ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The City of St. Petersburg shared what they found out during phase one of their Resilient St. Pete Action Plan. They held a virtual meeting Tuesday night to show off their new, interactive map showing each neighborhood involved. 

What we know:

During the meeting, city leaders, engineers with Jacobs Engineering and those with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council discussed their findings from walking tours across the nine different neighborhoods involved. 

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Those included Bartlett Park, Harbordale, Bonita Bayou, Coquina Key, Childs Park, Shore Acres, Riviera Bay, Kingston Street, and Old Pasadena.

What They Found:

Susy Torriente with Jacobs Engineering said, “Tailored flood mitigation strategies were identified to address challenges each neighborhood faces.”

During the walking tours, they talked to residents about what they noticed during the hurricanes last year, as well as, how resilient their neighborhood was afterward. 

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“We tried to get an idea of what flooding looked like at the street levels, walking into homes and walking the streets,” Cara Woods Serra with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council added. “Seeing where there was backed up infrastructure, flood water lines from the storms that had recently passed.”

The Digital Map:

The speakers showed off their new, interactive digital map that takes you through each neighborhood. It details what residents noticed and offered some recommendations for each one. 

“We know the same solution is not suited or appropriate for every neighborhood and every situation,” Jacobs Engineering’s Resilience Leader Jason Bird said. “We wanted to make sure solutions are tailored to each neighborhood and address specific types of flooding they’re encountering.”

What’s next:

Mayor Ken Welch addressed the community in the meeting to explain why something like this was important to the city. 

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He said, “The storms taught us how to prepare and how to respond and how to protect our community going forward.”

The information collected from this phase will help guide city leaders move forward with other city initiatives, including the stormwater master plan, the St. Pete Agile Resilience Plan, and the seawall study.

The Source: FOX 13 gathered the information for this story from the St. Pete Resiliency Action Plan virtual meeting as well as prior reporting. 

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