Hoping to alleviate flooding issues in numerous neighborhoods, the beleaguered City of Fort Lauderdale Public Works Department is moving full speed ahead on its “solution of last resort” which would cost residents big bucks. This “last resort” scheme would raise roads twelve or eighteen inches over current grade. If carried out, private property would suddenly lay a foot below road level. Assistant Public Works Director Nancy Gassman discussed the plan at a meeting hosted by the Urban Land Institute (ULI). Gassman wants the ULI to devise a plan which envisions homeowners paying to raise driveways and front yards to the new levels.

The Urban Land Institute is a global organization with offices across the USA and the world. According to the ULI website, “The mission of the Urban Land Institute: Shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide.” Dr. Gassman and Commissioner Steve Glassman spoke earlier this week before a panel of ULI “experts.” None of these experts were from Fort Lauderdale, Broward or even Florida.

The ULI will host a public forum this Thursday at the YCMA in Fort Lauderdale. Gassman said ULI recommendations would be presented at a future Fort Lauderdale City Commission workshop.

In her presentation to the ULI, Gassman claimed flooding had been a “theme” in 2023. This is how the public works director describes the epic April 2023 flooding of downtown Fort Lauderdale and the airport?

Gassman said “extreme” rain events and 180 high tides “highlighted” flooding concerns.

Due to this flooding “theme,” Gassman said the City has accelerated its plans to address the neighborhood flooding issues. A graphic used by Gassman shows this “accelerated” will be completed in ten years! But she claimed it could be completed in three years.

Another Gassman graphic listed “engineering solutions to road inundation from tidal flooding.” According to Gassman’s slide, “as a community, we are at a transition point between short term solutions and future adaptation strategies.”

In Gassman’s plan, the order of solutions begins with installation of tidal valves, followed by seawall elevation, then stormwater improvements and finally the use of pumps.

According to Gassman, the “engineering solution of last resort” is road elevation.

TIDAL VALVE FLOODING

As previously reported by REDBROWARD, Nancy Gassman admitted the installation of tidal valves caused “road inundation from tidal flooding.”

In June 2023 REDBROWARD revealed how Nancy Gassman admitted her costly tidal valve program caused street flooding. According to Gassman, rainfall had nowhere to go during high tide because valves blocked street drains. Gassman admitted the flooding would occur twice a day due to high tides

After REDBROWARD posted video of Gassman’s shocking comments, the City Of Fort Lauderdale quickly commented on Youtube.

The City wrote, ““Tidal valves had no impact on the April 2023 flooding in the City of Fort Lauderdale. When there is a rain event during a high tide, tidal valves remain closed to prevent tidal water from backing up into the storm drain system and flooding city streets. Once the tide recedes, the tidal valves are able to reopen and allow fresh rainwater to discharge into waterways.” 

The City of Fort Lauderdale admitted (again) that their drainage system caused street flooding.

Now, Gassman and the public works department wants to launch another costly project to address a problem they made worse with their initial “solution.”

COSTLY “LAST RESORT”

According to Nancy Gassman, the ULI will help her devise a plan to pick which City roads to elevate as well as find funding sources to help the City pay for the higher roads. Gassman said ULI will address the issue of making private landowners pay for needed changes since public dollars cannot be used on private land. Gassman called this expensive boondoggle, “harmonization.”

Gassman stated her plans involves more than simply raising the height of the road. She said a raised road would cause a disconnection from existing stormwater infrastructure, fire hydrants and public utilities such as FPL, TECO, AT&T and Comcast. All of these systems would need to be raised to the new road level.

Once the road and corresponding infrastructure was raised to the new level, private driveways, walkways and front yards would suddenly be nearly two feet below the road.

Under Gassman’s “last resort” solution, future flooding “themes” would see rains flood front yards and homes instead of the roads.

Even worse, homeowners would find it difficult to leave their driveways if the road was two feet higher.

Would Gassman and the ULI urge the Fort Lauderdale Commission to force homeowners to bring their yards and driveways to the new levels?

The City did force homeowners to pay for Gassman’s expensive seawall plan. Now, her plan would hurt more than homeowners on waterfront property.

Under Gassman, homeowners across flood prone areas of Fort Lauderdale might have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to raise driveways as well as expensive re-landscaping costs.

Why is Gassman jumping to her “last resort?”

Has the City installed pumping stations in all of its flood prone areas?

Has the stormwater infrastructure been modernized? As REDBROWARD reported last year, Gassman was content to rely on improved swales and underground cisterns to address flooding.

Is this the result when our elected officials use climate activists instead of engineers and plumbers to fix our infrastructure?