The Gulfport City Council met on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at 6:00 PM at Gulfport City Hall. The meeting included a presentation on regional resiliency, public comments on a coastal parcel, a second reading of a beach smoking ban, several resolutions, and extended discussions on building department permitting and charter review.
Good evening. Once again, if you're if you know you're going to want to speak at public comment, it'd be good for you to get as close up to the front or off to the sides as you can. That'll save us a little time later. And when it gets to be around ten o'clock, everyone will be glad that we saved ten minutes. Council Member Early. Present. City Clerk Carico is present. And as usual, if you there's a need for side conversation, I understand it. You just need to go out into the lobby so that we're not distracted up here. I'm sure you all understand. Okay, with that in mind. Presentations. So I know that the agenda says no presentations, but I believe we do have. Oh, and she's here right now. Okay, so this evening. Uh we will hear from presenter Megan Blancher of the Coastal Ecologist for the Tampa Bay Regional Counseling Council, excuse me. And you are going to present on the regional resiliency action plan as well as the emergency preparedness and recovery resources. Thank you and welcome to Gulfport. Good evening, Mayor. Um, Council members, thank you for having me. Uh, my name is Megan Blanchard, as you said, and I'm the coastal ecologist for the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. I'm happy to join you today as your government liaison is a benefit included in your membership with TBRPC. I'm gonna click. Uh Vice Mayor Thanos has requested a combination of presentations today. First, introduce the resiliency coalition and its action plan for your consideration, and to describe some emergency preparedness and recovery resources. Oh, just so you wanted to know. Um, so here's the oh we're going past it. Uh so here we go. The Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition was established in 2018 by a memorandum of understanding, including 33 members and over a hundred private sector partners uh to participate as well. The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council is a member of this coalition, and so is the city of Gulfport. I'm just gonna okay. So here you see uh the TBRRC includes councils as far north as Citrus, so as far south as Sarasota and Pinellas County. Um this is the second such collaborative in the state, and it's taken on a noteworthy challenge to bring together as many communities as possible who will be impacted by climate change to tackle a problem with no single solution. The coalition dives into issues of sea level rise, storms, flooding, extreme heat, all hazards emerging as the defining issues of life in this region. The coalition takes on trending issues head on from public and private angles in collaboration and coordination, uh, views this uncertain future as an opportunity to demonstrate admirable stewardship and leadership. Um to catalyze this work in uh 2022. Um the RAP, the Regional Resiliency Action Plan, was developed as a foundation upon which all members can build their resiliency strategy. It was built by consensus and breakout groups consisting of public agency staff, private partners, and elected officials. This voluntary plan was designed as a guide so partners and members would know where their neighbors were taking action, what direction the region is moving in, and determine for themselves the actions of the areas of action appropriate for them. Regionality doesn't mean that every city or county does the same thing in the same way, but working within your capacity to bring the shared vision to life. This is an example page from our plan. We call it a menu where member governments can select from these local actions, which are really small on the right-hand side. Um, or go above and beyond as needed or practical practicable. Like I mentioned, regionality is not one size fits all. The RAP is the plan that aligns like-minded governments on their journey of resilience and will look different depending on the resources, political will, size, public desire, and needs of each community. Maybe I can show you RPC actions. Um these regional collaboration actions are where you'll see the RPC working in the area of resiliency. And it was also important that the plan describe co-benefits, positive benefits to other sectors that these actions would provide as well. And I'm gonna just I apologize. Some that would be very very relevant to the city of Goldport include community resiliency, sustainable and attainable housing, resilient public infrastructure, and business community continuity.