City engineer Cale Moore details downtown drainage upgrades, culvert enlargements and pump-station work

City engineer Cale Moore gave the Jacksonville Beach CRA board a progress update on downtown street and drainage work, saying some large segments are nearly finished while other projects will require staged construction and additional permitting.

Moore said crews are close to finishing the large Phase 3c downtown segment and that the city anticipates returning under $1,000,000 of encumbered funds. "We are just about to wrap that up. It's it's substantially complete," he said, adding that the contractor earned a portion of the early-completion bonus the city offered.

The presentation emphasized drainage work tied to the downtown program. Moore said the overall downtown plan aims to shift runoff away from some beach outfalls and route more stormwater to a Central Basin that must be enlarged and upgraded to handle the additional flow. He said consultants modeled the system and identified three culverts — at 9th Avenue South, Fairway and a smaller golf-course culvert — as bottlenecks that need enlargement and added openings to pass higher flows.

Staff also outlined coordinated work on pump stations at the Central and South basins. Moore said the city ordered long-lead pumps ("big pumps, 15,000 gallons a minute"), two at each station, and warned that parts of Fairway and 9th will require planned shutdowns while crews replace culverts and bring in heavy equipment. "They're going to be working together," he said of the contractors, adding that the city is trying to minimize road-closure duration.

On operations, Moore explained how the pumping and tide interactions affect storage: at low tide the system's permitted slow flow allows settlement of sediment, while the pumps provide control and an exception now lets staff pre-pump ahead of storms to store capacity. He cautioned that pump failures would cause inconvenience and localized road flooding near some intersections but would not inundate the city.

Moore said staff plan a phased bank-restoration approach for the outflow channel: clearing and grubbing this year to restore flow and allow access for engineers, followed by larger structural bank work (concrete walls or fabric forms) next year. He said easement boundary work is underway because of encroachments from private property that could affect construction access.

The presentation covered several related items: dune walkover rebuilds are in a final round with decking material the council chose and a claimed 25-year deck life; the Ocean Terrace Pond's current function under its permit remains uncertain and staff are evaluating whether to restore it or repurpose the site; and prior silt-removal work in the South Basin produced limited benefits relative to a $2M-plus cost, so major dredging was tabled.

Moore said consultants completed a validated model of the outfalls and that state regulators have imposed stricter requirements for discharging to the ocean; staff will return with options that respond to those permitting constraints.

The board asked about a separate cave-in in the Sunshine Park parking lot; Moore said a purchase order with a contractor is in process and that he would follow up with a schedule, estimating work could begin within about a month. The meeting proceeded to other agenda items after the update.