CRYSTAL BEACH — Pinellas County commissioners on June 16 cleared the way for a long-delayed $12.3 million project to ease chronic flooding in this small Gulf Coast community, approving the county’s roughly $6.16 million share of the cost.
The unanimous vote unlocks a Florida Department of Environmental Protection Resilient Florida grant expected to cover the other half of the work, which has been planned in some form for 18 years. Crystal Beach, an unincorporated area west of Palm Harbor, relies on the county for infrastructure improvements.
The project will assess drainage problems and overhaul the existing system while also upgrading roads and the potable water supply, said Kelli Hammer Levy, the county’s public works director. “The project proposes to improve rainfall flood resiliency and stormwater runoff water quality in the area,” she said. It will run from Crystal Beach Avenue to Florida Boulevard and from St. Joseph Sound to Avery Bayou.
Pinellas County Public Works first drew up preliminary plans for Crystal Beach in 2008, but rising infrastructure costs left the work unfunded, the county told the state in its grant application. Hurricane Ian’s 2022 storm surge sharpened the need, though money remained scarce.
The area is significantly low-lying and floods regularly during seasonal rains and major storms, according to the application, which reported at least three flooding events in the past five years. Some residents keep sandbags at their garage doors nearly year-round, not just during big storms.
The design calls for a network of inlets, pipes, swales and shallow ditches to carry runoff away from homes, yards and streets, along with treatment before that water reaches coastal waters. Deep ditches would be replaced with grassed or planted bioswales — or bioswales built over pipe — that the county says will improve both stormwater management and roadway safety. The bioswales are designed to drain within 72 hours of a rainfall and to filter runoff before it discharges to St. Joseph Sound, Avery Bayou or nearby rights-of-way.
Roadwork would include milling and resurfacing, asphalt and base restoration, shell restoration, sidewalk repairs, new sidewalks and an 8-foot trail.
For water quality, the design relies on Biosorption Activated Media — a soil amendment made from natural and recycled materials that boosts pollutant removal — and nature-based features such as swales planted with native grasses and other Florida-friendly vegetation.
The county also pledged to preserve the community’s “Old Florida” character and natural features, including Live Oak Park, the Gulf Shore Park path and mangrove and estuary habitats. Officials expect more tree and vegetation coverage, which they say will reduce erosion, add shade and expand wildlife habitat. Any trees removed for new infrastructure would be replaced under the county’s tree mitigation policy.
Officials also say the work will protect water quality at Crystal Beach Spring, an offshore spring that bubbles up from the Gulf floor about 200 meters from shore and feeds more than 4,000 feet of mapped underwater passages. Divers consider the cave system extremely dangerous for anyone without advanced training.
The project carries regional benefits, the county told the state, by reducing flood risk to five sanitary pump stations and limiting the stormwater that seeps into sewer manholes and the broader wastewater system.
County staff are also exploring a living shoreline in partnership with Tampa Bay Watch, with a planned oyster reef and tidal marsh vegetation to curb erosion, stabilize the shoreline and improve water quality.