Coral Gables is a city southwest of downtown Miami, Florida, that spans over 47 miles of coastline and waterways. The city currently has a population of over 50,000 and is home to the University of Miami. Coral Gables is part of a region that is widely considered one of the more vulnerable areas in the United States to the impacts of sea level rise due to terrain, extensive coastline, and porous limestone bedrock.
Due to its vulnerability, Coral Gables is developing short and long-term strategies to improve the city’s resilience. On August 25, 2015, under the leadership of Mayor Jim Cason, the city signed on as an official partner of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact. The goal of the compact is to coordinate mitigation and adaptation activities across county lines. Under the leadership of current Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli, the city is in the process of finalizing a Sustainability Master Plan that includes proposed mitigation projects for city operations and an inventory of the overall community wide and government operations greenhouse gas emissions for calendar year 2013 and 2017.
Coral Gables is in the process of finalizing a sea level rise vulnerability assessment which aims at collecting data and identifying critical city infrastructures such as flood gates, outfalls, storm and sewer pump stations, buildings, habitats, and connections to vital services and resources that are susceptible to future hurricane and sea level rise scenarios. In addition to the vulnerability assessment, the City has also developed LIDAR risk maps (accurate to 4 in) looking at critical infrastructure (buildings, pump stations, roads, bridges, schools, etc.) elevation that could be vulnerable to sea level rise to develop adaptation & mitigation strategies. The City, in partnership with the FIU Sea Level Rise Solutions Center, is installing tidal and sediment elevation gauges in our most vulnerable areas to collect real time localized tide data that can be used in the future to assist in making adaptation and mitigation decisions.
Coral Gables also drafted a white paper that provides a comprehensive overview of the various sea level rise adaptation policy options available to the City and details key legal considerations and implications surrounding those various adaptation options, including: financing options available under Florida law, various regulatory and market-based tools available (and municipal liability risks associated with each), and the need for updating local governments’ comprehensive plans.
In 2010, Coral Gables created a Sustainability Advisory Board with the purpose of promoting environmental sustainability for the city, as a way of living and conducting business to ensure a quality of life for the future generations. More recently in 2016, the City established a Waterways Advisory Board which provides recommendations and insights into canal and shoreline maintenance and recommendations with regards to sea level rise.
More information on Coral Gables sea level rise initiatives can be found at www.coralgables.com/sealevelrise.
