Monroe County Resilience Projects Press Forward Across the Florida Keys

Monroe County Chief Resilience Officer Rhonda Haag is pursuing a $22 million grant application for Flagler Avenue while simultaneously advancing canal restoration work at Geiger Key and Key Largo, painting a picture of a resilience program moving on multiple fronts despite a persistent gap between available grant funding and local county dollars.

Haag recently presented current and upcoming projects to Key Largo Rotary Club President Stephanie Russo and club members, and later appeared on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM's Good Morning Keys to detail the county's funding strategy. "We just don't have the local county funds to help supplement these projects," Haag said. "That's why we're setting up this new program where we hope that residents can help supplement any differentials between the grants we get, but we're still trying for the grants. This is a $22 million grant we're putting in this week for Flagler Avenue. We don't want to slow down our grant applications, because we want to rely 100% on grants, if possible."

Canal restoration remains one of the program's most active fronts. The county's approach combines organic muck removal, backfill, and air curtain technology to reduce stagnant dead zones, improve oxygen levels, and restore marine habitat in waterways that have long suffered from poor water quality. At Geiger Key, Haag described a cluster of roughly five interconnected canals where the county intends to apply for design funds to execute a combination of muck removal and air curtain installation. In Key Largo, a separate backfill project is planned in close proximity to an ongoing jetty repair, with the air curtain to be installed as part of that same construction effort.

Haag indicated that at least one community has already cleared the engagement hurdle. "We've already met with those residents, and they voted yes to go forward," she said, referring to an organic muck removal, backfill, and air curtain project awaiting grant funding.

The canal prioritization work itself has been reshaped by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant that funded analysis of data gaps and changes to the state Department of Environmental Protection's dissolved oxygen methodology. Results from that grant showed a reduction in the number of canals classified as "poor" throughout the Keys, prompting the county to re-rank its restoration project list accordingly.

On the infrastructure side, Monroe County is using updated Unified Regional Sea Level Rise Projections, adopted by the Board of County Commissioners from the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, as the technical foundation for its Roads Adaptation Study, which is currently underway. Haag acknowledged the state's recent appointment of a new chief resilience officer, noting his background leading the resilient Florida program and the county's existing working relationship with him.

Canal update meetings are scheduled for March 17 and March 19; details are posted at monroecounty-fl.gov/calendar. Additional information on the county's resilience initiatives is available at monroecounty-fl.gov/resilience.