The city of Dunedin and the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority have received $828,000 in federal disaster funds to help rebuild the Dunedin fishing pier and construct a permanent dock for the Clearwater Ferry.<\/p>\n
The funding, tied to recovery efforts following hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, will support work underway as part of a broader marina restoration costing about $10.8 million. The pier replacement alone is estimated to cost about $2.3 million.<\/p>\n
The FEMA money will also go toward building a permanent dock for the Clearwater Ferry, which is operated by the PSTA and transports passengers between Dunedin, downtown Clearwater and Clearwater Beach.<\/p>\n
A temporary dock was installed to allow ferry service to resume last October, but officials say a permanent structure is needed to support long-term operations and improve resilience during future storms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis investment is a meaningful step in Dunedin\u2019s recovery and ensures the Clearwater Ferry can continue serving our waterfront community,\u201d Dunedin Vice Mayor Rob Walker said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n
A FEMA check was presented to local officials by U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, whose Pinellas County district includes Dunedin.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the devastation caused by hurricanes Helene and Milton, rebuilding the Dunedin pier is about more than infrastructure; it\u2019s about restoring the heart of this community,\u201d Luna said in a prepared statement. \u201cI was proud to help secure this funding to ensure Dunedin comes back stronger, safer and ready to thrive again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The marina and pier have been closed since the storms, though work has steadily progressed over the past year. The city has completed stabilization of damaged docks, restored utilities, including a fire suppression system, and continues repairs to the seawall, with that work expected to wrap up this summer.<\/p>\n
Design and permitting for the new pier began in 2025 and are complete. Demolition of the damaged structure is expected to begin soon, with construction slated for the summer.<\/p>\n
While the city has not announced a firm reopening date for the pier, the construction schedule points to completion by late 2026.<\/p>\n
Much of the marina remains an active construction site, and public access \u2014 including the boat ramp \u2014 is still limited as rebuilding continues.<\/p>\n
City officials had been pursuing reimbursement through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is expected to cover a significant share of the construction costs, with additional support coming from state disaster funds and local resources.<\/p>\n
Carl Lisciandrello is\u00a0Assistant News Director at WUSF, the NPR station for the Tampa Bay area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city of Dunedin and the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority have received $828,000 in federal disaster funds to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-213666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}