With its own budget stretched thin, Madeira Beach is asking the state to help pay for repairs to the John’s Pass Boardwalk, a wooden structure that local business owners call the backbone of the area’s tourism economy.
The city applied last week for a $200,000 matching grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The money would fund structural repairs to nearly half of the 192 pilings that support the boardwalk, according to Public Works Director Megan Wepfer.
The numbers show how big the gap is. Wepfer said 30 to 35 pilings have no protective wrap. Another 55, wrapped in the early 2000s, have jackets installed below the mean high-water line, allowing saltwater in. Each wrap costs $5,000, and the city can afford only six to eight pilings a year. At that pace, the roughly 85 to 90 pilings in question would take more than a decade to finish.
Wepfer put the full cost of the needed work at more than $1 million. Even if the city wins the maximum grant and puts up its own $200,000 match, she said, the job will have to be done in phases or paid for with additional grants.
“They need structural jackets for normal wear and due to age,” Wepfer said, adding that Hurricane Helene’s 2024 storm surge and debris did further damage. She said the boardwalk floor “moved a lot” during the storm but stressed that there are no safety issues. The boardwalk dates to the 1970s. The city’s most recent annual survey rated the boardwalk’s top as satisfactory and the area beneath the deck as fair.
The city has shown residents what it faces. At an October town hall on boardwalk resiliency, Wepfer presented photos of separated pilings, jackets set too low, and barnacle buildup on unwrapped pilings. Barnacles can burrow into the wood and weaken it.
Business owners along the boardwalk back the push for outside funding. Developer Bill Karns of Karns Enterprises, who is still rebuilding Sculley’s Seafood Restaurant after Helene destroyed it, said he owns about half of the commercial real estate along the boardwalk. He called the structure “the heartbeat of John’s Pass” and said maintenance is the only way to keep it standing for the long term.
Stephanie Berry, owner of Woody’s Watersports, said she wrapped two unwrapped pilings near her shop in carpet to keep barnacles off. She said she is glad the city is pursuing grant money.
The timeline is long. Wepfer said the city should learn in January whether it is in the running. The state usually announces awards around July, and recipients then have three years to finish the work.
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