Could Polk Growth Plan Review Deal With Future Hurricane Flood Prevention?

During recent commission meetings in Bartow and Lakeland, residents whose homes flooded were looking for answers and so were elected officials who were. well, deluged with questions about their future. It is an apt and well-timed question.
The flooding was the result of perhaps climate-change-fueled record rainfall in the Lakeland area-in fact, several times the normal amount for October–and homes located in lowlands.
In places like Lake Seward. which was a swimming hole in the 1950s, a 1996 consultant report prepared for the County Commission after an earlier wet period, made two main conclusions.
One was that the neighborhood was likely to flood repeatedly in the future.
The other was that any approach to deal with the problem was likely to be expensive.
In fact, none of the places where flooding occurred were that surprising. The only surprise was how far and fast the water rose.
County Commission Chairman Bill Braswell wondered if there were a way to include warnings accompanying sales, noting the unwary may buy land during dry periods with no warning that there will be times when they will need a boat to reach their homes.
There was also some discussion of documenting the extent of flooding this year to guide future development approval decisions.
There are also other factors at work.
They include sometimes outdated stormwater runoff facilities, changes in the amount and velocity of stormwater runoff as new roads rooftops and driveways replace natural habitat and the continued reliance on the alleged “pre-post match” engineering calculations for runoff from developed properties that sometimes seem to fall short.
Fortunately. these tragedies could not have come at a more opportune time for people living in unincorporated Polk County.
County planners and consultants are in the process of writing a major update to the county’s growth plan and development regulations.
Dealing with this issue should certainly be part of it.