Glades Region Master Plan Development and Implementation

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

In stark contrast to Palm Beach County’s eastern Atlantic coast with the wealthy Town of Palm Beach, is PBC’s western Lake Okeechobee coast, with low incomes, high unemployment and poverty rates, the norm. The western county is known as the Glades region, encompassing in excess of 25,000 acres. It has been, and still is predominantly rural with agriculture dominating its economy. As mechanization became the standard, jobs and spending waned, reflected by poverty rates as high at nearly 57% or 4.5, 3.5 and 3.8 times the County, State and U.S., respectively. The Glades Region Master Plan’s (GRMP) was developed during a three-year period and was the first and only comprehensive analysis of infrastructure, employment, goods and services in a distressed area of the County. The plan identified myriad issues, required actions and costs necessary to achieve a level of sustainability and resilience that would improve the region’s viability. Infrastructure improvements, new businesses and housing developments consistent with the plan, are being implemented, monitored and tracked. The result in less than 2-years since the plan was completed, are noteworthy, with capital investment totaling $168 million to date, resulting in 1,695 jobs and 1,164 housing units.