ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — St. Pete Beach residents believe it’s taking the city too long to repair the Seventh Avenue Pass-a-Grille pier, which was damaged by Hurricane Helene in 2024.
“We need to get this thing fixed,” said resident Jeff Catanzarita. “A lot of residents are concerned about it.”
Helene’s storm surge buckled several planks on the pier, while others were completely popped off. Catanzarita said the damage looks like it happened yesterday, instead of in September 2024. Residents want to know what the city’s plan is to fix it.
“I don’t know why it’s taking too long,” said Catanzarita. “We can’t ever really get a solid answer like ‘this is going to happen at such and such a day. You can count on that.’ We don’t get that.”
Commissioner Jon Maldonado said that part of the delay has been getting insurance money from FEMA. Maldonado said the city is currently waiting for Pinellas County to approve the permit.
“Because we are relying on the county to issue us those permits, that has delayed us,” he said. “Insurance initially was slow, but we’re caught up with the insurance now. So I feel that once that permit is issued, then we can move on to the actual refurbishment.”
Maldonado said the FEMA reimbursement is $96,000, which should cover all the repair costs. The pier is structurally sound and just needs some esthetic work done, according to Maldonado. He’s hopeful the repairs will be completed in the next 6 months.
“Once the city has removed all of the dangerous planks that have been busted up and things like that, it should go very quickly. So I’m very hopeful that we’ll get this done right around August, September time frame,” he said.
Catanzarita said he’ll be happy once it re-opens.
“Pass-a-Grille is a beautiful place. People come here from all over the state,” he said. “They come down this bend here and they look at this eyesore and there’s no reason for it.”
The city has engaged an engineering consultant to perform design and permitting, according to Public Services Director Camden Mills.
“Hang in there with us. Don’t give up,” said Maldonado. “We’re going to get this fixed and restored and even better than it was originally.”
Maldonado said St. Pete Beach pioneers Mary Jane and John Ott originally built the dock, which later became a pier in the 1930s. Ott had an agreement to sell the dock to the city after he passed, which happened in 1960 for $4,000.