Council member says Shell Lake pump station will be rerouted to spare coastal dune

During the flood-program update, a council member identified as Josh described a design change for the Shell Lake pump station after neighborhood concerns and a routing analysis.

Josh said the original design would have required building a road across a coastal primary sand dune to construct and maintain the pump station. He said security access from the Navy was not available for the originally proposed alignment and that the neighborhood requested an independent routing analysis.

"Instead of plowing through a coastal primary sand dune, we can use the existing road. It will be cheaper, it'll be faster, it'll be less impactful to the environment and to the neighborhood," Josh said, crediting staff and contractors for revisiting the plan.

The meeting record notes that neighborhood members and the public works director participated in site meetings and that staff adjusted the recommended routing in response to the review. Council members thanked staff and contractors for the change and emphasized the program’s long-term funding responsibilities and the city’s increased prioritization of stormwater projects since Hurricane Matthew.

No formal vote was taken on the routing change at the meeting; the report described it as a staff-level routing analysis and subsequent design adjustment made prior to construction procurement.