In their recent revisions to the state’s growth management laws, the Florida Legislature has included an interesting provision allowing communities to identify “adaptation action areas” in their comprehensive plans where the community “identifies one or more areas that experience coastal flooding due to extreme high tides and storm surge, and that are vulnerable to the related impacts of rising sea levels for the purpose of prioritizing funding for infrastructure needs and adaptation planning.” (p. 8)
More precisely, in these areas, communities may:
“At the option of the local government, develop an adaptation action area designation for those low-lying coastal zones that are experiencing coastal flooding due to extreme high tides and storm surge and are vulnerable to the impacts of rising sea level. Local governments that adopt an adaptation action area may consider policies within the coastal management element to improve resilience to coastal flooding resulting from high-tide events, storm surge, flash floods, stormwater runoff, and related impacts of sea level rise. Criteria for the adaptation action area may include, but need not be limited to, areas for which the land elevations are below, at, or near mean higher high water, which have an hydrologic connection to coastal waters, or which are designated as evacuation zones for storm surge.” (p. 40)
It’s optional, but it could be a useful tool for a community that wants to get ahead of sea level rise and climate change.