Scope of Work

Coastal wetlands provide essential direct livelihood services to millions of people, as well as critical regulating services such as maintenance of water quality, protection from storms and erosion, and carbon sequestration. Measuring the vertical movement of the coastal wetland surface and its constituent processes, and relative local sea-level rise (SLR) is necessary to determine whether a wetland can keep pace with SLR.

3 monitoring stations have been installed throughout the City waterways as a part of this project, with two of the stations including both tidal and sediment elevation (RSET-MH) monitoring: (1) Inland Coral Gables waterway, (2) coastal Coral Gables waterway, and (3) Matheson Hammock Park/Preserve.

Tidal & Water Level Monitoring

Each of the 4 sampling stations include a pressure gauge (Level Troll with conductivity and pressure sensors) that is installed and referenced to NAVD88 and to RSET benchmarks. Water level data are recorded at 15 minute intervals. Locations for tidal stations include Blue Road and Islands of Cocoplum along the Coral Gables waterway where water surface height near coast and inland, to detect potential differences due to rain and canal discharge between inland and outflow waterway locations, are monitored.

Mangrove forest water levels are monitored at each RSET site in Matheson Hammock Park and in Islands of Cocoplum mangrove forest areas (blue stars). As part of tidal station maintenance, pressure transducers are field checked with on-site water level measurements, desiccants checked and replaced as needed, and data downloaded monthly.

All 4 stations are set up with a telemetry system to obtain real-time data.

Sediment Elevation

Two sediment elevation monitoring sites have been established in mangrove forest areas. From the benchmark pipe, a RSET arm with 9 vertical pins is used to measure the height of the soil relative to the referenced benchmark (36 measurements total). SET measurements are conducted every 6 months. Feldspar marker horizons are established to assess vertical change in soil elevation due to deposition of sediments and organic materials. 

Actions taken by Coral Gables

For a copy of the city’s 2016 Vulnerability Assessment, please email manderson@coralgables.com.

Sustainability Management Plan

In 2015 the City began developing a Sustainability Management Plan that includes proposed projects for city operations and an analysis of the overall community. The City will use to guide its efforts over the next 10 years to make Coral Gables a more sustainable and resilient community. 

Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact 

On August 25, 2015 the City signed on as an official partner of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact that includes 26 other local municipalities from Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. The goal is of the compact is to coordinate mitigation and adaptation activities across county lines. The Compact represents a new form of regional climate governance designed to allow local governments to set the agenda for adaptation while providing an efficient means for state and federal agencies to engage with technical assistance and support.

Expanding and Maintaining our Tree Canopy

• Coral Gables has been designated as a Tree City USA for the past 32 years.
• Coral Gables has over 38,000 trees
• Tree Succession Plan- added 3,000 more trees and palms to our residential canopy.

Climate Resiliency Dialogue

In 2016 Coral Gables participated in a 5-week Climate Resilience Pilot project along with 4 other communities from around the country. The Climate Resilience Dialogues provided access to in-depth consultative dialogues with relevant climate and resilience experts to help support our City in our climate assessment and planning efforts. Experts provided excellent information and resources to incorporate into our sea level rise planning efforts such as which recommended forecasting models to use, locally appropriate adaptation strategies and funding mechanisms, strategies for community outreach and engagement, and information on upcoming workshops and webinars on climate adaption. The dialogues were in association with the White House Climate Action Champions. 

Sea Level Rise Impact

The Sea Level Impact assessment will collect data and identify critical city's infrastructure such as flood gates, outfalls, storm and sewer pump stations, buildings, habitats and connections to vital services and resources. The risk assessment will include king tides and storm surges and statistics and probabilities of their occurrence and be incorporated to the model SLOSH for the SLR levels. Scenarios will includes all hurricane categories analyses and results will be utilized to determine existing infrastructures impact.

In addition ICPR stormwater model will be created to be reflected at the existing GIS storm atlas. Finally an adaptation plan will be developed for each critical asset based on key attributes such as technical feasibility and economic impact, social and environmental factors. The adaptation scenarios will be reviewed and prioritized on the established risk and will also include the cost estimates.

Sustainability Advisory Board

In 2010 the city created a Sustainability Advisory Board (formerly known as the Green Task Force) whose purpose is promoting environmental sustainability for the city, as a way of living and conducting business to ensure a quality of life for the future generations.