Shore Acres may be granted $2 million for its Denver Street project, part of a comprehensive resiliency program overhauling outdated storm water conveyances, culverts and pipes that have historically led to massive flood damage.<\/p>\n
Republican Senator Nick DeCiglie and House Democratic Representative Lindsay cross stepped across party lines, teaming up to advocate for those funds, though ultimately at less than their initial request: $3 million.<\/p>\n
Despite falling short, Cross expressed gratitude for the $2 million they received, adding that she doesn\u2019t believe a lower dollar value from the state will hamper progress: \u201cI don\u2019t think there will be a reduction,\u201d she said, \u201cas they city has a master plan, but St. Pete will have to put more of its own money into that [Shore Acres] project.\u201d<\/p>\n
The estimated total just for Shore Acres\u2019 resiliency upgrades is reportedly around $67 million.<\/p>\n
Shore Acres suffered four major flooding events between 2020 and 2024; the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton flooded thousands of homes. Shore Acres contends with recurring King tide floods which happen when the moon is closest to the Earth, and flood during heavy rain as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s notorious for flooding,\u201d said DeCiglie. \u201cShore Acres significantly flooded three times before in the same year.\u201d<\/p>\n
In previous legislative sessions, DeCiglie and Cross have secured multiple rounds of funding for Shore Acres \u2013 most of which barely creeps 1-2 feet above sea level, whereas some zones sag below sea level.<\/p>\n
Shore Acres keeps requiring funds to rebuild, which begs the question of whether those dollars are being wasted.<\/p>\n
But neither DeCiglie or Cross consider it a waste:<\/p>\n
Cross: \u201cThe smartest thing we can do is continue looking at this area in a comprehensive way. We can\u2019t just throw our hands up and abandon these communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeCiglie: \u201cI\u2019m always going to be committed to fighting for allocations for infrastructure improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if major restructuring of policy and budgeting would he required to ensure sustainable, timely and predictable upgrades, DeCiglie responded: \u201cIn general, and this is not a critique of St. Pete, I think that many of our communities are just behind in infrastructure improvements, because it\u2019s extremely expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that \u201cSt. Pete has been great and aggressive in its resiliency efforts in that part of the community. In Shore Acres, some homes are at or below sea level, where it creates a challenging situation, because what can local governments do to protect them?\u201d<\/p>\n
Both DeCiglie and Cross recognize that alternatives must be explored beside battling the budget each year to get supplemental resiliency dollars for repeat flood zones, amid unpredictable budgetary priorities that shift with the political tides.<\/p>\n
As Cross put it, the $2 million from the state is \u201csimply one mechanism to plan and mitigate impacts of flooding.\u201d A combination of short and long-term solutions are required, she said.<\/p>\n
As for longer term solutions, some temporary programs that followed the 2024 hurricanes showed potential, if scaled in places like Shore Acres. DeCiglie referred to Elevate Florida, a FEMA-funded program that does as the name suggests: elevates homes and structures to avoid flood damage.<\/p>\n
While Elevate Florida closed its applications in April of last year, another program mirroring that one could be a better long term solution, according to DiCeglie.<\/p>\n
Note: the $2 million for Shore Acres\u2019 Denver Street project has not yet been secured, only agreed upon between Florida\u2019s House and Senate chambers. The next step is the governor\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope Gov. DeSantis doesn\u2019t veto it,\u201d Cross said.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be in touch. Send your thoughts, comments and story ideas to aaron@cityverse.life<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shore Acres may be granted $2 million for its Denver Street project, part of a comprehensive resiliency program…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-286523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286523","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=286523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}