For more than 50 years, the Agency on Bay Management (ABM) and its predecessor organizations have led the effort that transformed a bay in distress into an international success story. Now, with the growing recognition that Tampa Bay is not alone in facing the cumulative challenges of climate change and rapid population growth, the agency has voted to expand its borders north to Hernando County and south to Sarasota. The change was unanimously approved by the full Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.

The changes include a new name, the Agency on Bay and Coastal Management (ABCM), along with multiple organizational changes that will impact the way meetings are run. “We have environmental challenges that transcend boundaries,” said Alana Todd, TBRPC principal environmental planner and staff to the ABCM.

The expansion now includes Hernando and Citrus counties and the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, as well as many of the beaches that border the Gulf of Mexico. “The ABM has been doing a phenomenal job and it’s great to bring everybody together to address issues that affect us all,” said Woody Brown, mayor of Largo and vice chair of the ABCM.

Those counties and many of their beach communities already are members of the TBRPC, notes Wren Krahl, TBRPC executive director. “What happens in those estuaries and coastal zones impacts us too.”