The City of Coral Springs has practiced sustainability from its inception as a master-planned community. The City’s Sustainability Action Plan (SAP) emphasizes the commitment to its current and future residents, businesses, and staff. The SAP consists of 30 strategic objectives that enhance sustainability through a multi-dimensional approach that includes viewing sustainability through operational, financial, and environmental lenses. The SAP is a city-wide strategy to be implemented by local government, community partners, and residents. The objectives are focused on reducing local greenhouse gas emissions which cause climate change, managing resources wisely, enhancing operations, and promoting environmental awareness.
Partners
The success of a sustainable Coral Springs is dependent on its partners. Partnerships enable open discussion and cross-collaboration to amplify the message of sustainability and create solutions to problems.
Some of the city’s local partners include:
- Neighborhood and Environmental Committee
- Broward Leaders Resilience Roundtable
- Sustainability Stewards of Broward
Defining Sustainability
The term “sustainability” has been a buzzword such as the terms “eco-friendly” and “green.” Sustainability has also been synonymous with environmental sustainability. However, sustainability is more than a buzzword, and since humans and the natural world are interconnected, sustainability focuses on more than just the environment. In essence, sustainability ensures that we respect people and living things while we utilize our environmental, social, and economic resources wisely with the purpose of sustaining and promoting the long-term well-being of the society, environment, and the organization.
Financial Sustainability
The city practices financial integrity and long term-sustainability by ensuring that city expenditures are strategically linked to the goals, objectives, core values, and existing obligations of Coral Springs. To maintain financial sustainability, the city utilizes a five-year forecast4 to reshape the financial trajectory. The forecast helps form a plan to fund upcoming costs and long-term liabilities. This is achieved by long term financial decisions, controlling the growth of expenditures, forecast modeling with various optimal and dismal scenarios, and adhering to the financial and investment policies for all city funds. The city prides itself in outstanding service levels and AAA bond ratings. Bond ratings signal to the market that the City of Coral Springs is a low-risk investment; therefore, it grants the city lower interest rates on any borrowing and lower payments on general obligation bonds.
Operational Sustainability
The city practices operational sustainability through intentional, strategic, and proactive steps to strengthen operations and enhance efficiencies. The city addresses aging infrastructure, replacement plans, and seeks grant opportunities. The city focuses on the sustainability of the workforce by identifying labor trends, addressing employee engagement efforts, and by incorporating innovative incentives to reward the core values that support the vision of the community. As the city evolves, the Capital Improvement Plan is updated annually to adjust for changing capital needs and changes in availability and cost of funds. Each project that is proposed is analyzed to determine its financial impact on operations, operating expenditures, and revenues. Each project that is confirmed undertakes a strict review to reduce subjectivity to ensure that projects are prioritized on a citywide perspective. The city’s performance is assessed through a performance management system to align department services and programs with the City Commission’s strategic goals. The system enables departments to measure results against targets and make timely adjustments when results fall short of expected performance levels.
Environmental Sustainability
The city’s commitment to environmental sustainability is highlighted through the establishment of the Office of Sustainability. Additionally, the city’s preservation of natural areas such as parks and ESLs signal the importance of preserving habitat for wildlife. Furthermore, the City of Coral Springs is proud to be a Tree City USA and has held its position for the past 30 years. The community’s hard work in expanding gardening for Florida wildlife is evident through the recognition of the city as a Community Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. Reducing the energy consumption of buildings in the City of Coral Springs is a priority, which is why all development coming into the city is encouraged to build green by practicing green building standards. Year-round water conservation measures to protect water resources are practiced through landscape irrigation restrictions.
The vision of the City of Coral Springs is to be the premier community in which to live, work and raise a family. In pursuing its vision, the city is committed to achieving it in a sustainable manner. A sustainable Coral Springs takes into consideration its people, the planet, and its prosperity through a multi-dimensional approach. Coupled with the city’s approach, the 30 objectives captured within each of the four focus areas, the SAP complements the city’s strategic, business, and comprehensive plans, each with the goal of making strategic, long-lasting decisions that will benefit the city for years to come.
The SAP is a dynamic and adaptable plan that will continue to evolve as the city gains access to cutting-edge information, new data, and best practices. The evolution of the SAP is necessary to ensure that the city is flexible and maintains long-term processes that can be sustained over time. In addition, the SAP captures existing sustainability practices and policies through the Sustainability Inventory that will help to track their impact over time. At the center of the SAP is the first Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory that tracks the community’s GHG emission sources and quantifies emissions to manage GHG risks and identifies reduction opportunities. The GHG Inventory plays a key role in understanding trends in emissions and removals, developing mitigation measures, and monitoring progress towards policy goals.
The SAP consists of two overarching goals that will be met through the four focus areas, each with goals and objectives for Local Government Operations (LGO) and the community.
