ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — The City of St. Pete Beach has been awarded $5.3 million in state grants to support three critical projects, which include building a new fire station, fixing leaky sewer pipes in Pass-a-Grille and the Boca Ciega Drive reconstruction project.
“That takes a burden off of our local taxpayers. It’s monumental,” said Acting Fire Chief Adam Poirrier. “It allows us to accomplish a lot of our goals quicker than we would have without that money.”
St. Pete Beach Fire Rescue firefighters who serve the Pass-a-Grille area have been working and living out of a trailer for nearly two years, since Hurricane Helene flooded Fire Station 22 in September 2024. Acting Fire Chief Poirrier called it “challenging” and compared the conditions to camping.
“Obviously, it’s tight quarters,” he said. “But they show up to work every day with a smile.”
Poirrier said the city hopes to break ground on the new Fire Station 22 this fall, which is expected to cost up to $11 million to construct. The state grant the city received from the 2026-2027 fiscal year budget is $1.5 million, which when combined with two previous state grants totals $6.5 million and will cover more than half the cost of the fire station.
“We are very excited to get what will be the third appropriations for the fire station,” said Poirrier. “For the fire department, this means everything to us.”
The city hopes to open Fire Station 22 in early 2028.
Public Services also received a $2 million state grant to help fix the leaky sewer pipes in Pass-a-Grille. Seawater has been infiltrating the wastewater system since 2021, causing high levels of chloride, which greatly exceeds the maximum amount allowed by law.
Public Services Director Camden Mills said the city began addressing hot spots this past March and will use the grant money to continue the $3.9 million project beneath Pass-a-Grille Way from 21st Avenue south to First Avenue.
“We’ll be replacing manholes… but also making structural repairs to pipes,” he said. “Then lining the pipes as well.”
Mills said Public Services also received a $1.8 million grant for the Boca Ciega Drive reconstruction project, which will cost a total of $6 million and is expected to begin next year.
“That project will consist of a roadway reconstruction, where we’ll have new curb, stormwater inlet, stormwater pipes, we’ll reconstruct the roadway base and then also pave the roadway surface itself,” he said. “We also have a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation that will help supplement it, as well as our local funds.”
Poirrier said the city is grateful to state lawmakers who represent the area for securing the critical funding.
“To get the support of the state legislation, especially Representative (Linda) Chaney and Senator (Nick) DiCeglie,” he said. “It’s a huge amount of success for our city to be able to get those funds.”