St. Pete Beach NEW Flood Protection Stratagy is a Good Model for ALL Tampa Bay Communities
Story by STEVE TRAIMAN
A comprehensive water threats protection strategy soon to be implemented by St. Pete Beach could be an excellent model for all other Tampa Bay communities with waterfront flooding problems.
The strategy was initially proposed by SPB public works director Mike Clarke in February and city manager Alex Rey confirmed to Paradise News, “the commission approved a series of work orders for each area at a late April commission meeting.”
At that Feb. 9 commission meeting, Clarke said, “The city has to expand its approach to mitigate water threats that include all water sources. Through the years 2018 to 2020 there was a growing observation by many residents and staff that the city is experiencing increasingly higher localized flooding caused by natural phenomena occurrences, including abnormally high regular tides, king tides and sea level rise, and in some instances, flooding was exacerbated by rain events.
“Due to these observations, the city changed its policy in mid-2020 to prepare projects to mitigate flooding from bay tidal events, instead of localized flooding from rain events. The most recent data shows that it appears we have reached a pivot point of how we should proceed with our analysis of defending against tide-stormwater inundation and sea level rise.”
Rather than continue with historical parallel stormwater master planning efforts, he explained the new approach is to combine projects into one comprehensive water threats protection strategy, with three levels of urgency – a 5-year Capital Improvement Plan, 15 years out to 2035, and 30-plus years to 2050 and beyond. He suggested the new strategy to dealing with stormwater will allow the city to develop a comprehensive approach that can be implemented over time.
Clarke continued, “Engineers will track the flow of water to identify where and how it flows inland, and then develop mitigation strategies. In general, water will enter the inland portion of the island, thereby causing disruption by flowing through the existing stormwater conveyance system; it will surge over existing seawalls and other barrier structures, and it will flow through the Gulf sand dune system. It will back up in the existing conveyance system during extreme precipitation events.
NEW STRATEGY DETAILS
“As more information is analyzed and compiled, the city will still identify the location for recommended mitigation and its cost. Discussion will include the public and private responsibilities to bear those costs. The city’s long-term stormwater plan will be updated into a water threats protection strategy. The analysis will center on threats to the island including transportation mobility and access-egress, street flooding, critical infrastructure protection, and private property preservation.”
Clarke also told commissioners five geographical areas have been identified for study. “We should align our engineering analysis to these geographic areas,” he said, “and identify the sources and arrival points to engineer imaginative defensive strategies. Finally, defensive strategies in geographical proximities must be interconnected to provide a single comprehensive island strategy.”
Areas on the island earmarked for study in the 2021 fiscal year budget include: An expansion of the city’s initial study of street flooding in the Don CeSar and Boca Ciega Isle neighborhood … The northern section of the city will have a continuation of analysis from Madrid-CPWG and new task orders given to Kimley-Horn to study flooding issues … An ongoing seawall study conducted by Cardno will be expanded in Pass-A-Grille … Direct threats to Gulf Boulevard from the Gulf of Mexico will be studied by George F. Young, with a water surge and overtopping sand dune threat from the Gulf analyzed by Kimley Horn; the firm will map all FDEP permits that allow sand dune destruction … and research will also be conducted to assess water threat scenarios, and either validate existing seawall height requirements or make recommendations.
Clarke also suggested additional funding approaches should be explored including grants, fees, environmental bonds, private-public partnerships and others. Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 12 signed a bill that establishes the Resilient Florida Grant Program, available to local communities for flood and sea level mitigation. Options like this are included in the overall comprehensive water threats protection strategy, City Manager Alex Rey confirmed.
KEY ACTIONS CONFIRMED
At the April 27 meeting, commissioners approved several projects and studies, and necessary
funding, including:
- Amending the authorization of repairs to include concrete stormwater structures and inlets throughout the city.
- Authorizing performance of outfall cleaning and clearing/maintenance services for drains.
- Performing Boca Ciega Isle Drive stormwater improvements with Rowland Inc., for $251,527.41.
- Proactively replacing aging reclaimed water laterals beneath the roadways that are scheduled for replacement.
- Authorizing the utilization of the existing agreement with Rowland, Inc., to address current and future expenditures for emergency repairs on the city’s sanitary sewer system. Having a pre-authorized contractor mobilized to make the repairs increases the city’s responsiveness to address these issues.
- Authorizing the study of the comprehensive water threat of sea level rise (SLR), king tides, and storm activity as they impact transportation mobility, critical infrastructure operations, and private property. The Gulf sand beach will be addressed separately.
- The final reports will provide recommendations to protect the island from water threats and provide costs.
- The Commission approved the costs of water threats analysis task orders for: Cardno, Inc. for $49,989 … Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., for $49,550 … Madrid-CPWG Inc., for $49,998 … and Halff Associates, Inc., for $50,000.
Once the full study analysis is completed, all recommendations will be presented to the commission. At that time, additional community forums will be scheduled to discuss findings, recommendations, and plans.
MAYOR AL JOHNSON OVERVIEW
Commenting on the overall impact of the city’s new comprehensive water threats protection strategy, Mayor Alan Johnson told Paradise News, “The city of St. Pete Beach is a barrier island that is inherently susceptible to flooding from various sources. In the past our efforts at mitigation concentrated on our stormwater drainage system infrastructure.
“In recent years several of our neighborhoods have experienced ‘sunny day’ flooding caused by abnormally high tides. Occurring more frequently as sea levels rise, these ‘king tides’ are particularly problematic as the salt water is more damaging to lawns, shrubbery and vehicles than stormwater. Our response to this type of flooding is different than handling water from storms.
“In a continuing effort to be proactive, the city has changed its approach and is examining all ‘water threats’ together, regardless of source, and coordinating responses to these threats. This long-range view has the inherent advantage of creating a phased approach to address flooding sources in stages, along with changing conditions, spreading the cost of our response over multiple budget cycles.
“SPB has divided the city into several zones and has contracted with four consultants to address flooding in each of these areas, coordinating their results in a collaborative effort to arrive at the best path forward. We expect that some of the actions recommended by the team of consultants will be costly and require a long-term effort to implement. However, we are confident there will also be near-term projects that can be accomplished to begin addressing the various threats to the immediate benefit of our residents and businesses.
“Water will always be a concern to the city as much as it is a source of enjoyment to our lives here. We will continue to explore better ways to co-exist with this feature of our environment that helps make SPB such a special place to call home.
“We will share the results of our initiative with the many other waterfront communities that are experiencing similar problems.”
[Editor’s Note: Special thanks to St. Pete Beach Mayor Alan Johnson, City Manager Alex Rey, Public Works Director Mike Clarke and Public Information Officer Sarah Laracuente, and prior information from Tampa Bay Newspapers.]
[Feature editor Steve Traiman is president of Creative Copy by Steve Traiman, providing professional business writing services since 1993. He can be reached via email to traimancreativecopy@gmail.com or by phone to 727-363-7531.]