The resilience planning money from the state will do more than what many cities and counties are still doing — which is looking at where they are vulnerable, said Alison Higgins, the city's sustainability coordinator.
"They didn't get beyond what we as a two-by-four island already know — it's not the stretch for the imagination to be like, 'Oh, that spot, that spot and that spot.' I've been taking pictures of king tides for a decade now," she said.
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Key West will take that information and break it out into chapters, with details on how to protect, adapt or rebuild in different areas.
"It's more about really doing a deep dive into not only 'Oh, that spot's low,' but what can be done about it, here's a couple different options and then what are the pricing on those options," she said.
Higgins says the city wants to make sure the adaptations are flexible for the future as seas rise even higher. So a seawall that might need to be 8 feet high eventually would only be a few feet now — but the base would be wide enough to allow the higher structure.
And Higgins said the plan will be reviewed every five years.
