City of Miami Climate Resilience Committee Meeting – June 1, 2026
City of Miami Climate Resilience Committee Meeting – June 1, 2026
The Climate Resilience Committee (CRC) met on June 1, 2026, to discuss greenway development incentives, sponge park initiatives, budget recommendations, and tree policy. The meeting included public comments, two major presentations, a vote on a sponge parks resolution, and planning for a budget workshop.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Katrina Morris (Coconut Grove) urged CRC oversight of the tree committee and support for green infrastructure like sponge parks.
- Mel Meinhardt (Friends of the Commodore Trail) expressed support for the Greenway Benefits Program but asked for clarity on bonus height provisions in Coconut Grove (NCD 3), stating that T5 areas should be excluded to protect neighborhood character.
- Michelle Yi (FIU student, Gen Clio) called for increased tree canopy coverage and transparency in tree trust fund use, citing a 30% canopy goal and alleged tree removal violations.
- Angeline Alvarez spoke on behalf of “the trees,” urging CRC to take an active role in the Chapter 17 stakeholder process and to demand data on tree removals.
- Albert Gomez (District 2 resident) thanked CRC for supporting the Biscayne Bay Marine Health Summit and requested city action on a wastewater discharge in Edgewater; he also shared a document on how to access iBuild permit data.
- Several online commentators (Maria Gonzalez, Samantha Wilson, Aurora Al Qaeda, Dennis Tubno, Jessica Johnson, Lindsay Kane, Mariella Lopez, Sandy Moise, Michelle Baptiste) echoed calls for CRC involvement in the tree committee, data transparency, and protection of the urban canopy.
Discussion Items
- Greenway Benefits Program (Presentation): Samantha Maldonado (Planning Department) presented proposed code amendments to promote development along greenways. Key elements include updated definitions, public benefits (bonus height/floor area) within a half-mile of greenways, new frontage requirements for greenway-adjacent properties (construction or cash contribution), and a parks trust fund update. The program applies only to T6, D, and T5 zones, with T5 in Coconut Grove NCD 3 excluded. An opt-out provision ensures compliance with state law (SB 180). The CRC voted to support the program, amending the motion to include adoption of best practices from sponge parks for permeability.
- Sponge Parks Presentations:
- Tom Klein (University of Miami Center for Urban and Community Design) defined sponge parks as nature-based infrastructure that manages stormwater, reduces runoff, and provides amenities. He introduced the “Spongy Urbanism” studio for fall 2026, a collaboration between UM and UPenn, which will study regional sponge city concepts and site-scale designs. The studio seeks a City of Miami site for case study.
- Robert Cologne (Miami-Dade County DERM) presented Florida examples: Bay Shore Park (Miami Beach), McDill 48 Park (Tampa), and Ripple Eco Art (Martin County). He highlighted funding sources (Resilient Florida, water management districts) and noted that sponge parks can be cost-effective, improve water quality, and support NFIP CRS credits.
- Sponge Resolution (Item 7): The CRC reviewed and unanimously approved a resolution directing the city manager to report within 180 days on a sponge program assessment, including candidate sites, cost estimates, leveraged funding, CRS improvement pathways, and partnership opportunities. The resolution ties to existing city master plans and aims to use green-gray hybrid infrastructure to mitigate flooding and heat.
- Budget Recommendations: The CRC agreed to hold a workshop on June 18, 2026, to finalize budget recommendations for FY2025–2026. Submitted proposals include a sponge park budget, inland street pilot, cost estimator for green/gray infrastructure, citywide tree canopy inventory (Chair), and a citizen science tree data project in Overtown (Silvio Pupo Casco).
- Office of Resilience & Sustainability Updates: Sonia Brewbaker reported that FIU’s Biocap living seawall tiles have been installed at Morningside Park; monitoring will occur over two years. The Compost for Life pilot (May–July) collected 2,750 pounds of food scraps in the first two weeks, with 142 registered participants. The city also participated in the Biscayne Bay Marine Health Summit.
