{"id":353729,"date":"2026-07-27T15:18:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T15:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/353729\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T15:18:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T15:18:22","slug":"council-to-explore-new-resiliency-initiatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/353729\/","title":{"rendered":"Council to explore new resiliency initiatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Petersburg City Council Vice-Chair Richie Floyd believes there is an opportunity to build on past and current resiliency efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At its July 23 meeting, the Council approved two new business items to further explore creating a comprehensive citywide resiliency plan and a citizen-led Resiliency Advisory Board. Floyd submitted the requests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Floyd explained to the Catalyst that the ideas stemmed from conversations with community members. \u201cWe talked about what their concerns were with how we\u2019re doing our infrastructure planning long-term.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said that the St. Petersburg government has supported a variety of initiatives, including the Resilient St. Pete Action Plan and the St. Pete Water Plan, which incorporates the Stormwater Master Plan<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should have one overarching umbrella that coalesces all of that information,\u201d Floyd believes, \u201cand then make sure that it encompasses a number of things beyond infrastructure and storm resiliency. Those could include environmental concerns, land use and planning and development as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the July 23 meeting, Council member Brandi Gabbard emphasized the importance of the work the City has done so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Resilient St. Pete Action Plan was a plan that was resident driven,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was done across nine neighborhoods across the city and not just in the coastal neighborhoods.\u201d <\/p>\n

A partnership with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, city staff and consultants worked with residents in a pilot project<\/a> \u201cto better understand local flooding challenges and identify meaningful solutions,\u201d according to the City\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Gabbard said that the communities that participated were Bartlett Park, Harbordale, Bonita Bayou, Coquina Key, Childs Park, Shore Acres, Riviera Bay, Kingston Street and Old Pasadena. These neighborhoods were selected because they not only had flooding challenges, but the St. Petersburg government wanted to take a \u201ccitywide approach to this issue.\u201d She believes the initiative is a \u201cframework for a citywide resiliency plan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLike all studies that we do and everything that we do, it\u2019s important that our residents see that those investments go to action,\u201d she added. The goal is to create something that does not just \u201csit on a shelf.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe citizen-led Resiliency Advisory Board could make sure that we have a constant place to look for public input on how we move forward on infrastructure resiliency planning,\u201d Floyd said. \u201cThe City has a proven model, which is our citizen-led advisory committees.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While it is still too early to determine all of the specifics, he added that board members could discuss the city\u2019s tree canopy, heat protection efforts and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the overarching theme for these ideas was as we go into having more conversations about resiliency and infrastructure in the future, we want to try to ensure citizens that we are doing everything we can to do things in a sensible, transparent and democratic manner,\u201d Floyd said. \u201cThis brings them into the process.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the approval, both of the business items will be brought to the Health, Energy, Resilience & Sustainability Committee. He explained that there is a financial element to consider. This may impact when or if these recommendations are brought to fruition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, Floyd said that creating a citizen-led advisory board \u201cis just something we have to stand up and doesn\u2019t have a huge fiscal impact.\u201d However, a comprehensive plan \u201cmay not have the fiscal impact that a plan from scratch would have, because we would build on a lot of things, but it would have a fiscal impact so we would have to have further discussions about funding and what not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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