Riviera Beach presents $553 million five-year utility capital plan; water plant, well field and crossings highlighted

Riviera Beach city officials presented the proposed FY2026 five‑year capital improvement plan on Aug. 19, focusing on large utility projects including a new water treatment plant, rehabilitation of well fields and several intercoastal pipeline crossings.

The city manager, Jonathan Evans, told the council the package flows from the “reimagine Riviera Beach” initiative and that the city and Utility Special District have prioritized “addressing some of our ailing infrastructure” in the presentation to the board. Chief Financial Officer Randy Sherman summarized the five‑year stacks: about $142.2 million in general‑government projects currently in process and roughly $186 million recommended across five years; on the utility side staff listed about $472 million of projects underway and roughly $552–553 million across the five‑year horizon, which includes financing previously authorized for the water treatment plant.

Why it matters: the utility investments affect drinking‑water treatment, sewer conveyance and storm resiliency across the city and Singer Island. Several projects are already under design or in procurement and carry both construction cost and schedule risk.

What staff described

- Water treatment plant: the water plant remains the program’s centerpiece. Staff and the city's owners’ representative said a final guaranteed maximum price (GMP) package will be subject to review; the contractor team said it will deliver a full GMP package to the city in September and acknowledged the city should expect review activity to continue through late 2025 with a final GMP likely around December–January.

- Well‑field rehabilitation and controls: staff said the city operates 28 surficial wells and has two more being drilled. The utility director, Joshua Neiman, said a comprehensive well‑field master plan and follow‑up rehabilitation contracts are planned, with a target procurement for well‑field rehab and controls in January 2026. The plan includes immediate actions to increase quantity and a longer program to address water quality and transmission line condition.

- Pretreatment / micro‑filtration debate: the utility director described a course that combines well rehabilitation with plant pretreatment; the city’s owners’ representative, Nigel Grace (Brown and Carville, owners rep), relayed a recent cost estimate that adding the pretreatment package would add “approximately $28,000,000” to the project. Neiman said rehabbing wells in parallel might reduce or eventually remove the need for that pretreatment, but the owners’ rep said water‑quality improvements could not be guaranteed within the plant’s schedule and recommended proceeding with pretreatment as a near‑term mitigation.

- Intercoastal crossings and force mains: Neiman described an intercoastal water main and force main crossing project sized to serve Singer Island and to replace older, exposed lines. He put the crossing’s five‑year cost at about $14.5 million and said design is under way; staff anticipates construction and completion by December 2027. A related C‑17 and M Canal subaqueous crossing was noted as grant funded and under contractor mobilization in September 2025 with completion projected by August 2026.

- Lift Station 47: staff labeled Lift Station 47 one of the district’s most critical and oldest lift stations. Neiman estimated about $16.2 million for rehabilitation plus roughly $6.2 million for emergency generator work; the project will require updated design because building codes have changed and staff expects preliminary design in November 2025 and construction procurement in the spring of 2026.

- Marina and permitting constraints: the marina phase 4 project was shown at $22.3 million across the five years and remains vulnerable to permitting (seagrass mitigation) and schedule risk.

Funding, schedule and next steps

Sherman and Neiman walked the council through the capital stack: a mix of bonds (utility financing), grants, renewal & replacement contributions and pay‑as‑you‑go sources. Sherman said the district has bond capacity in the five‑year forecast and that renewal/replacement funding targets about $71 million over five years to sustain plant and system assets. Staff outlined a sequence of procurements: intercoastal solicitation targeted in mid‑2026, Lift Station 47 procurement in spring 2026, the well‑field rehabilitation contract around January 2026, and a final GMP for the water plant expected around December 2025–January 2026 depending on the review timeline.

What the council asked

Council members pressed staff on whether well rehabilitation could remove the need for the $28 million pretreatment package and on schedule slippage for the GMP; staff answered that well rehabs should proceed in parallel but could not promise pretreatment would become unnecessary within the plant’s procurement schedule. The owners’ representative advised prudence in assuming quick water‑quality gains.

Ending

Staff recommended proceeding with parallel paths: continue design and GMP review for the water treatment plant while contracting a well‑field master plan and targeted rehabilitation work and advancing the intercoastal crossings and Lift Station 47 design work. The board was scheduled to receive additional budget and procurement detail at upcoming budget hearings and in USD monthly updates.