ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Petersburg is scheduled to begin dredging Bartlett Lake next week, which will be the first step in a multi-phase $30 million stormwater project to help prevent flooding for southside residents.
What You Need To Know
St. Petersburg is scheduled to begin dredging 1-to-6 feet of silt from Bartlett Lake next week
The dredging is part of a $30M stormwater project to mitigate flooding on the city’s southside
A pump station will be installed on vacant property that the city purchased last year just north of Bartlett Lake
The project also includes widening a portion of Salt Creek just south of Bartlett Lake and installing a new tidal gate near Fourth Street
“This is such a major project for the community,” said Brejesh Prayman, Engineering and Capital Improvements Director. “We want to not only improve the capacity but also the water quality.”
The project also includes a pump station, widening a portion of Salt Creek just south of Bartlett Lake and installing a new tidal gate near Fourth Street. Prayman said crews will remove between 1-to-6 feet of silt from the bottom of a clogged Bartlett Lake to improve water flow.
“As that stormwater is flowing from Salt Creek, it gets that what we call head loss. That resistance,” he said. “So it starts to spread out and doesn’t have that velocity to keep coming through.”
Engineers want the stormwater to continue flowing east and drain into Tampa Bay. Last year, the city purchased nearly 3 acres of vacant land just north of Bartlett Lake for $2.5 million, where the new pump station will be installed.
“The stormwater pump station is going to move that flow control structure from Lake Maggiore to the vicinity of Fourth Street,” said Prayman. “By moving that, we mitigate the impacts that we saw during the 2024 storms.”
Council member Gina Driscoll proposed the city purchase the vacant lot and said “help is on the way” for the residents who live near Bartlett Lake, Salt Creek, the Lake Maggiore area and were flooded by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Rendering of new pump station (City of St. Petersburg)
“Many lost most of their belongings,” she said. “So improvements like this are going to help with those neighborhoods that we have seen taking on big burdens and big impacts from these storms.”
Resident Lamont Baker lives near Bartlett Park and said the homes across the street were flooded and the stormwater rose to the top of his porch.
“That was scary close,” he said. “I just felt for the people that was on the other side because everybody on that street got flooded.”
Lamont called the project long overdue and it’ll be great once it’s complete. Prayman said the dredge project will be complete early next year and construction of the pump station will begin in the fall. It’s expected to be complete in 2028.
“It’s still early in design at the pump station,” he said. “We want that public feedback. Based on the public feedback that’s going to affect how we finalize design and our construction time frame.”
Prayman said the city will hold a community meeting next month to get that feedback and update residents on the project. The project is part of Mayor Kenneth Welch’s SPAR plan, which stands for St. Pete Agile Resilience Plan, rolled out after the 2024 storms.
“What has happened in some of these projects have accelerated by the proposal use of the SPAR funding,” he said. “The other element that comes into play is that some of these projects are enhanced.”
Prayman said the project has been in the works for a few years but was held up by studies, acquiring multiple permits and a requirement to test the silt. State and federal grants will cover nearly half the cost of the stormwater project.