Overarching Goals
- Net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the 2019 baseline by 2030
- Ensure sustainability of all programs, projects, and policies though the three lenses of sustainability
SAP Focus Areas
- Energy and Innovation
- Greening the Built Environment
- Resource Management and Conservation
- Economic and Community Vitality
The development and reevaluation of the SAP is an interactive process. After the goals are met, the cycle begins again. This ensures that the city is always redefining, reevaluating, and reassessing sustainability processes, practices, and policies. It’s important to note that the entire process involves communicating to all stakeholders.
The plan was developed by the City’s Office of Sustainability with support from City Elected Officials, Senior Leadership, Sustainability Liaisons, and the Coral Springs community.
The first step in developing the SAP was to establish a shared definition of sustainability. The shared definition helped to align all stakeholders in what sustainability meant for the City of Coral Springs. The next step was to engage multiple stakeholders to receive robust input for the SAP. After the input from stakeholders was gathered and assessed, the plan was developed. The next step of the plan involves tracking the goals and objectives through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Development Timeline
- February 2021: The Office of Sustainability was proposed during Strategic Planning.
- June 2021: The Strategic and Business Plans were presented to the City Commission.
- September 2021: The FY2022 budget to include the Office of Sustainability was adopted by the City Commission and made effective October 1, 2022.
- December 2021: The city’s first Sustainability Manager was hired.
- January 2022: Senior leadership selected a Sustainability Liaison from each department. Data was gathered for inventories.
- February – March 2022: Sustainability Liaisons developed the SAP’s focus areas, goals, and objectives.
- April 2022: Residents provided their feedback for the SAP.
- April 2022 – August 2022: The Office of Sustainability developed the SAP.
- September 2022: The SAP is adopted by the City Commission.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Statement
The City of Coral Springs invests holistically and considers what matters most by holding true to its values, vision, and mission. Therefore, the City of Coral Springs does not invest in fossil fuel or firearms stocks. The city’s investment adviser, Public Trust Advisors, works to ensure the city’s portfolio is diverse and includes environmental, social, and governance factors into its investments.
A Message from Our Investment Adviser
As the City of Coral Springs’ investment adviser, Public Trust Advisors views ESG investing as the inclusion of measurable non-financial environmental, social, and governance factors into our investment analysis process. Public Trust takes into consideration the social, economic, and environmental impacts of all purchasing and sourcing decisions for the city’s portfolio, and monitors adherence to our ESG and Sustainability practices daily. In line with the United Nation’s adopted SDG’s (Sustainable Development Goals), “Procurement is called sustainable when it integrates requirements, specifications, and criteria that are compatible and in favor of the protection of the environment, of social progress and in support of economic development, namely by seeking resource efficiency, improving the quality of products and services, and, ultimately, optimizing costs.” While Public Trust considers ESG adherence as part of our investment process, ultimately permitted investments are guided by the city’s investment policy and Florida State Statutes which narrows the investment options for the city to very high-quality investments backed by the US Government and financial institution debt which have a limited impact on factors critical to sustainability and ESG impact investing.
Sustainability is embedded in various policies and is practiced across city departments. In addition to practicing sustainability the City of Coral Springs prides itself in being transparent and publishes performance data in the Community Dashboard. Measuring the progress and success of programs, projects, and initiatives though KPIs helps the City stay on track and better manage assets. The SAP contains two inventories: the Sustainability Inventory and the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory.
The Sustainability Inventory highlights programs, plans, projects, and processes from each department that practice sustainability through one or more of the lenses of sustainability (operational, financial, and environmental). The GHG Inventory measures greenhouse gas emissions produced from the community and includes a “drill-down” from local government operations from the usage of electricity, solid waste generation, water and wastewater treatment, and transportation. Identifying a baseline year for the GHG Inventory is essential in helping to measure the progress of programs and projects. The baseline year that was chosen for the SAP was 2019 because it was the most recent non-COVID-19 year.
Greenhouse Gas Inventory
Keeping track of our GHG emissions though the GHG Inventory is essential in meeting our overarching goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and halving our emissions by 2030. The GHG Inventory measures greenhouse gases produced from the community. The GHG emissions inventory also includes a local government operations (LGO) inventory that is a “drill down” of the community inventory. The inventory calculates the various GHG emissions in a common unit, CO2e. It signifies the amount of CO2 which would have the equivalent global warming impact from activities and different types of emissions, known as scopes. Learn more about greenhouse gases
Activities/Sources that Emit GHGs
- Stationary energy use (related to burning of fossil fuels)
- Mobile fuel use from vehicles and from off-road equipment (related to burning of fossil fuels)
- Solid waste combustion and decomposition (related to burning of fossil fuels and related to other activities that emit GHGs)
- Wastewater treatment (related to other activities that emit GHGs)
Emission Types:
- Scope 1 are direct emissions from onsite combustion and mobile sources.
