March 2020 Flood Mitigation Plan
Section Nine - Action Plan
The FMP Task Force reviewed numerous flood mitigation activities in Section 8 that could prevent or reduce the severity of the problems described in the hazard assessment of Sections 5 and the problem assessment of Section 6. Based upon the activities review documented in Section 8, the Action Items listed and described below were recommended and prioritized by the Task Force.
These Action Items incorporate the following six categories of activities reviewed:
- Preventive
- Property protection
- Natural resource protection
- Emergency services
- Structural projects
- Public information
1. Continue to implement correction of localized drainage problems to enhance the Level of Service standards.
Action: The Utility Department will continue efforts to maintain, replace, and upgrade drainage features to minimize or eliminate localized drainage problems by implementing Utility in-house drainage improvements and capital improvement projects included in the Areas Prone to Flooding Map and supplementary table (attached in Appendix E). The City’s Map depicting the 2019 areas prone to flooding and supplementary table will continue to be updated annually. Additionally, all ongoing and planned flood mitigation projects will be included in the Stormwater CIP map and tabulated, including estimated construction costs and completion dates. Both the maps and tables are included on the 2019 Flood Mitigation Plan (FMP) Action Plan Update and will continue to be included in the subsequent annual Action Plan Update reports.
Included Projects:
- Lakeside Garden
- Heart of Downtown Drainage Improvements
- Central Seacrest Corridor Phase III
- San Castle
- NW 1st Street south of Gateway Blvd
- Chapel Hill/Betty Thomas Park
Funding: Capital Improvement Program (CIP) funds and operation funds for implementation of in-house projects.
2. Continue to foster interdepartmental/interagency coordination to identify projects to enhance flood mitigation in areas of frequent flooding and repetitive loss areas. The Utility and Development and Public Works Engineering Departments annually prioritize the drainage improvements’ needs and request for projects to be included in the City’s CIP Program funding. Simultaneously work with the Grant Coordinator to pursue grants to fund these projects. Some examples of available grants are:
a. Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant
b. Hazard Mitigation Grant
c. Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant
d. Severe Repetitive Loss Grant
Action: The Development, Public Works and Utility Departments will continue to implement flood mitigation project identification and work with the City’s Grant Coordinator to implement this task.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget. For grants matching funds, if required, CIP funds will need to be budgeted for implementation.
3. Encourage proper maintenance of Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) drainage systems within the City limits.
Action: Coordination with Florida FDOT
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
4. Continue City participation and compliance with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the Community Rating System (CRS). Seek CRS classification improvements within capabilities of City programs, including adoption and administration of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved ordinances and Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), thus enhancing the City’s flood mitigation efforts while securing insurance premium rewards for its residents and businesses.
Action: This is the responsibility of the Development and Utilities Departments. This is an ongoing policy and the City will continue its current approach.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
5. Continue to actively encourage all property owners to purchase flood insurance through outreach projects.
Action: This action will continue to be implemented by distribution of brochures and other printed material via annual mailings, distribution at City events and flood prevention outreach events organized by the County. This activity is the responsibility of the Development and Utilities Departments to be implemented through outreach.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
6. Ensure that City crews maintain and operate all flow control structures and system for which it is responsible and encourage private and regional entities to do the same.
Action: This is the responsibility of the Utility Department. The Operations Division will make the records available to the CRS Coordinator each year.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
7. Continue the City’s storm preparedness program to clear debris from the stormwater drainage system.
Action: The Utility Department will continue to implement the removal of debris before and after storm events.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
8. As part of the City’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), continue sediment control to prevent clogged drainage systems such as street sweeping, curb and gutter cleaning and planting vegetation on bare ground.
Action: This is current policy and the Public Works Department will continue the current approach.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
9. Continuously update the inventory of the City’s drainage structures.
Action: This is a requirement of the City’s NPDES permit. As part of the 5-year permit cycle, 20% must be inventoried annually. To be completed by the Utility Department.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
10. The Stormwater crew will continue to keep a registry of problematic areas that requires the use of vacuum trucks in the event of a flood event, including after regular business hours.
Action: This is current policy and will continue. During emergencies the Stormwater Supervisor will coordinate with other City departments as required.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
11. Continue to implement the Utility Department stormwater replacement and maintenance program.
Action: This program augments the Utility Department’s operations and maintenance budget. It is funded each year as needed; pumps and additional equipment are purchased and replaced as needed.
Funding: CIP and operational funds.
12. Maintain coordination with South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and Lake Worth Drainage District (LWDD) in matters pertaining to regional floodplain management.
Action: The Utility and Development Departments continue this current policy.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
13. Continue to coordinate with homeowners’ associations (HOAs) to maintain their drainage control structures/systems.
Action: The Utilities Department will continue coordination with Lake Worth Drainage District (LWDD) management companies of the HOAs so that they are informed concerning what they should be doing pre-storm and post-storm.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
14. Provide information to residents, businesses and other property owners concerning the purpose, importance, and proper maintenance of swales.
