What will Gulf Breeze be like in 2030? Takeaways from the city’s five-year plan

Having assessed the desires of its residents, the city of Gulf Breeze has developed a five-year strategic plan focused heavily on addressing climate-related challenges while expanding recreational opportunities and celebrating a rich heritage.

In the foreword to its 2025-2030 Strategic Plan, author Joshua Smith notes that Gulf Breeze is in a time of transition, having initiated or completed many of the projects established in previous planning efforts.

The next five years the city should turn its attention from planning to implementation wrote Smith, a senior assistant with the city’s Administrative Services Department.

The new plan “aligns resiliency with waterfront revitalization, expanded public access and cultural stewardship, ensuring that infrastructure investments translate into visible, place-based outcomes along the city’s shorelines and in its neighborhoods.”

The strategic plan was developed, at least in part, based on input gleaned from a survey conducted last year. It found that city residents highly value the natural environment and recreational opportunities they enjoy. Those findings mimic similar opinions expressed in surveys conducted in 2021 and 2023.

In particular, the survey found Gulf Breeze residents value trails and hiking opportunities and the city’s water resources.

Another survey has been circulated alongside the draft strategic plan to obtain citizen input on the ideas put forward.

In an introduction to the printed plan, Gulf Breeze City Manager Samantha Abell contends that the city is in a good place to move forward with ideals laid out in what, when finalized, will be its second five-year planning document.

Through implementation of its first strategic plan, Abell wrote, the city was able to pull down $21.95 million in grant investments, and has already attracted another $27.8 million in grant funds “even before this next one is finalized.”

“That’s more than the previous five years combined,” Abell wrote.

Protecting shorelines and battling sea-level rise

One forward looking proposal that the city suggests as a way of protecting its shorelines and increasing public access to the water involves updating the Gulf Breeze stormwater master plan to incorporate protections against sea level rise, storm surge and rainfall intensity projections.

Another aspect would consider the expansion of “green infrastructure” such as bioswales, permeable surfaces and natural infrastructure areas, the strategic plan states. It also calls for enhancing mitigation planning for an outdated state highway stormwater system by incorporating up to date information to identify and address flood-prone areas.

Resilience efforts also call for initiating living shorelines and seagrass restoration projects to reduce erosion and increase water clarity.

The city wants to develop a dredging and sediment migration masterplan, create standard jetty permitting and design guidelines to support resilience and environmental protections. Under the master plan as written, Gulf Breeze would seek state and federal funding it will use to upgrade municipal buildings, utilities and public places to existing hurricane and resilience standards.

Highlighting Gulf Breeze’s cultural heritage

Between 2025 and 2030, the city would like to “strengthen community pride and heritage tourism by making Gulf Breeze’s history visible, accurate and participatory.”

The strategic plan author wrote that Gulf Breeze is a community whose documented settlement history dates back to 1828. It is an area once occupied by indigenous people and over the years a location oft visited by sailors and adventurers.

A first step toward recognizing the historic significance of the area would be through passage of a historic preservation ordinance. The strategic plan envisions establishing and staffing a Historic Preservation Commission and building and maintaining a repository for historic artifacts, possibly at a welcome center constructed on the green at Mariner’s Landing.

The city would also reach out to state and federal agencies in an effort to highlight the Naval Live Oaks Reservation as a “nationally significant historic and natural resource.”

A Gateway District

Under the new guidelines, the city would seek to amend its land use and development standards to encourage mixed use redevelopment, resilient construction practices and public access.

It considers linking redevelopment incentives to public benefits such as shoreline restoration, pedestrian access and heritage interpretation.

More: Septic to sewer transition doesn’t have to hurt, just ask Gulf Breeze

The city wants to establish its Shoreline Park South property as a living laboratory for environmental education, research and cultural history. Existing trails would be expanded, outdoor classrooms created and cultural and historical aspects integrated into recreational amenities.

Blueways encouraging trails for kayaking, paddleboarding and eco-tourism experiences would be incorporated along with shoreline and sea grass restoration efforts.

In concluding the outline of the strategic plan, the author writes the hope of those undertaking the next steps for the city seek “to position Gulf Breeze to grow thoughtfully, while protecting what makes it unique.”

“By aligning resiliency, waterfront revitalization and heritage preservation through adopted planning tools, the city will strengthen its identity, safeguard its shoreline and ensure a high quality of life for future generations,” the strategic plan states.