Flood Risk to Resilience Hold the Dates for June Community Listening Sessions

The Tampa Bay region is a flood-vulnerable area, facing extreme risk from storm surge, sea-level rise, and heavy rainfall due to its low-lying geography, extensive coastline, shallow continental shelf, and dense development. Both coastal and inland flooding threatens the safety, property, and livelihoods of Tampa Bay's communities.

The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council is developing the Tampa Bay Coastal Master Plan (TBCMP)—a comprehensive, four-year, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant-funded initiative in Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Sarasota counties. It spans more than 2,200 square miles of coastal and inland communities, estuaries, rivers, wetlands, and barrier islands.

The Coastal Master Plan aims to strengthen regional flood resilience by addressing the impacts of sea-level rise, storm surge, extreme rainfall, and high-tide flooding through a coordinated, data-driven, and community-based process. The 2026 focus includes hosting public listening sessions to identif flood-vulnerable communities, prioritize restoration and flood-reduction projects, and guide long-term adaptation strategies with a strong emphasis on equity, innoation, and collaboration.

As partner/collaborators in this effort, Sierra Club Adventure Coast Group, Hernando Audubon and other community organizations will host three listening sessions as follows:

Thursday, June 11th 5pm—6:30 pm at the George Washington Carver Community Center, 95 Three Sisters Springs Trail, Crystal River. The facilitators will be Sierra Club's Robin Orlandi and Maxine Connor in cooperation with Hernando Audubon and other community-based organizations.
Refreshments will be available.

Thursday, June 18 pm-6:30pm at the Weeki Wachee Area Club, 7442 Shoal Line Boulevard,
Hernando Beach. The facilitator will be Sierra Club's Taylor Masniak in cooperation with the Weeki Wachee Area Club and local long term recovery management efforts.

Wednesday, June 24th, 5pm-6:30pm at the Ridge Manor Community Center, 34240 Cortez Boulevard, Ridge Manor. The facilitator will be Lynn Gruber-White, President of the Ridge Manor Property Owners Association in cooperation with Joe Murphy of Sierra Club and Hernando Audubon along with other stakeholders. Refreshments will be available.

These efforts ensure that local governments, community organizations, residents, and technical experts all contribute to shaping the plan. Thid year, the Coastal Master Plan will develop a Regional Flood Risk Assessment that will provide a scientific and analytical foundation for all future project recommendations. By 2027, the focus will be to design, screen and evaluate projects in priority areas based on community feedback. In 2028, the plan will be released.
What you can do now: Save the date and plan attend a workshop in your area. Sierra Club Adventure Coast Group and Hernando Audubon participated in recent Flood Listening Session Facilitation Training and will engage as a Do0-profitstakeholders in the process for Citrus and Hernando Counties. Contact us at sierraclubadventurecoastcc@gmail.com for more information.