St. Pete taking proactive approach to hurricane season with resident task force

Resilient St. Pete task force

FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis explains the proactive approach that St. Pete is taking ahead of hurricane season as many communities are still grappling with previous hurricanes.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla - The City of St. Pete, Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council are teaming up with flood-impacted communities for resiliency bus tours next Saturday.

The city recently established the Resilient St. Pete Resident Task Force to tackle ongoing flooding issues.

The City of St. Pete, Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council are teaming up with flood-impacted communities for resiliency bus tours next Saturday.

Shore Acres Civic Association President Kevin Batdorf is a part of it. He said, "One of the requests we made was to get us a seat at the table. This is our seat at the table."

One of the first orders of business is the bus tour in Shore Acres and Riviera Bay, two communities that are still grappling with Milton, Helene, even Idalia from 2023.

What they're saying:

"The City is paying for a third-party engineer to come in, discuss the situation with the residents and the city engineering staff," he added, "We're hoping to get some insight. We're going to showcase what we think the problems are. The City is going to showcase what they identify from an engineering standpoint."

Batdorf has brainstormed some ideas. "One idea that's been floated out there is to build a seawall high enough to prevent surge. That's going to cause some consternation with neighbors because each seawall is privately owned," he added, "In order to do something crazy like that, they'd have to go out like ten feet from property line, build a seawall that stretches all the way around the city."

Another proposed solution is building a damn system, "...that's hydraulic that could raise up when a surge is potential," he said.

READ: Hurricane season begins June 1: Here’s what to know

One solution from the City is already on the books: a stormwater pump station to be built on Connecticut Avenue NE, just down the street from Bonnie Carter. She said, "Having water in the house for me, my head is still spinning."

The City of St. Pete, Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council are teaming up with flood-impacted communities for resiliency bus tours next Saturday.

Carter plans to join the bus tour in hopes to learn more about what she can do to protect her home and what the city is doing on a larger scale. She said, "At least they realize that something needs to be done, and they are working on it. But it'll never come fast enough." Carter also hopes to see the permitting process sped up next time.

What you can do:

The bus is first come, first serve. But all are welcome to trail behind and follow the bus.

Riviera Bay's resiliency tour is from 9:00am-1:00pm

Shore Acres' resiliency tour is from 1:00pm-3:00pm, attendees can meet at the Shore Acres Rec Center.

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis.

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