Gov. Ron DeSantis in Lakeland on Friday morning announced more than $148 million in awards to Florida communities to develop infrastructure projects that will make communities more resilient to future disasters.
The money came from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s (DEO) Rebuild Florida Mitigation General Infrastructure Program.
Almost $43 million is going to Lakeland for a project that includes Bonnet Springs Park, a major development in the heart of the city that sits on the site of a former rail yard and brownfield.
Bill Tinsley, the president of the park project, said the money will help clean up a lake ecosystem.
The park board that we have at Bonnet Springs Park has so generously gifted the community with a $110 million park, but it's sitting on the dirtiest asset in the city of Lakeland Lake system," Tinsley said. "We're impacting Tampa Bay with our water outfalls."
DeSantis said the money for Bonnet Springs will be used for stormwater infrastructure to improve the park's drainage basin. That includes engineering, dredging, water treatment, flood protection and cleaning up a lake at the site.
He also said funding for other projects — in addition to money allocated from the state budget and federal stimulus — will help rebuild from past storms and hurricanes and prepare for future ones.
"We're going to have a steady stream of money to be able deal with resiliency and different infrastructure needs,” DeSantis said.
DEO is awarding the following communities funding through the Rebuild Florida Mitigation General Infrastructure Program:
- Broward County ($6,250,000) – to construct an interconnect between the Broward County Reuse Facility and the City of Pompano Beach's OASIS Reuse facility.
- City of Arcadia ($4,823,579) – to widen a stormwater tributary to provide additional storage during storm events to better control flood volume.
- City of Avon Park ($670,623) – to improve the existing potable water system through replacement of asbestos pipes with PVC piping, adding additional bore to improve water pressure, and to install an upgraded chlorine system.
- City of Doral ($1,000,000) - to reduce the frequency and severity of stormwater flooding by providing a positive-gravity drainage outfall discharging into the NW 58th Street canal.
- City of Fort Lauderdale ($10,500,000) – to replace aging and undersized stormwater infrastructure with new infrastructure systems that help with neighborhood flooding issues and provide better water quality treatment prior to releasing into the intracoastal waterway.
- City of Key West ($3,099,159) – to install tide valves at 40 stormwater outfall points of discharge to address saltwater flooding of roadways, sidewalks, and low-lying properties caused by high tides.
- City of Key West ($6,336,165) – to design and construct a pump-assist injection well to address flooding in a low-lying area that collects significant runoff.
- City of Lakeland ($42,986,390) – to establish a multi-component project in partnership with Bonnet Springs Park which focuses on increasing flood storage capacity to the drainage basin by improving the stormwater infrastructure and watershed quality.
- City of Lauderhill ($3,125,215) – to complete water and sewer line improvement projects.
- City of Miami ($13,497,843) – to retrofit portions of existing seawall, construct new sea wall sections, and other coastal resiliency improvements.
- City of Miami ($1,216,963) – to implement roadway resiliency improvements to NW 17th Street, between NW 27th Avenue and NW 32nd Avenue. Improvements include the installation of a drainage system, exfiltration trench, storm inlets, accessibility ramps, and swales.
- City of North Miami Beach ($6,000,000) – to implement system-wide improvements to the sewer collection system that protects public health and natural water resources.
- City of North Miami Beach ($11,700,000) - to enhance the water transmission and distribution system to improve water quality, fire flow capacity, reliability, and resiliency.
- City of Orlando ($2,850,000) – to develop six resiliency hubs that will provide services to low- and moderate-income communities in the recovery phase of a disaster.
- City of Sebring ($2,605,428) – to complete fire protection resiliency, water quality, and water conservation infrastructure improvements.
- City of Sebring ($3,515,580) – to harden facilities that are part of the cities sanitary sewer collection system.
- City of West Palm Beach ($16,764,610) – to build resilient seawalls, improve storm water quality, and develop living shorelines, pedestrian hardscaping, and native landscaping.
- DeSoto County ($3,757,012) – to replace decaying drainage system infrastructure to significantly increase service life and reduce the possibility of flooding.
- DeSoto County ($3,273,575) – to repair a bridge used as an evacuation route during storms.
- Osceola County ($4,689,320) – to modify and adapt existing drainage elements to substantially reduce repetitive flooding.
The funds are allocated to the state through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) program formed in response to the 2016 to 2017 presidentially declared disasters.
With a total allocation of $475 million, the Rebuild Florida Mitigation General Infrastructure Program will provide two additional rounds of funding in the future to communities designated by HUD or the state as Most Impacted and Distressed (MID) by Hurricanes Hermine, Matthew, and Irma.
