Florida Sea Grant funded a second sea level planning project, Reimagining the Form of Rural Coastal Communities in Response to Sea Level Rise, that extends the work of the team’s project, Planning for Coastal Change in Levy County. This new project began in May, 2014 and has been working collaboratively with local and regional experts to develop, integrate, and prioritize sea level rise adaptation strategies for the Cedar Key-Rosewood area.

During the first portion of the project, team members analyzed the area’s vulnerability and developed potential adaptation strategies from four specific viewpoints: Urban Design, Coastal Hazards, Natural Resources, and Socio-economic. While developing these strategies, team members met with local and regional experts at the Senator George G. Kirkpatrick Marine Laboratory in Cedar Key to present findings and receive feedback about the stakeholders’ preferences and guidance on future research directions.

The second portion of the project focuses on integrating the strategies proposed from the four different viewpoints, choosing a priority strategy for further exploration, and developing the steps needed for its implementation.

After discussing various strategy options with local experts, the team is now focusing on developing specific policies that would provide the opportunity for innovative sea level rise adaptation to occur. The team will be meeting again with local experts in July and August to receive feedback on the policies, and a public presentation will be held in August to share the project’s findings and outcomes with the community.

The project runs through September, 2015, and we will be posting information about the August public meeting, project updates, and the project’s final report during the next few months.