The mayors of Atlantic, Neptune and Jacksonville beaches are joining together Wednesday evening as the Beaches make plans to deal with sea level rise.
In addition to mayors Ellen Glasser (Atlantic Beach), Charlie Latham (Jacksonville Beach) and Elaine Brown (Neptune Beach), the Northeast Florida Regional Council will also be taking part in the presentation.
The mayors have been making preparations for several months now. In January theAtlantic Beach City Commission took steps to acknowledge the threat of sea level rise.
Atlantic Beach signed a $40,000 grant agreement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. to take part in the Florida Resilient Coastlines Program, which is aimed at helping coastal communities deal with the effects of flooding, erosion and habitat shifts.
Related: Atlantic Beach Takes Steps To Begin Addressing Sea Level Rise
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry also announced earlier this year he was putting together a committee on sea level rise, shortly after he announced the $1.7 million renourishment project to repair Jacksonville-area beaches damaged by recent hurricanes had been completed.
“The three [beach] mayors met in early December to talk about sea level rising and the consequences of not being prepared,” Mayor Brown told WJCT News in January.
A 2018 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists found Florida has an estimated $351 billion worth of homes that will be at risk from tidal flooding by the end of the century.
The Wednesday, June 19, meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at Fletcher High School, 700 Seagate Ave., Neptune Beach.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
