Venice council hears feasibility study on Flamingo Ditch; staff directed to pursue short-term fixes and buy nearby Lot 2

Venice City Council members on June 30 heard a feasibility study on Flamingo Ditch that concluded the low-lying Golden Beach area floods on minor rainfall events and that storm surge from hurricanes overwhelmed the system during the 2024 season. After presentations from city staff, special counsel and Coastal Protection Engineering (CPE), the council agreed by consensus to direct staff to pursue near-term improvements and to explore purchase of a nearby vacant parcel (Lot Number 2) to add stormwater storage.

The study, presented by Tom Piero and Joe Morrow of Coastal Protection Engineering, combined survey data, tide and gauge records and more than 100 numerical model runs. Piero said the ditch is a natural bowl that fills quickly: "This area floods from very minor rainfall events," and CPE calculated the existing storage inside the surveyed basin as 276,000 cubic feet. CPE modeled coastal surge (Hurricane Helene peaked near elevation 9.8 feet) and multiple rainfall events and found that modest pumps could reduce some street flooding but could not keep up with large surge events; very large pumping systems that would meaningfully reduce surge effects were judged infeasible for the site.

Derek Schroth, the city's special counsel, told council members the city has historically performed maintenance in Flamingo Ditch and because it voluntarily assumed that maintenance the municipality now "is obligated to continue that level of maintenance as the system was originally designed." Schroth also advised that the city is not legally required to upgrade the system to handle larger storm-surge events but if it does approve and build improvements, it will be obligated to maintain them going forward.

CPE tested five general approaches: pipe-and-pump systems; raising property/land elevation; increasing local storage; upstream detention; and building a dune/seawall with controlled outfall. The consultants reported these high-level findings: raising all lots to FEMA elevation 9 would reduce flood depths through a 100-year rainfall event and about a 50-year surge, but that approach is financially and practically large-scale; increasing storage or installing moderate pumps helps small, frequent rainfall events but not major surge; and a dune or barrier that blocks surge will trap rainwater behind it unless paired with reliable drainage through the barrier.

Based on the modeling, CPE recommended a phased approach that targets recurring, high-frequency flooding first. The study team highlighted several elements that, in combination, provided practical benefit: raising targeted road segments to improve ingress/egress during nuisance floods, installing one-way (check) valves on key outfall pipes to prevent backflow from the ditch into streets, upgrading pipes and grates to modern standards, and creating or acquiring local additional storage adjacent to the ditch to offset storage lost when roads are elevated.

City staff reported application activity on multiple funding tracks: acting city engineer John Kramer said the city will submit a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) application with a $1,000,000 request by the July 25 deadline; Piero told council that a separate application submitted with consultant support requested roughly $5.9 million for an outfall system improvement and associated design/permitting (notification expected the following year). Piero cautioned that, if awarded, those grants would fund different scopes and on different schedules.

Public commenters and several residents who live along Flamingo Ditch urged immediate maintenance and quicker action. Residents described repeated street flooding from modest rain, clogged and overgrown swales, and past ad-hoc neighbor efforts to clear sand and debris. Several speakers described having spent thousands of dollars on private measures to keep properties functional during routine storms. The consultant and staff told residents that the city has placed a contractor on call to open the outfall after storm events and that the city updated its operating procedures since the 2024 storms.

On direction, council members expressed a consistent interest in acting now on items that would reduce routine rain-driven flooding without creating open-ended new legal obligations. By consensus the council directed staff to: (1) continue pursuing grant funding and complete the consultant report for late summer; (2) pursue near-term capital and operational fixes identified by CPE (targeted road elevation in critical locations, one-way valves on existing outfalls, replacement/upgrade of aged pipes and grates, and limited targeted storage); and (3) pursue negotiations to acquire Lot Number 2 (a nearby vacant parcel identified by staff) as potential city-owned storage/green space. Staff said the owner of Lot Number 2 had expressed willingness to discuss a sale.

The council and consultants also emphasized the technical and regulatory complexity of any surge-barrier solution. Piero and staff noted that the Venice Beach storm-protection project is a federally authorized U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project; any local work near the federal project would require coordination and a Section 408 review by the Jacksonville District of the Corps. Schroth also recommended that council consider long-term liability and maintenance obligations before approving upgrades that expand the city’s responsibility beyond historic maintenance.

Next steps: staff and CPE will finalize the feasibility report and return with cost estimates and a proposed implementation plan by late summer or early fall. Councilmembers asked staff to prioritize (a) immediate maintenance and operational clarity; (b) limited capital actions to reduce frequent rain flooding that can be done without creating unmanageable new liabilities; and (c) continued pursuit of grants for design and permitting of more substantial work.