On Tuesday, leaders in the City of Fort Lauderdale celebrated the completion of a seawall on Hendricks Isles.
The two raised seawalls on the isle are part of a larger tidal barrier effort to improve infrastructure resiliency, especially with sea level rise, seasonal King Tides and storm surges during hurricane season.
Construction of the two walls took 7 months to complete and the city also replaced an aging storm drain and installed a new tidal valve.
“The walls are 2.5 feet higher than the previous walls and are more capable of combatting tidal flooding. Water will always find the weakest lowest structure as it makes its way towards land and we must do all that we can to ensure that there is nowhere for it to get through,” said Steven Glassman, a Commissioner with the City of Fort Lauderdale, District 2.
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This is part of the city’s $1.5 million investment in the area with $440,000 in grant funds coming from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The city is also considering an ordinance that would raise the maximum height of seawalls from 3.9 feet to approximately 5 feet.
Residents in Fort Lauderdale would have to foot the bill, but this would only impact waterfront property owners who are installing a new seawall or if an existing seawall is in disrepair, allowing water to enter a neighbor’s property, local streets, or swales.
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"Fort Lauderdale is known as the Venice of America because of our 165 miles of waterway, so seawalls are a very important first barrier to tidal flooding throughout the area. Having an ordinance which is forward looking in terms of the elevations that we need to combat sea level rise is really critical,” said Dr. Nancy Gassman, Assistant Public Works Director for Sustainability with the City of Fort Lauderdale.
The city commission is expected to take up the issue of seawall elevation in the proposed ordinance this Thursday, Mar. 23. If approved, it would bring Fort Lauderdale into compliance with Broward County’s regional standards.
