Volusia County, Florida, situated on the east coast of central Florida, is home to over 500,000 residents. Forty-seven miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches and beachfront cities, the St Johns River on the west side of the county and approximately 38,000 acres of conservation lands make Volusia County a world-class playground for locals and tourists.
With its large coastline, flat landscape, and low land elevations, Volusia County recognizes its vulnerabilities to sea level rise. In the summer of 2019, Volusia County approved The East Central Florida Regional Resiliency Action Plan (ECF RRAP) developed by East Central Florida Regional Planning Council (ECFRPC) with stakeholder input and engagement. The RRAP provides a framework for the counties of Brevard and Volusia to mitigate the effects of climate change and sea level rise in the areas of business/economic development, emergency response and transportation planning, growth management, health and natural resources. The plan also supports the objectives of the Sustainability Action Plan that details the need to implement climate mitigation and adaptation strategies and conduct business to ensure quality of life for future generations.
To further resilience in the region, the county also joined the East Central Florida Regional Resilience Collaborative so that staff can prepare for sea level rise and work regionally to protect the county’s residents, their properties, the tourism industry, and economic vitality. Staff continue to work collaboratively to advance the goals of the RRAP and Collaborative, initiatives include grants for Adaptation Action Areas, non-point source pollution, reducing community impacts from flooding, and advancing stormwater management through Green Infrastructure.
Volusia County has also been a key partner in the Floodplain Management Plan Committee (FMP) and Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS) working group which provides an in-depth analysis of hazards and mitigation strategies for events like sea level rise. Within the LMS, policies and projects are prioritized in the Mitigation Action Plan (MAP) which represents an unambiguous and functional plan for action and is considered to be the most essential outcome of the mitigation planning process. With help from these initiatives and as a council member of ECFRPC, the County has advanced sea level rise adaptation through progressive policy, planning, and investments.
Volusia County has taken on multiple collaborative efforts that include preventing new development in the floodplain from increasing runoff, developing and maintaining a proactive public awareness that provides assistance and information regarding flood zones, protection of property, local drainage and sewer back-up problems, continued work with the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to identify and obtain funding for both pre-and-post disaster residential mitigation projects regarding flooding and to reduce the number of repetitive loss properties within Volusia County to name a few.
