COASTAL MANAGEMENT LIVE DATA, INVENTORY, AND ANALYSIS WORK PLAY GROW Comprehensive Plan | 2019 COASTAL MANAGEMENT ELEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ______________________________________________________________________ CME – 1 Coastal Planning Area ____________________________________________________________ CME – 1 Inventory and Analysis ____________________________________________________________ CME – 2 Land Uses______________________________________________________________________ CME – 2 Beach and Dune System _______________________________________________________ CME – 2 Water-Dependent and Water Related Uses______________________________________ CME – 2 Conflicts Among Shoreline Uses_________________________________________________ CME – 3 Economic Base________________________________________________________________ CME – 3 Infrastructure___________________________________________________________________ CME - 4 Historic Resources______________________________________________________________ CME – 4 Cultural Resources_____________________________________________________________ CME – 5 Dredge and Spoil Disposal Sites_________________________________________________ CME – 6 Natural Resources______________________________________________________________ CME – 6 History of Management___________________________________________________________ CME – 11 Existing and Potential Coastal Threats______________________________________________ CME – 18 Natural Disaster Planning__________________________________________________________ CME – 19 Needs & Recommendations_______________________________________________________ CME - 21 Definitions ________________________________________________________________________ CME – 25 References ________________________________________________________________________ CME - 26 TABLES Table CME 1 Coastal Planning Area Land Uses _____________________________________ CME-2 Table CME 2 Chronology of Beach Nourishment Events _____________________________ CME-13 Table CME- 3 Delray Beach Turtle Nesting Data (2017) _____________________________ CME-16 CME DIA | i COASTAL MANAGEMENT ELEMENT REFERENCED MAPS Coastal Planning Area and Coastal High Hazard Area ______________________________ AD-13 Coastal Planning Area and Existing Land Uses ______________________________________ AD-14 Coastal Areas Subject to Flooding _________________________________________________ AD-15 Water Related Uses _______________________________________________________________ AD-16 Coastal Planning Area and Historic Resources ______________________________________ AD-17 Coastal Planning Area and Evacuation Routes _____________________________________ AD-12 Potential Coastal Inundation from Sea Level Rise ___________________________________ AD-18 CME DIA | ii COASTAL MANAGEMENT ELEMENT INTRODUCTION to guide the City’s decision-making, support the The City of Delray Beach is well known for its vibrant City’s Coastal Management Goals, Objectives, downtown leading up to an award-winning and Policies, and be consistent with adopted plans beachfront with plentiful public access. The and permits covering activities in the Coastal purpose of the Coastal Management Element, in Planning Area. agreement with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, is “to plan for, and where Coastal High Hazard Area appropriate, restrict development activities that would damage or destroy coastal resources, According to the Federal Emergency endanger human life, and limit public Management Agency (FEMA), the Coastal expenditures in areas that are subject to High Hazard Area is identified as Zone V on destruction by natural disaster, such as within the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs). Special Coastal High Hazard Area”. Coastal management floodplain management requirements apply is a multifaceted effort. Proper management in V Zones, including the requirement that all ensures both the protection of life and property buildings meet minimum elevation criteria. from natural disasters, as well as the conservation Section 163.3178(2)(h)9, Florida Statutes, of natural resources. It strives at once to maintain defines the Coastal High Hazard Area as an and enhance the quality of life of citizens who area particularly vulnerable to the effects of value the area as a recreational asset, to protect coastal flooding from tropical storm events, wildlife and natural ecosystems, to maximize specifically the area below the elevation of economic benefits generated from tourism, and to the category 1 storm surge line as established safeguard human life and public investment from by a Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from natural disasters. Coastal Management requires a Hurricanes (SLOSH) computerized storm surge careful balance between the