Community input needed for environmental project

A local stormwater park showcases sustainable water management, a prime example of green infrastructure in action.

Click here to read the article in the Miami Times

Miami Waterkeeper is currently in search of underutilized, open spaces to revitalize with green infrastructure according to community needs and needs suggestions from the public.

The initiative, known as the Green Infrastructure Accelerator Project, will implement nature-based solutions that work to reduce flooding, heat and habitat loss across Miami-Dade County. Those solutions can include living shorelines and streets, wetlands, urban forests and rain gardens, which collect stormfall and provide water filtration.

The locations will be chosen with the help of an interactive community input tool, which residents are being asked to use to suggest vulnerable areas and neighborhoods in the Black community for consideration. Recommendations can include parking lots or vacant lots, streets that lack shade, areas prone to flooding, schools, parks, trails, libraries and more.

Miami Waterkeeper is joined by several local resiliency groups to bring the project to fruition, including One Water Academy, the Everglades Law Center, the University of Miami’s College of Engineering and Environmental Justice Clinic and the People’s Economic and Environmental Group. It will be funded by an Environmental Protection Agency grant, while the Pisces Foundation has put forward the dollars to support community engagement efforts.

The community input tool was initially launched on Nov. 4 in El Portal, one of the locations under consideration for design.