$404 Million Resilient Florida Grant To Fund 113 Projects

DUNEDIN, FL — During a news conference this week in Dunedin, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the award of grants totaling more than $404 million for 113 environmental resilience projects across the state.

The Resilient Florida Grant Program is intended to help prepare coastal and inland communities for the adverse impacts of flooding and storm surge.

The governor was joined by House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Shawn Hamilton and Dr. Wes Brooks, chief resilience officer.

“Today’s record investment, as well as the projects included in the statewide plan for future funding, will strengthen our infrastructure to withstand the impacts of flooding and storm surge,” said DeSantis. “For the first time ever, Florida has strategic coordination of statewide efforts to protect our coastal and inland infrastructure, and the dedicated funding to support these projects. This announcement is just the beginning. My administration will continue to support our communities’ resilience efforts across the state.”

The projects awarded will protect inland and coastal communities across 25 counties from storm damage. Including the local match associated with these projects, the state and local investment for resilience totals more than $730 million.

“Sea level rise and flooding impacts our home insurance rates, our businesses and our communities,” said Sprowls. “When I took office as speaker, I knew we needed to approach this problem in a different and innovative way. That is why we passed the Always Ready bill, carried by Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera, giving our flooding and resiliency issues a long-term vision and plan, for the first time ever, to prepare Florida today for the challenges of tomorrow."

“Today’s announcement brings total investments from state-directed and local match funding to more than $1.2 billion for 189 priority projects through the Resilient Florida program and the Statewide Resilience Plan," Brooks said. "Much of that funding will support good construction and engineering jobs in our communities, and these projects will also save billions of dollars in avoided flood and storm damages.”

The list of projects awarded includes the following projects in Tampa Bay:

• Hillsborough County Shimberg Park Parcel Flood Mitigation Conceptual Design - $250,000
• City of New Port Richey South Gateway Inundation Park =$1,600,000
• City of Gulfport Gulfport Marina Living Shoreline Project - Phase I - $350,000
• City of Treasure Island Living Shoreline and Resiliency Project - $2,300,000
• Philippe Park Living Shoreline Oyster Reef Wave Attenuation - $323,000
• Pinellas County Utilities Mobile Home Park Wastewater Collection System Improvements - $25,000,000
• Pinellas County Utilities Reliability Improvements - $10,165,237.

See other projects across the state here.