natural and built model. This definition is used for this Element. environments. To effectively provide management, it is important to understand the existing components of the THE COASTAL PLANNING AREA The Coastal Planning Area includes the offshore coastal zone, how they have been developed reef, the barrier island, the Intracoastal Waterway, over time, and what the projected needs are for and the waterway's western shoreline. The Coastal the future. The data, and analysis provided in this Planning Area (CPA) for the City of Delray Beach Element provides an inventory of coastal resources includes all land within the Coastal High Hazard CME DIA | 1 COASTAL MANAGEMENT ELEMENT Area (CHHA), as defined by Florida Statutes and Beach and Dune System depicted on Map AD-13 (Coastal High Hazard The beach and dune system serve as the City’s Area). primary protection against storm surge and waves. This critical protective system has been managed The City's Coastal Planning Area historically was over time by a series of nourishment events since bounded by the north and south City limits, the 1973 and has been calculated to provide annual Atlantic Ocean to the east, and including storm damage reduction benefits valued over $16 properties along the western edge of the million (CPE, 2001). Analyses conducted for the Intracoastal Waterway. The Coastal Planning Area United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), has been extended westward to include all which consider only primary benefits (storm properties located along waterways that adjoin damage reduction and loss of land benefits, not the Intracoastal Waterway, as well as properties including recreational or tourism benefits) have more susceptible to flooding in major storm events determined that the Delray Beach renourishment (1% annual chance of flood) based on updated project has a Benefit-to-Cost Ratio of over 11:1 Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) provided by (CPE, 2001). Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and adopted by the City in October of 2017. The An Analysis and Recommendations for the Coastal High Hazard Area is approximately 786 Management of the Coastal Dune at Delray acres; the most recent flood zones are depicted Beach was prepared for the City in 2015 (Barron, on Map AD-15 [Coastal Areas Subject to Flooding 2015). According to the Study, the man-made (FEMA Flood Zones)]. dune measures the entire 6840 foot shore parallel INVENTORY & ANALYSIS length of the Public Beach, with the shore normal width averaging 160 feet from the seaward edge Land Uses of the turfgrass along A1A east to the limit of native The land uses within the Coastal Planning Area are dune grass on the nourished beach. Width of the depicted in Map AD-14 (Coastal High Hazard Area dune varies along the private shoreline from 140 and Existing Land Uses). The barrier island varies in shore normal feet to the north of the public beach, width from 1,000 to 2,000 feet and is essentially to 200 feet between Casuarina and Atlantic Dunes built-out, with only individual lots available for Park, and 125 feet south of Linton. development. The land use is mostly residential with more than half of the area zoned for single Windblown sand has accumulated in the family detached housing. Some commercial land vegetation, throughout this area, with as much as uses are found along Linton Boulevard, Atlantic eleven vertical feet of accretion above the Avenue, and George Bush Boulevard. nourished beach elevation of +9 feet NGVD, in some places. This increased elevation has created TABLE CME 1 a foredune ridge and left one or two low troughs, Coastal Planning Area Land Use or swales, between the grassy foredune and the LAND USE AREA % OF TOTAL (ACRES) AREA scrub plants along the sidewalk. Short term growth Residential 632.50 80.49% of the profile can be rapid, in the exposed Commercial 50.97 6.49% seaward area, especially during a strong, dry, Education, Public, 30.97 3.90% onshore wind event, while sand trapping and the & Intuitional general microclimate farther upland in the swale is Industrial 0.00 0.00% buffered. The development of this Recreation & Open 61.97 7.89% Space foredune/backdune zonation is allowing species Vacant 9.67 1.23% succession to proceed on a compressed scale, TOTAL 785.78 100.00% and providing an environment for a broader palette of plant choice for continued City CME DIA | 2 COASTAL MANAGEMENT ELEMENT replanting efforts to restore a more complete Inlet and from South Lake Worth Inlet to the Boca strand zone habitat. Raton Inlet was authorized by Section 101 of the River and Harbor Act of October 23, 1962 (PL 87- The seagrape near the roadway is pruned semi- 874). The project was authorized in accordance annually to maintain height at about three feet with the report of the Chief of Engineers,