- Scope 2 are indirect emissions resulting from electricity consumption.
- Scope 3 are all other indirect emissions (exported waste, out-of -boundary transportation, etc.).
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are responsible for trapping heat in the atmosphere and keeping the Earth warm. The main GHGs are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and fluorinated gases. For each GHG, a Global Warming Potential (GWP) was developed to compare the global warming impact of different gases. Gases with higher GWP absorb more energy and contribute more to the warming of the Earth. The primary GHG is CO2 and is primarily emitted from human activities. Human activities are responsible for GHG emissions and climate change, thus focusing on reducing our GHG emissions will help to mitigate climate change and reduce its associated risks.
Community GHG 2019 Baseline Total CO2e: 687,771 metric tons CO2e
The total estimated CO2e for the 2019 calendar year resulting from the Coral Springs Community was 687,771 metric tons of CO2e. With the majority of CO2e coming from the transportation sector, followed by the combined energy sectors (commercial and residential). With minimal CO2e from the solid waste and water and wastewater sectors and a negligible CO2e from the industrial energy sector.
Our community’s GHG Inventory follows the trends from the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact 2015 Regional GHG Inventory. Where the majority of GHG emissions come are from the transportation and energy sectors.
Total CO2E (Metric Tons) From Each Sector and Scope for the City of Coral Springs
|
Scope
|
Sector
|
CO2e (metric tons)
|
|
Scope 1
|
Transportation & Mobile Sources
|
379,825
|
|
Scope 1
|
Water & Wastewater
|
2,847
|
|
Scope 2
|
Commercial Energy
|
126,542
|
|
Scope 2
|
Industrial Energy
|
0
|
|
Scope 2
|
Residential Energy
|
163,503
|
|
Scope 3
|
Solid Waste
|
15,054
|
LGO GHG 2019 Baseline Total CO2e: 15,222 metric tons CO2e
The total estimated CO2e for the 2019 calendar year resulting from Local Government Operations was 15,222 metric tons of CO2e. With the majority of CO2e coming from the electricity used for buildings and facilities, followed by the fuel (diesel and gasoline) used for fleet. The remaining CO2e resulted from the electricity used for streetlights and traffic signals, the city’s water treatment facility, and the waste generated at city buildings and facilities.
Total CO2e From Each Sector and Scope for LGO
|
Scope
|
Sector
|
CO2e (metric tons)
|
|
Scope 1
|
Vehicle Fleet
|
2,891
|
|
Scope 2
|
Buildings & Facilities
|
8,793
|
|
Scope 2
|
Streetlights & Traffic Signals
|
1,522
|
|
Scope 2
|
Water & Wastewater Treatment Facilities
|
1,005
|
|
Scope 3
|
Solid Waste Facilities
|
1,011
|
Sustainability involves many systems; therefore, it involves all departments within the city and in the community. For this reason, the implementation of the SAP is a collaborative effort that includes multiple stakeholders. Overall support of projects and programs from elected officials, leadership, staff, and the community are crucial to continue cultivating a culture of sustainability.
The SAP is a living document that will evolve through the years, but Key Performance Indicators will be available to the community via the Community Dashboard as well as highlighting other sustainability initiatives practiced in the City of Coral Springs.
The Coral Springs Sustainability Action Plan (SAP) was made possible through the partnerships with the Coral Springs community, City Commission, senior management, and city staff.
Sustainability Liaisons:
- Alexander Hernandez, Building Department
- Casey Lee, Community Development Department
- Cecilia Wells, Public Works Department
- Chelsea Stahl, Financial Services Department
- Cybil Davillier-Barbanes, Building Department
- Dale Pazdra, City Manager’s Office
- Debra Hamilton, Communications and Marketing Department
- Fiorella Lavena, Coral Springs Museum of Art
- George Soberon, Code Compliance Department
- Georgia Elliot, City Clerk’s Office
- Jill Brown, Coral Springs Museum of Art
- John Whalen, Fire Department
- Justin Ellis, Parks and Recreation Department
- Kim Moskowitz, Financial Services Department
- Lydia Cutz, Human Resources Department
- Marissa Williams, Budget, Intergovernmental, Strategy, and Sustainability Department
- Ileana Petrone, Budget, Intergovernmental, Strategy, and Sustainability Department
- Nicole Giordano, Budget, Intergovernmental, Strategy, and Sustainability Department
- Paula Rubiano, Communications and Marketing Department
- Randy Rosenberg, Police Department
- Sophy Sollecito, Information Technology Department
- Yuu Soubra, Human Resources Department
City Commission:
- Mayor Scott Brook
- Vice Mayor Shawn Cerra
- Commissioner Nancy Metayer
- Commissioner Joshua Simmons
- Commissioner Joy Carter
City Leadership:
- Frank Babinec, City Manager
- Catherine Givens, Deputy City Manager
- Dale Pazdra, Deputy City Manager