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St. Augustine Beach presents citywide vulnerability assessment to guide stormwater, capital projects
Summary
City staff and consultants presented a Resilient Florida–funded vulnerability assessment that maps flooding under 25+ scenarios, identifies 279 critical assets and will feed a 2026 adaptation plan and the city's capital improvement project list.
City of St. Augustine Beach city engineer Jason Sparks and consultants from Jones Edmonds presented the final citywide vulnerability assessment on June 2, 2025, saying the study will inform the city's capital improvement project plan and help target grant-funded adaptation projects.
The assessment was developed under a Resilient Florida grant and, consultants said, complies with the relevant provision of Florida law referenced in the presentation. "The project goal is to complete this vulnerability assessment that satisfies the FDEP's Resilient Florida program guidelines and state statute," said Mark Nelson, vice president with Jones Edmonds.
Jones Edmonds and city staff identified 279 critical community assets inside the city limits and ran more than 25 flooding scenarios required by statute plus additional cases for prioritization. Consultants described two major modelling components: nuisance and high-tide ("sunny day") flooding driven by tidal boundaries and long-term sea-level rise, and rainfall-induced flooding driven by an updated, citywide stormwater model.
Jason Sparks said the updated stormwater model now extends across the entire city and includes roughly four times as many basins as the previous model. The model was checked against a verified rainfall event in October 2023 (about nine inches over two days, roughly a 25-year, 24-hour event) and matched observed inundation on Second Avenue, consultants said.
Consultants said they used NOAA sea-level guidance and curves to define current and future high-tide boundaries and applied intermediate-low and intermediate-high sea-level-rise projections for 2040 and 2070. The presentation explained a rating system that combines flooding frequency, the asset's sensitivity to depth, and community impact to prioritize adaptation projects. "We assign each of the assets a priority rating of highest, high, medium, low, or not vulnerable," a consultant said.
City staff and Jones Edmonds described the next step as a separate, fully grant-funded adaptation plan (the team said the city was awarded $70,000 for adaptation planning) that will translate prioritized vulnerabilities into grant-ready capital projects. Sparks said the adaptation plan products are expected to be included in the city's 2026 CIP and that staff have time in the work plan to refine priorities before the adaptation plan begins.
During public comment, Doug Conkey of the St. Johns River Water Management District emphasized the growing frequency of high-tide flooding and urged continued partnership. "High-tide flooding has increased 50% since February," Conkey said, noting the district's readiness to support local response.
City staff and consultants said the vulnerability assessment could also point to code or permitting changes for stormwater review and that the assessment should be updated periodically; consultants suggested an update interval of roughly every five to 10 years as science and conditions change.
The commission did not take a formal vote at the presentation. Consultants will finalize the public report and staff said they will use results to develop the separate adaptation plan and prioritize projects for grant applications in the 2026 cycle.