Action: This is an ongoing activity by the Utility Department and will continue the current approach.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
15. Continually update information prior to, during, and after a hurricane or flood event, including road and bridge closures, evacuation orders, emergency shelter locations, evacuation routes and electrical outages. Post contact information so that citizens know how to contact FEMA post-flood. This update responsibility can include some of the following options:
- City website
- Email advisements
- Public service announcements through local media (radio, newspapers, etc.)
- Social media including Twitter and Facebook
- Citizen Hotlines
- Brochure handouts at Points of Distribution (POD). The POD in Boynton Beach is the Hester Center.
Action: This is a current City procedure and will continue as a responsibility of the Boynton Beach Emergency Management Division. The Standard Operating Procedure written for emergency information dissemination shall include the items listed above.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
16. Ensure adherence to the City’s Emergency Procedures Manual, particularly in the event of evacuation orders.
Action: Emergency Management Division personnel should review key components of the procedures before June 1st of each year.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
17. Ensure optimal staffing of emergency management personnel to receive information and respond to emergency events.
Action: This practice will continue as in the past, in accordance with Incident Command System (ICS) standards.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
18. Provide ongoing training and evaluation of the Community Emergency Response Team - CERT program.
Action: This is current City policy and will continue. The CERT members meet with the City’s Fire Department four times a year. Two of those meetings are within two months of hurricane season.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
19. Integrate response to flooded homes with appropriate response organizations (American Red Cross, faith-based organizations and other non-profit entities).
Action: The Emergency Management Division will contact appropriate response organizations at least 24 hours prior to an anticipated hurricane or flooding event. During or immediately following the event, contact with these organizations will be made again to ensure integration of response in accordance with the City’s Emergency Procedures Manual.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
20. Annually update the list of nursing homes and smaller home care centers (Type 1 Group Homes) in the City and the priority list of critical facilities. Confirm that all nursing homes have an emergency plan.
Action: This is required every year by the City’s Fire Department and will continue in accordance with the current procedure.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
21. Conduct a climate change vulnerability assessment to understand how flooding, sea level rise, and other climate impacts affect community assets, infrastructure, and critical facilities now and in the future. Develop an adaptation/resilience plan to identify potential actions to address the vulnerabilities.
Action: This responsibility will be led by the Sustainability Coordinator.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget. Research the possibility of FDEP and other grant funding.
Included Component: The City received FY18/19 and FY 19/20 Resilience Planning Grants from the Florida DEP to develop a Coastal Resilience Partnership with neighboring municipalities. The partnership hired a consultant in March 2020 and has completed the initial steps of a multi-jurisdictional climate change vulnerability assessment, with the expected completion date of March 2021.
22. Designate Adaptation Action Area(s) within the Coastal Management Element of the Comprehensive Plan for the purpose of prioritizing adaptation measures and funding of infrastructure improvements. Adaptation Action Areas (AAAs) are low-lying coastal areas that experience flooding due to extreme high tides and storm surge and that are vulnerable to rising sea level. Designations may also include restoration areas (land where development is discouraged to maximize the benefits of natural systems) and growth areas (land outside of vulnerable areas where economic development is encouraged).
Action: This responsibility will be a collaboration of the Sustainability Coordinator and the Development Department.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget. Research the possibility of grant funding.
Included Component: The Comprehensive Plan Coastal Management Element, updated in 2016, recommends establishing Adaptation Action Areas (AAAs) by 2020. The designation of AAAs is part of the scope of work of the multi-jurisdictional climate change vulnerability assessment described in item 21 above.
23. Encourage designation, protection, and maintenance of wetlands, mangroves and environmentally sensitive lands.
Action: The Army Corps of Engineers manages wetland ecosystems and requires permits for certain development activities. The Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management has no permit authority over jurisdictional wetland areas. All wetland areas claimed as jurisdictional by either the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) or the United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) are exempt from the County’s vegetation removal process; only native upland vegetation located outside of wetland boundaries are subject to permit. This recommendation is ongoing and is the responsibility of the City’s Development Department. There are no plans to change the current approach.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
24. Consider areas for multiple uses that can be used for storage of floodwaters (retention/detention areas), such as ball fields, public rights of way, parks, and designated open space in locations that have flooding problems.
Action: This will be a joint responsibility of the Utility and Development Departments.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
25. The Development Department shall evaluate the building/site regulations of each zoning district and make recommendations for minimum open space requirements.
Action: The Development Department will be responsible to implement this activity.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
26. Require new development during site plan approval to incorporate historical drainage patterns in the analysis of the required stormwater storage.
Action: This is current City policy and the collaboration between the Utility and Development Departments to implement this will continue.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
27. Review City Code of Ordinances and Land Development Regulations (LDRs) and make recommendations to strengthen requirements for provision and maintenance of private stormwater management facilities, including structures controlling flow and prohibiting parking in swales.
