is important for overall planning and enforcement.  The city has not completed the drone LIDAR to document height of seawalls due to staff shortages.  A proposal was obtained by the Public Works Department to complete the process through a consultant and the cost is $250,000.  This is currently unfunded.

The city issued a request for information to determine if seawall contractors would be interested in participating in providing residents in Miami Beach a set rate for construction in order to streamline the process.

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 draft ordinance proposes that 550 days be provided to a property owner to have sufficient time to complete the permitting, design and construction.

The administration recommends that the seawall ordinance be forwarded to the City Commission for first reading in September 2020.