Boca Raton is a city on Florida’s southeastern coast, in Palm Beach County, with a population of approximately 94,000. Known for its golf courses, parks and beaches, Boca Raton is home to the main campus of Florida Atlantic University and the corporate headquarters of Office Depot, ADT, Lynn University, and Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
Palm Beach County has about 23,000 people living less than four feet above the high-tide line, an elevation that leaves properties vulnerable to flooding. The county was one of several in southern Florida to have new maps drawn using predictions of higher waters and implements projects, such as living shorelines, to mitigate the increasing threat of sea level rise. In 2012, Boca Raton hosted Florida Atlantic University’s Sea Level Rise Summit, where scientists and business leaders gathered to tackle the issue of sea level rise. Palm Beach County joined with three other South Florida counties in 2010 to form the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact to coordinate mitigation and adaptation activities across county lines. The City of Boca Raton signed on to the Mayors’ Climate Action Pledge in support of the Compact and the Regional Climate Action Plan in 2017. In 2018 the City hired their first Sustainability Manager.
The city of Boca Raton benefits from the Palm Beach County Local Mitigation Strategy, which was adopted by the county and its municipalities in 1999 with the mission to develop and execute an ongoing strategy for reducing the community’s vulnerability to identified natural, technological, and human caused hazards and execute sound, cost-effective mitigation projects. The strategy also provides a basis for justifying the solicitation and use of local, state, federal, and other funding to support hazard mitigation projects and initiatives.
