RE.7 - A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), ESTABLISHING THE STORMWATER PARKS OFFERING NATURAL GREEN-INFRASTRUCTURE ENHANCEMENT ("SPONGE") PROGRAM AS A CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") INITIATIVE; DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO EVALUATE AND PRIORITIZE CANDIDATE SITES CITYWIDE WHERE SPONGE PROGRAM PARKS WOULD BE MOST EFFECTIVE, TO COORDINATE SPONGE PARK SITES WITH THE CITY'S GRAY STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE, TO FORMALIZE KNOWLEDGE-SHARING AND COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS WITH PEER MUNICIPALITIES, ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS, AND INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS, AND TO REPORT FINDINGS TO THE CITY COMMISSION WITHIN ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY (180) DAYS; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE ALL OTHER DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING ANY AGREEMENTS, AMENDMENTS, RENEWALS, AND EXTENSIONS, ALL IN FORMS ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, SUBJECT TO ALLOCATIONS, APPROPRIATIONS, PRIOR BUDGETARY APPROVAL, AND COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE PROVISIONS OF THE CITY CODE AND APPLICABLE LAWS AND REGULATIONS, AS MA...

WHEREAS, the City of Miami's ("City") Climate Resilience Committee ("CRC"), after convening subject-matter experts across two (2) meetings, adopted a resolution by a vote of 8–0, attached hereto as Exhibit A, recommending that the City establish the Stormwater Parks Offering Natural Green-infrastructure Enhancement ("SPONGE") Program; and WHEREAS, the SPONGE Program is a framework for creating parks that actively function as stormwater retention infrastructure, delivering flood mitigation, urban cooling, and public green space simultaneously; and WHEREAS, SPONGE parks are designed as high-quality public landscapes that perform stormwater functions, rather than stormwater facilities with incidental park features, functioning as usable, well-designed parks the great majority of the time and holding and slowly releasing water only during and after major rain events; and WHEREAS, the SPONGE Program would formalize and expand the City's existing practice of integrating stormwater retention into appropriate existing parks, and identify new locations purpose-built for retention, by coordinating with conventional gray stormwater infrastructure and prioritizing low-lying inland neighborhoods where gray infrastructure is most expensive, least effective, and not anticipated for a decade or more, and where residents have the least access to parks; and WHEREAS, the City faces compounding flood risks from extreme rainfall, storm surge, tidal intrusion, sea level rise, and rising groundwater, alongside intensifying heat, with the City now experiencing more than one hundred (100) days per year at or above ninety (90) degrees Fahrenheit; and WHEREAS, the City's Stormwater Master Plan ("SWMP") estimates approximately $3.8 billion to achieve a five (5) year flood protection level of service and approximately $5.4 billion for a ten (10) year level of service with one hundred (100) year building protection, through a capital program that would require near-continuous street construction for approximately twenty-five (25) years; and WHEREAS, this multiple-benefit approach is called for across adopted City, County, and regional plans, including Miami Forever Climate Ready ("MFCR"), the SWMP, the 2023 Parks and Recreation System Master Plan, Resilient305, and Miami-Dade County's Thrive305, and MFCR documents that residents explicitly called for "sponge" areas for stormwater retention and identifies flood mitigation combining retention with recreation, shade, and park access as the City's model for multiple-benefit solutions; and WHEREAS, the City currently holds National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System ("CRS") Class 6, providing up to a twenty percent (20%) discount on flood insurance premiums and generating approximately $8.6 million per year in combined savings for residents and the City, and MFCR's goal of a CRS Score below 5 would deepen that discount for policyholders citywide; and WHEREAS, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's ("FEMA") CRS Coordinator's Manual identifies acquisition as the most effective mitigation alternative for repetitive loss properties and expressly encourages combining acquisition credit (Activity 520) and open space preservation credit (Activity 420) on the same parcel, and because floodplain open space earns credit proportional to acreage and the City may apply for a class improvement at any time, SPONGE parks offer a direct, near-term pathway to additional CRS points; and WHEREAS, any acquisition of private property under the SPONGE Program would be voluntary, as the federal mitigation programs that fund such buyouts require willing-seller participation and do not permit eminent domain; and WHEREAS, the Spongy Urbanism Studio, a joint offering of the University of Miami and the University of Pennsylvania, begins in Fall 2026, presenting an opportune occasion for the City to provide City-identified areas of interest for the Studio to analyze; and WHEREAS, this Resolution carries no direct fiscal impact at adoption, directs a planning and evaluation effort to be performed within existing staff resources, and of itself commits no funds and authorizes no acquisition or construction; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA: Section 1.  The recitals and findings contained in the Preamble to this Resolution are adopted by reference and incorporated as if fully set forth in this Section. Section 2.  The City hereby establishes the Stormwater Parks Offering Natural Green-infrastructure Enhancement ("SPONGE") Program as a City initiative, with the goals of evaluating and prioritizing candidate sites citywide where SPONGE Program parks would be most effective and coordinating SPONGE park siting with the City's gray stormwater infrastructure. Section 3.  The City Manager is directed to formalize knowledge-sharing and collaborative partnerships with peer municipalities, academic institutions, and international partners, including active collaboration with the Spongy Urbanism Studio by providing City-identified areas of interest for the Studio to analyze. Section 4. The City Manager is directed to report to the City Commission, within one hundred eighty (180) days of adoption of this Resolution, with a SPONGE Program Assessment, including (a) candidate site maps across all three (3) site pathways, namely: (i) retrofit or expansion of existing City-owned land; (ii) coordination with Miami-Dade County on County-owned land within City boundaries; and (iii) acquisition of private parcels, including individual repetitive loss lots and multi-parcel treatment train assemblages; (b) acquisition cost estimates and available leveraged funding; (c) a CRS improvement pathway toward a Score below 5; (d) an evaluation of how SPONGE parks could defer or reduce planned gray-infrastructure capital costs; (e) a summary of academic and intergovernmental partnership opportunities; and (f) a review of maintenance, monitoring, and stewardship funding best practices from comparable stormwater park programs. Section 5.  The City Manager is authorized to negotiate and execute all other documents, including any agreements, amendments, renewals,and extensions, all in forms acceptable to the City Attorney, as may be necessary for said purpose. Section 6.  This Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its adoption.