St. Pete to begin innovative seagrass restoration project this summer
Storm protection project underway in St. Pete
FOX 13's Genevieve Curtis reports on St. Pete officials working on a unique proposal to create a seagrass bed in hopes it will help stabilize the shoreline.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Part of St. Petersburg’s coastline is about to undergo a transformation 10 years in the making.
The seagrass restoration project off of North Shore Park is so unique, the city feels fairly confident that it’s the first of its kind in the entire country.
"This is probably the first of its kind in the country. We're really fired up about it for that reason alone," said Managing Assistant City Attorney Michael Dema.
The City of St. Petersburg is launching a large-scale seagrass restoration project.
By the numbers:
The city will transform 178 acres off North Shore Park, near the pier, into a seagrass bed, which will create a healthy habitat for fish and manatees, improve water quality and stabilize the shoreline.
"During major wave action, major storm events, we start to lose all beaches on our waterfront in those elements. So by filling that in and actually planting that seagrass, it helps create that structure to mitigate any loss of that land," said Brejesh Prayman, director of engineering and capital improvements.
The project will include filling a 32-acre dredge hole, bringing in sand/silt and dredge material from Port Manatee, which will be brought by barges starting this summer.
The City of St. Petersburg is launching a large-scale seagrass restoration project.
"(The public) will see barges all there dumping soil," said Prayman.
Seagrass will then be planted next summer.
The city also receives federal mitigation credits for this project, and they can sell those credits back to developers.
READ: Sarasota Bay sees 19% increase in seagrass despite Hurricanes Helene, Milton
What's next:
The city plans to reinvest that money into other water quality improvements.
"So we're thinking that we need to think infrastructure improvements upstream on land," said Dema.
Because it’s so innovative, the project has taken ten years to get to this point, with an end now in sight.
"It's like building the plane and flying it at the same time," said Prayman.
The city hopes to complete the project in 2027. There will be several public meetings to come.
The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Genevieve Curtis.
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