ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — St. Pete Beach residents who live in the lowest lying neighborhood on the island plan to voice their concerns at a city commission meeting on Tuesday about frequent tidal street flooding which remains unaddressed, according to Don CeSar Property Owners Corporation board member Kathy Garchow.
“Our message really is simple,” she said. “We just want to have passable roads on an everyday basis.”
Garchow said she wants to see fewer studies and more action. Last week, she wrote a letter to city leaders outlining her concerns for the Don CeSar neighborhood which include flex valve maintenance, repairing spillway seawalls and working with the Florida Department of Transportation to address street flooding issues caused by the Bayway Bridge.
“I have personally experienced severe flooding, with impassable roadways 4 times in the last 8 months… We MUST insist you address our neighborhood immediately,” she stated. “This cannot wait. It is not a luxury to maintain infrastructure and roads, but a basic necessity of living in this city.”
Other residents plan to write letters and speak out during the public comment section of the city commission meeting, according to Garchow. The DCPOC board member pointed out the city completed a study 4 years ago which called for many of the same flood mitigation ideas which have not yet been fully implemented.
“We’re in 2024 and there has been no implementation or action plans,” she said. “Turn it into some action plans that we can start implementing in a phased approach based on affordability.”
Garchow said residents are upset they’re entering into another hurricane season with a leaky spillway which fills the intersection at E. Maritana Dr. and 36th Ave. with seawater during high tide. Resident Roger Steel wrote an email to Public Works Director Mike Clarke about the spillway.
“Can we have a honest answer of when construction will actually start and what the hold-up really is?” he asked. “We have been waiting for these fixes for many years and there always seems to be something that holds things up and it’s not the budget.”
Director Clarke responded, stating the design permit was not approved by the State Department of Environmental Protection. Modifications are being done and it will take at least 8 months to go through the state permitting process.
“We have absolutely no control over their timelines,” he stated. “Bottom line, we are going through another hurricane season without the wall being replaced.”
FDOT spokesperson Kris Carson said the agency will be replacing backflow preventers at the bottom of the Bayway Bridge and moving them further inland. Carson said the current backflow preventers have been likely stuck in the open position.
“The plans are about ready to be implemented for Barcelona and Granada. These streets are lower in elevation than the mean high tide,” she stated. “We have been designing this project with the City of St. Pete Beach. It should start late summer.”
Clarke said Public Works has been actively engaged in a dozen flood mitigation projects which he plans to reveal during a District 3 town hall meeting on May 22.
“We’ll have some graphics and we’ll have some explanations and we’ll have some timelines and we’ll have the total picture,” he said. “Twelve different projects that are actually going on simultaneously and where we are with all of those projects and how they come together to raise the elevation of protection for the entire neighborhood.”
Clarke said the Don CeSar neighborhood will continue to flood until all of the seawalls have been raised up to 5 feet.
“Seawalls are the key, getting them up to 5 feet. There’s no way around it,” he said. “Our elected officials have great challenges to face. We’re looking at $100 million. Across the city just to start.”
The Public Works director said some items the department is working on for the Don CeSar neighborhood include new flex valves, modifying existing structures, building new outfalls, a living shoreline and designing the first storm water pump station.
“We are actively engaged every single day,” he said. “We are actively building next year’s budget right now. So, the conversation, it’s the perfect time to have it.”
Clarke did warn the budget is limited.
“Where are we going to find $50 million for the design of the Don CeSar neighborhood? Well, we’re not going to do that anytime soon,” he said. “So, we have to have this conversation about what are our other options? And that’s where our elected officials and our citizens need to be engaged and work with the city government to try and figure out what those solutions are.”
Clarke also happens to be a Don CeSar Place resident whose home was flooded by Hurricane Idalia.
“I got flooded out in August and I am still not back in my house,” he said. “So, I’m engaged.”