How Key Biscayne is Dealing With Rising Sea Levels

MIAMI—Will rising sea levels dampen investor appetite? I explored that topic earlier this year with a CBRE report about rising tides.

In fact, I explored the real developer impact of rising sea levels in-depth last year as it relates to Florida's Eastern seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. But what about Key Biscayne, the island town in Miami-Dade County with just about 15,000 people?

GlobeSt.com caught up with Key Biscayne Mayor Mayra Pena Lindsay to get her take on how the village is dealing with traffic—and rising sea levels. You can still read parts one and two of this series: Key Biscayne Dukes it Out With Miami Over This Site and Why Greater Miami Needs Key Biscayne.

GlobeSt.com: With growth has come traffic. As one of the closest neighborhoods to our urban core, how is traffic impacting the Village of Key Biscayne?

Lindsay: There's only one road on and off Key Biscayne, so the traffic issue looms large for our residents and businesses. There are peak points of high volume throughout the year, such as weekends, holidays and the Miami Open tennis tournament, but otherwise traffic flow runs smoothly for much of the year.

Of course, all of this changes if the City of Miami builds 1 million square feet of event space at the historic Miami Marine Stadium site. Their plan to bring major events to Virginia Key will convert Miami's most beloved playground into Miami's most dreaded parking lot, causing year-round gridlock and cutting off access to Key Biscayne for Miami-Dade residents.

That's one of the main reasons we are opposing the City's plan. We have serious safety and emergency evacuation concerns because of one egress.

GlobeSt.com: As a barrier island, Key Biscayne is especially vulnerable to sea level rise.  What steps is the Village of Key Biscayne doing to address these climate challenges—both from a zoning and development standpoint?

Lindsay: The threat of seal level rise has gained a lot of attention lately, but our village government has been taking a proactive approach to addressing rising seas dating back two decades. Being a barrier island, we are living with and adapting to the reality of rising water.

We have adopted elevated construction standards that go above and beyond Miami-Dade County's building code and are consistent with FEMA's building guidelines. We have spent millions to replenish our beaches, recognizing that they are critical to our appeal as a destination and that sand is the first line of defense against rising waters. Lastly, we have been diligent with our storm water management plan and installed a pumping system years ago that protects the island against flooding by pumping out standing water.