Sea Level Rise

Satellite Beach Comprehensive Planning Advisory Board

Recognizing that the City of Satellite Beach has 11.8 miles of shoreline along the Atlantic Ocean and the Banana River segment of the Indian River Lagoon estuary, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 880 wherein the City agreed to be a partner with the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program (IRL-NEP) in a project to address potential impacts of sea level rise on the City.  The Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Ready Estuaries Partner Startup Grant Program funded the project.

To implement this pilot project, the City hired a geologist to develop a science-based assessment of the impacts and timing of sea level rise and the Satellite Beach Comprehensive Planning Advisory Board (CPAB) formed a Sea Level Rise Subcommittee to use the assessment to determine strategies and policies to be incorporated into the City’s Comprehensive Plan and to inform the public on the issue.  During the process the team undertaking the project conducted three public forums.  The subcommittee provided its product to the full CPAB, where it was reviewed, amended, and adopted unanimously as a recommendation to City Council in July 2010. 

This pilot project generated both a technical report based on the best scientific data available and policy recommendations based on that data.  The recommendations recognize that predicting sea level changes is not an exact science.  There are numerous factors interacting in a complex manner and some of those factors are less well understood than others. 

The CPAB’s recommendation is based on projections that sea level rise is not expected to impact the built environment in Satellite Beach until about 2050, 40 years in the future.  As such there is time to plan and develop and implement low-cost or no-cost, low-regret or no-regret measures to mitigate impacts of sea level rise.  Actions and schedules can be adjusted as predictions improve and changes in conditions become evident.  Having looked ahead and done so, residents can anticipate that their community will be in a better position to accommodate changes than those communities that have ignored the issue.

Below are links to products of the project and links to other resources on the topic.