A roundup of news items related to climate change and other environmental issues in Florida:
Florida Keys leaders, facing a potential building boom, seek a delay in state plan | Miami Herald
Monroe County is asking the state for another year before a decision is made that could potentially clear the way for thousands of more homes and buildings in the Florida Keys.
The move to open the door to issuing more building permits could spark a development boom not seen in decades in the Keys — one that critics say the environmentally fragile island chain lacks the infrastructure to support.
The Florida Department of Commerce is seeking to amend restrictive growth rules that were put in place in the 1980s to protect the ecological sensitivity of the Keys and its surrounding marine ecosystems. The department wants input from the county and other Keys municipalities before the ultimate decision is made by the state Legislature.
For climate resilience, housing is ‘the name of the game’ in this fast-growing US city | Smart Cities Dive
Jacksonville, Florida’s recently finalized climate resilience plan nods to its status as one of the nation’s fastest-growing urban areas right up front.
“The city’s population has grown to over ten times what it was a century ago to nearly one million people today,” the plan says. “If trends continue, Jacksonville will grow to 1.6 million residents by 2070.”
That growth, which increases the city’s tax base and brings new industries, talent and cultures, is “a fundamentally good thing for cities,” Chief Resilience Officer Anne Coglianese explained. “But it also runs the risk of straining affordable housing resources, utility resources, roadway networks,” she said. “It’s something that we’re so aware we need to prepare for.”
A hurricane-proof town? Florida community may be a test case | AFP
When Hurricane Ian churned past her home in southwest Florida last year, Mary Frisbee shrugged off worries. She watched TV and surfed the internet.
That’s because she and her husband live in Babcock Ranch, a town near the U.S. Gulf Coast that was created with two imperatives: homes have to be built sustainably, and must be able to withstand hurricanes, a constant menace.
The community takes nature deeply into account.
If you have any news items of note that you think we should include in our next roundup, please email The Invading Sea Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu. Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here.
