Treasure Island officials working to protect against rising sea levels: 'Better to focus on it now'

TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. - The beautiful beaches are a big reason people visit the Tampa Bay Area and why they move here. Scientists, though, say the sea level along the Gulf Coast is rising faster than expected, which creates more risks to coastal communities, like Treasure Island.

Residents packed a room at Treasure Island’s City Hall on Friday as local leaders discussed a proposal to help protect against sea level rise.

"Tides will continue to rise and impact just general quality of life, travel on the roadway and ability to access your property," Justin Keller, President of Advanced Engineering and Design, said. "So, in order to make sure that that we can start to implement some of these improvements within the right of way, we recognize that private property plays a large impact," Keller said.

Keller said those improvements start with its program Elevate TI. The goal is to elevate the entire island by the year 2100.

"It's better to focus on it now than tomorrow. Admittedly, you know, the city understands some of the threats. They recognize the threats that they face now, and they understand the threats that are coming down the pike in the future. And so, really, what we have is we have a long-term plan, a plan that's going to protect us decades into the future," Keller said.

Friday’s discussion centered on possible code revisions that would let people elevate seawalls. Right now, Treasure Island is a no-fill city, which means whatever your grade is, you have to keep anything developed on your property at that elevation.

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"Property owners are going to have an opportunity to more or less protect themselves to a greater degree," Keller, who’s the engineer contracted by the city for the program, said.

"We have no choice," Jan Anseeuw, a Treasure Island resident of 15 years, said. "They have no choice. You can’t be underwater," he said. "I would think that it's the most important thing they can do because it kind of protects us towards the future, towards having a plan ahead of time, that we're dealing with before something else comes and really hits us like Fort Myers or south of us," Anseeuw said.

Keller said since all the properties on the island are unique, there won’t be a set standard for the height of seawalls.

"We provided a framework to where an applicant can come in, and review their project and provide the best case, type of structure, elevation that they can provide," Keller said.

Keller said if someone is putting a seawall in an existing home, it will average six to 18 inches tall. That’s compared to 19 to 30 inches for a newly built home. While higher seawalls will also help during severe storms, Keller said the main focus of the possible code changes is day-to-day life affected by sea level rise.

"What we're trying to do is we're trying to protect against higher tides that we see now and that we anticipate are going to be more frequent moving forward, to where right now, if we get roadway inundation, we recognize that has a property value impact, that has a quality of life impact … that's really what we're focusing on … it’s not so much the more severe events, but making sure that the day-to-day life that the citizens come to expect can be maintained as we move forward in a new environmental arena, if you will," Keller said.

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Anseeuw said he is slightly concerned that homes and seawalls at different elevations could cause water runoff from one home to drain into another’s yard, but thinks regulations could fix that.

City leaders will make a decision on possible seawall code changes in June or July.

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