At its June 22, 2022 meeting, the City Commission approved item number C4B, a referral to the Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee to discuss the motion passed by the AD HOC Neighborhood Resilience Projects Advisory Committee.

The City of Miami Beach, a highly urbanized coastal community in southeast Florida and a major economic resource to the region, continues the be the leader in adapting to the impacts of climate change. The solutions to adapt present major challenges due to the relatively low-lying topography surrounded by intracoastal waterways with significant tidal influence, a subtropical climate with high intensity rainfalls, limited surface or soil storage for infiltration, and high amounts of impervious areas. Despite of all these challenges, investments in community-wide adaptation strategies—such as implementation of Neighborhood Improvement Projects (NIPs) which include the elevating roads and seawalls, providing robust drainage systems and replacing aged water and sewer infrastructure—are essential to protect property and communities from extreme high tides, gradual sea level rise and intense rainfalls.

While the City recently approved major resilience adaptation strategies and the prioritization of NIPs citywide, the implementation of these NIPs will require a major financial commitment and will take several years to complete.

Completed Stormwater and NIP Related Studies

The City of Miami Beach (City) has completed several studies over the last five years; these include the Road Elevation Strategy and Neighborhood Project Prioritization, Blue-Green Stormwater Infrastructure, Stormwater Facilities Plan, Seawall Prioritization Plan, Basin Drainage Reports  for  the Flood Mitigation Study, and the latest 20-Year Stormwater Needs Analysis.

In June 2022, AECOM assisted the City in completing its Stormwater 20-year needs analysis, according to Sections 403.9301 and 403.9302, Florida Statutes. This effort included the update and compilation of planning level estimates for each of the Neighborhood Improvement Project, as prioritized by Jacobs and approved by Commission in 2020. As part of this task, AECOM escalated the cost estimates previously provided and added additional contingency (planning level) to account for rough costs of incorporating Blue-Green Stormwater Infrastructure, the Tidal Flood Adaptation (road raising) projects, as well as water and sewer infrastructure needs. These estimates were developed at a planning level, based on project area.

Stormwater Master Plan Update and Financial Feasibility Study

The City’s latest approved Stormwater Master Plan is over 11 years old, and thus staff is in the process of initiating the Stormwater Master Plan update, with the goal of incorporating all these recent studies into a 2023 City-wide Stormwater Master Plan and Capital Improvement Plan, which will help the City guide its stormwater program for the next 5-10 years. This master plan is scheduled to be completed in fiscal year 2023. The project will include community meetings with City residents and stakeholders, as well as presentation of findings and recommendations to the Commission.

Furthermore, the Public Works Department engaged GovRates, Inc. to update the prior stormwater rate study, which was completed in 2017.  The aim of the updated stormwater rate study is to evaluate the current financial position of the Enterprise Fund, and to develop a funding plan for operational expenses and capital improvement needs.  Since NIPs are partially funded also by water and sewer funds, another analysis related to those rates is also underway. Upon completion, the updated rate study will provide the City with funding and rate scenarios that are useful tools in determining which variables need to be adjusted or changes that need to be implemented to achieve the desired financial results.

Ongoing NIPs

In parallel, the Administration continues to work on the execution of previously approved NIPs, including the following:

·       Indian Creek Drive (roadway and drainage completed, seawall construction is ongoing)

·       West Avenue Phase II (design/build, in negotiations with contractor)

·       First Street (detailed design phase ongoing)

North Shore D – North Beach Town Center (currently in design procurement).