Action: The Development and Utility Departments have joint responsibility for making code revisions, and may collaborate with the Building Official and Code Compliance Division to ensure code enforcement.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
Included Component: On September 5, 2019 the City Commission approved Ordinance 19-027 amending the Land Development Regulations to include “Sustainable Development Standards,” which requires new development and redevelopment projects to incorporate a certain number of site and building sustainable design options across five categories: Energy, Recycling & Waste Reduction, Water, Urban Nature, and Transportation. The Water section includes options for managing stormwater such as rain gardens, permeable parking surfaces, permeable sidewalk surfaces, and vault systems.
28. Prioritize the reduction of repetitive loss properties through various means of mitigation, update repetitive loss forms, and strive to remove properties from the Repetitive Loss List. Implement Repetitive Loss Area Analysis.
Action: This is an ongoing activity that will continue as a top priority of the City’s Development Department.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
29. Inform citizens concerning, and encourage them to consider the following forms of retrofitting for areas or buildings with major flooding issues:
- Install backflow valves on sewer systems
- Elevation of structures by piers, posts and columns, and pilings
- Create a secondary water barrier
- Elevate the lowest floor above the 100-year flood level
- Wet flood proofing (allowing water to enter uninhabited areas of the structure)
- Dry flood proofing (sealing the structure to prevent flood waters from entering)
- Levees and floodwalls (constructing a barrier around the structure to keep out flood waters)
- Demolition (tearing down the structure and rebuilding with appropriate flood proofing techniques or relocating the structure)
- Elevate the main breaker or fuse box
Action: This is an ongoing activity through education and outreach and is the responsibility of the Development Department.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
30. Encourage individual property owners to pursue percolation-oriented drainage improvements using best management practices through outreach and education. Drainage that seeps into the soil, rather than being directed out to the ocean, provides multiple benefits. Not only does it mitigate flooding, but it also recharges the aquifer, enhances water quality, and reduces erosion.
Action: The Development Department will include recommendations pertaining to percolation-oriented drainage in the form of outreach and education. This activity will be ongoing.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
31. Include notification of grants, loans, and service availability in City media publications, seminars, and websites that pertain to flood mitigation.
Action: This is currently implemented and will continue. It is included in the City’s Program for Public Information (PPI) and is a joint collaboration between the Development, Utilities Departments and the Public Communications and Marketing Office.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
32. Collaborate with the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact as they make recommendations for land development standards with respect to low-lying coastal areas.
Action: The City adopted the Compact in 2012, participates in the Compact’s annual Climate Leadership Summit and quarterly workshops, and is currently participating in the Compact’s municipal engagement committee.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget. Research grant funds for implementation.
33. Continue to enforce best management practices for reducing erosion during development activity.
Action: The Development Department will be responsible to implement this activity. This is current City policy and should continue.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
34. Encourage homeowners to investigate possible funding opportunities to implement flood protection improvements:
- Small Business Administration Loan Program
- HUD information at www.hud.gov/topics/home_improvements
Action: This responsibility will be with the Development Department.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
35. Provide knowledgeable staff to assist citizens, before, during and after a flood event to help them understand their repair, rebuilding and flooding mitigation options.
Action: The Building Official and City Engineer will continue to coordinate this assistance based on staff availability and prioritized needs. This is a current City procedure and will continue.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
36. Continue to require new development to install stormwater management facilities.
Action: This is current policy and will continue. This activity is ongoing as the responsibility of the Development, Public Works, Engineering and Utility Departments.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
37. The City shall continue to discourage hospitals, congregate living facilities for persons with special needs, and nursing homes from locating within Coastal High Hazard Area (CHHA) and shall encourage such existing facilities to relocate to safer locations within the City.
Action: This responsibility will be with the Development Department.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
38. Evaluate the City of Boynton Beach Flood Mitigation Plan, particularly the Action Plan, annually.
Action: The Development and Utilities Departments will be responsible to prepare an evaluation of the Flood Mitigation Plan, including the Program for Public Information, for every annual meeting of the Flood Mitigation Plan Task Force. This responsibility will be ongoing.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
39. Update the City of Boynton Beach Flood Mitigation Plan as needed.
Action: The Development and Utilities Departments will be responsible to ensure that the Flood Mitigation Plan is updated every five years or as needed.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
40. Implement the City’s Program for Public Information (PPI), a copy of which can be found in the Appendix O of this Plan.
Action: The Development and Utilities Departments shall be responsible to implement the City’s Program for Public information and to report on its annual evaluation and revisions each year.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
41. Continue to work with the City Housing Program to provide information to homebuyers regarding flood hazards.
Action: This responsibility will be with the Development Department.
Funding: No additional funding needed; funds are available in City’s operations budget.
