Item 32 appears on the consent portion of the agenda, which normally means there’s no discussion, but if there was a betting market for it you could retire betting this one gets pulled. The project is now branded as the Resilient South Howard Flood Relief project. While this project has been in the works for years, after the hurricanes and flooding in and around the Parkland Estates neighborhood—coupled with the proposed route down Howard Ave, it has taken on a life of its own pitting neighbors and neighborhoods against each other. While council ultimately approved the $7 million for design, approval of the final project is precarious. When the first preliminary work phase was presented to council in October, council declined to approve the funding under that project name and contract. Ultimately it was bifurcated and approved at their final meeting in December on an unrelated contract that happened to be the same design firm and contractor.

Prior to that, during public comment, consultant Victor DiMaio representing Bern’s Steakhouse and Epicurean Hotel, notified council they intended to formally oppose permits being issued by the state for the project. “Something we’re going to do—forced to do is as intervenors applying to the agencies, as the city applies for the permits, to oppose the permit being issued. Until we can reach an agreement.” He noted they’ve hired a lawyer who specializes in these types of projects who believes the city is required to file an economic impact statement as part of the state application process. They claim they’ve already identified $35 million in losses to businesses along the Howard Ave corridor. DiMaio noted the expert they’ve hired has tied a project in West Palm Beach up for 10 years. They also claim they’ve hired an engineer who has identified alternative projects the city could undertake that do not require 6,000 ft of box culverts to be installed under Howard Ave.

Specifically council will be voting to accept the amendment to the previously approved $10,061,435 grant from the Florida State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Council approved the grant in January of 2024. The dollars aren’t changing, but the timeline is being extended and language changed at the request of the state. One of those dollars that isn’t changing is the commitment of $54,938,565 in match funding. Accepting the grant also commits to spending at least $55 million of city dollars. Voting for this amendment is a vote to commit those funds and accept the new terms outlined by the DEP.

What looks like new information is the city’s contention that this project will protect the 259 acre floodplain from a 100 year flood event. All previous discussions around level of service have only mentioned 5 year events. 5.25 inches of rain in 24 hours versus 11.4 is a significant difference. A final design and cost has yet to be presented..

[This post was updated to correct misidentifying Vic DiMaio as an attorney.]