- Open Discussion – Tree Committee: Members discussed the status of the Tree Advisory Committee (TAC), which has not yet convened. Appointments from all districts are pending; the first meeting is expected in June or July. CRC members expressed interest in transparent data and noted that public comments will be forwarded to the TAC.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to Support Greenway Benefits Program (amended): Passed unanimously with an added provision to incorporate sponge park best practices for permeability.
- Sponge Resolution: Approved unanimously, directing staff to deliver a sponge program assessment within 180 days.
- Budget Workshop: Scheduled for June 18, 2026, at noon, to finalize CRC budget recommendations.
- Future Agenda Items: Parametric insurance discussion and a presentation from NYC Parks on tree canopy management were proposed for upcoming meetings.
Meeting Transcript
Now and we have to be prepared. Go to Miami.gov. Welcome to the City of Miami's Climate Resilience Committee for June 1st. We have a packed agenda, and uh the most people here that we've seen in a long time. So thank you for your attendance. All right, we'll get started with a roll call from our right. Good evening, Grant Muster. Allison Weinstock. Saray Perez. Aaron DeMeyo. Wayne Pathman, Pathman Law. Avery Chain. Thank you. Nick Atkison, City Attorney's Office. Hi, Sonia Brewbaker, Chief of Silence Officer for the City of Miami. Mayor Flores for the Office of Results Sustainability. Welcome, Nick. And um and thank you to Gigi, who is uh still here with us this evening, but has served us for a while now. So thank you so much for all your service and help. So we'll move to uh item two, which is public comment, uh which is limited to two minutes per person. If anyone here would like to make a public comment, please approach the question. Hello, good evening. Um, I'm Katrina Morris. I live in Coconut Grove. Um, and I'm asking that the CRC gets involved with the tree uh committee for chapter 17. Um some oversight would be greatly appreciated. Um I'm also really happy to to look at the the greenways and the sponge parks. Um I think these are real, you know. I think that green infrastructure at this point. Um the the verdict is in, the studies have been done. Green infrastructure is cost effective and um creates benefits for humans' mental and physical health, and um really helps in an urban environment to keep us, you know, breathing and drinking clean water and not flooding and not having runoff into our uh bay every time it rains. So I appreciate the work you're doing. Thank you, Katrina. And just one moment, we'll do another roll call for Silvio, please. Silvio Pupo Casco. Thanks. Uh good evening, Chairman, members of the board. My name is Mel Meinhardt. I live at uh on Virginia Street, but I'm here representing Friends of the Commodore Trail, which is the five and a half miles of potholes and death-defying crosswalks through Coconut Grove. But we've also been an active uh participant in the Greenways uh registration that you're going to have that you're going to hear from today. But it um we are supportive, but we want to make I'm here today. We're very supportive of the of the effort. But I want to make it very clear, and I would like the board to ask the city staff to make sure that on the record we have some very clear understanding of what is involved, especially with respect to NCD three, that's coconut grove. We have worked with city staff to ensure, we hope to ensure that the upzoning or the additional bonus height that is part of the greenway's program has been cut out of the NCD 3 T5 and below uh measures so that we are protecting Coconut Grove from being upzoning. We understand there's a trade-off that we won't receive funding from that program, but that's an active piece that we're doing. I ask then that you ask the city staff to describe exactly where within the coconut grove area, NCD 3, that upz that bonus height would be available under the T6 provisions of that uh of the proposal. So we're asking, we understand that the bonuses are available only in T6, which is a very limited set of properties, and we expect then that they'll be able to produce a map that shows where that is, and those areas we expect are already in areas which have very high buildings and are fully built out already. And those areas we expect are already in areas which have very high buildings and are fully built out already. So we were most important is the priorities throughout the city of Miami to protect the local neighborhood character. Because if we lose the local neighborhood character, then what's the point of all these build of all this good intention anyway?
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