- November 17, 2024
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Flagler County will submit grant applications to the Florida Inland Navigation District to finance renovations at the Moody Boat Launch on the east side of the Intracoastal at State Road 100, and Herschel King Sr. Park, off the Intracoastal on the north side of State Road 100 off Colbert Lane.
Flagler County is submitting grant applications to the Florida Inland Navigation District to finance renovations at the Moody Boat Launch on the east side of the Intracoastal at State Road 100, and Herschel King Sr. Park, off the Intracoastal on the north side of State Road 100 off Colbert Lane.
The grant the county has applied for grants to cover improvements at the Moody Boat Launch is a 50/50 matching grant that would cover half of the project’s projected cost of $238,500. The county has proposed using vessel registration funds for its 50%, or $119,250.
The Moody project’s total projected cost includes $84,500 for restroom demolition and construction, $82,500 for dredging, $55,250 for a floating dock system, $9,000 for basin lighting and $7,250 for plans and permitting.
At a County Commission meeting Monday, April 20, County Commissioner Barbara Revels questioned the need to demolish the launch’s restrooms.
“That’s part of the walk I do every morning, and I frequently run in that restroom to blow my nose, and I just didn’t see that those are in bad enough shape that they need to be demolished,” she said. “I certainly wouldn’t want to see us spend the kind of money that we’re spending on Varn Park, at that architectural design over there.”
“They were identified by staff to be removed … because of the use they receive when it gets busy. The current construction doesn’t allow for it,” Flagler County General Services Director Heidi Petito replied. “The price that was included in that grant was if we were going to contract it out. …If we were to do it in house it would be significantly less.”
The total cost of the Varn Park project Revels had referred to, which includes a new stingray-shaped sculptural bathroom as well as a new boardwalk, ADA-compliant accessibility improvements and 64 new parking spaces, is $549,420. Of that cost, 80% will be reimbursed from federal grant dollars issued through the Florida Department of Transportation.
The County Commission voted unanimously to approve the grant application.
The Moody Boat Launch is one of three county-owned facilities that provide boater access to the Intracoastal, and was built in 1989 and 1990, according to information in the County Commission meeting’s backup documentation.
It has never been dredged, and leaves boaters just 1.5 feet to maneuver their vessels in and out of the basin at low tide.
A marine contractor told the county that about 1,650 cubic yards of silt need to be removed.
The proposed floating dock would be aluminum and replace the existing wooden docks, and the new restroom would be 529 square feet and ADA compliant.
The proposed project timeline has work on the restrooms begin in November 2015 and end in March 2016. Dredging would occur in January and February of next year, and floating docks would be installed in March and April of next year, along with the new basin lighting.
The County Commission also approved as part of the meeting’s consent agenda an application for a Florida Inland Navigation District grant for improvements to Herschel King Sr. Park.
Like the Moody Boat Launch grant, the one for Herschel King would be a 50/50 matching grant that would cover half the project’s cost: in this case, $68,500 of the project’s total projected $137,000.
Of the total projected cost, $118,750 would go to a new floating dock system, $18,000 would go to basin lighting and $250 would cover permitting.
County staff has proposed using $48,500 in vessel registration funds and $20,000 from the county’s General Fund to cover the county’s 50% share of the project cost.
