DUNEDIN — City commissioners again heard that Army Corps of Engineers permitting is holding up waterside repairs to the Dunedin Marina, even as work on the landside advances.
Clayton Watkins, director of utilities and engineering, updated the City Commission on restoration of the marina’s bulkheads, seawall and floating docks — infrastructure that sustained extensive damage from two hurricanes in 2024.
Crews cannot start construction seaward of the shoreline until the Army Corps issues permits, Watkins said.
“We didn’t want to mess with anything in the water, since we are still waiting on the Army Corps,” he told commissioners. “We did receive some comments in late March and responded to them in early April, so we’re waiting to hear back.”
One comment required a seagrass survey, which set the response back a couple of weeks because the surveys are allowed only during a specific window, he said.
Despite the wait, the city has ordered equipment with long lead times, including electrical panels, floating docks and gangways.
On the landside, the contractor has driven all the pilings along the eastern seawall and is cutting and removing the old concrete cap while backfilling behind the new sheet pile wall, Watkins said. Remaining work there includes forming and pouring a new concrete cap and installing a stormwater drainage system at the edge of the parking lot to keep runoff from collecting against the old wall.
“We’re also looking at installing wooden pile fenders that will sit outside the wall and (provide) a little bit of protection,” he said. That work would be followed by new sidewalks, curbs, parking and drive-aisle paving.
On the north bulkhead, new sheet piles are in place, and the pilings have been driven to height and coated against corrosion because they were not pre-coated, Watkins said. Remaining work on that wall includes pouring a concrete cap and installing helical tieback anchors on the new and existing structure. The city chose to repair rather than fully replace that section because it is smaller than the east wall, he said. Wooden fender piles will then be driven in front of the wall, topped by a new sidewalk.
Helical tieback anchors are long steel shafts fitted with screw-like plates that are driven deep into the ground, often diagonally, to anchor retaining walls and shoring systems and provide lateral support.
Watkins also outlined a change order for the floating docks. As crews worked through docks A and B, the city decided to relocate planned electrical conduits to run between the two docks rather than nearer dock A, and to add more conduits. A new force main for pump-outs will be installed, along with new water and fire lines.
The contract calls for substantial completion of the bulkhead work by June 1 and final completion by June 30, but the contractor’s latest schedule pushes those dates to Aug. 25 and September, respectively. The project is behind its original timeline because pile driving went slower than the contractor anticipated, Watkins told Commissioner Robert Walker.
At the fishing pier, the contractor is finishing seawall repairs, and demolition of the decking and railing is complete. The timber piles will be removed during construction.
The city’s consultant is preparing the permit submittal package for docks A and B, targeting mid-June, after which the city expects a pre-application meeting with the Army Corps.
“We want them to understand we are doing multiple projects at the same time, so we don’t want any confusion with another project submitted inside the marina,” Watkins said.
He said the city will keep the fishing pier permit separate from the dock A permit, which will fold in the revisions in the marina master plan so future phases need only a quick permit modification. The consultant is also assembling a list of marinas for city officials to tour in July and August to evaluate dock systems and technologies for the final design. A master plan update is planned for August or September.
A purchase order for solar-powered commercial dock lighting has been approved. The city also received a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to replace the old bump-out and is awaiting a final draft from the state.
City Manager Jennifer Bramley stressed that the marina remains open during the overhaul.
“The marina is open and operating right now. There are vessels going in and out,” she said. “It’s out there in the community that it is closed, and it is not.”
Docks A and B will need to close when they are under construction, she said, but the marina has been operating for a year and a half.