In May, the city of Marathon announced it has received a $240,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection. The funds from the Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection will pay for a citywide vulnerability assessment and adaptation plan.
The project will help identify vulnerable critical and regional assets that may need further analysis for projects to adapt them, by the city or the responsible entity, in the future and make them more resilient. This will help the city focus on areas where more assets may be vulnerable than others, develop design criteria, prioritize adaptation investments, explore funding strategies and determine policy responses.
The plan will identify vulnerable areas and assets and an adaptation plan aimed at hardening. The grant will allow the city to hire consultants to formulate the assessments and adaptations that will hinge on geographical surveys being completed this year.
In 2021, the city of Marathon hired consultants to conduct a coastal resiliency study and adaptation plan for Coco Plum Beach. Flooding, sea level rise and storm action could result in everything from loss of power to environmental impacts for Coco Plum Beach. The study’s authors recommended action plans that outline ways to harden wastewater plants (such as moving infrastructure to higher ground and implementing stormwater management) as well as promote living shorelines that could lessen effects of wave action associated with storm surge and resulting damage to residences.
Using best-case scenarios drawn from the unified sea level rise projections prepared by the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, in less than 20 years (2040) mean sea level rises could be as much as 10 to 17 inches above the mean sea levels recorded in 2000.
“The city of Marathon wants to have a high-water plan already in place so that any action we take is measured and appropriate,” said Brian Shea, Marathon planning director.
In other news, the City of Marathon also received a $44,571 grant from the State Department of Health. The funds are to purchase equipment for Marathon Fire Rescue, and require an almost $5,000 contribution from the city.
Specifically, the grant will purchase an Epoc Reader and Phillips Tempus monitor. The first is a wireless blood analysis testing module, and the second is a special monitor that allows a medical director, or designee, the ability to access and assess this information remotely, while the patient is still in transit to a medical facility.
On average, Marathon Fire Rescue transports about 50 patients a month and the new equipment will enable the paramedics and firefighters to safely transport more critical patients to properly equipped medical facilities on the mainland.
“The equipment helps us exceed state standards by equipping and training the Critical Care Transfer Team, which consists of a combination of both EMTs and Paramedics, with specialized equipment to be utilized in transport of more critical patients from our rural/community access hospital to the proper receiving facility in Miami-Dade County,” said Marathon Fire Rescue Chief John Johnson.
The city takes a proactive approach to finding and securing funding for special projects. In 2022, the city has applied for $2.9 million in grants, with $338,000 in awards. The balance of the $2.9 is still in the review process with the different grantors.
