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City staff seeks $450,000 federal grant for Lake Jessup boardwalk in Winter Springs
Summary
City staff told the Parks Board they will apply for a Recreation Trails Program grant seeking $450,000 to build an elevated, 12-foot-wide wooden boardwalk at Lake Jessup; staff warned the grant is reimbursement-based, estimated full buildout at about $2 million, and board members pressed staff on ADA access and ongoing maintenance costs.
City staff on Monday asked the Parks Board to support pursuing a federal Recreation Trails Program grant to build a largely wooden boardwalk along Lake Jessup that would improve public access and connect to existing trails.
Parks manager Michael Chris said the city will request $450,000 in the first round of the RTP grant and later pursue a $112,000 city match if a second round is needed. "The grant is the Recreation Trails Program grant. We're requesting $450,000 in the first round of the grant," Chris said, describing a 12-foot-wide elevated boardwalk with railings, bump-outs for fishing and benches, and multiple access points that would tie into the Cross Seminole Trail and nearby park trails.
Why it matters: staff said the boardwalk would increase public access to Lake Jessup, support nature-based programming and create trail connectivity the current shoreline lacks. The RTP grant is reimbursement-based, meaning the city must pay project costs up front and seek reimbursement after award, and staff said RTP-awarded projects typically have about a 24-month completion window.
Staff described prior design and permitting work. Len Hartman, director of facilities and capital projects, said the city previously completed about 60% of design work, a geotechnical study and an initial survey before pausing the project. "That was November of 2024. The commission at the time asked us to pause the project and we did," Hartman said, adding that St. John's Water District returned the application with about 20 questions and requested additional environmental, tree and cultural-resource surveys.
Cost, phasing and construction details: staff estimated earlier local boardwalks cost roughly $600 per linear foot but said the Lake Jessup structure could run about $1,000 per foot because of longer pilings (staff said pilings for this project would be driven deeper, on the order of 15 feet). Staff gave a rough planning figure of about $2 million for a full 2,000-foot buildout and said the city would likely phase construction (roughly several hundred feet per year) if funding required it. For an initial phase, staff described seeking funds for approximately 500 feet as phase one but did not present a separate firm cost for that phase.
Board members pressed staff on maintenance and accessibility. Staff estimated roughly $5,000 per year in operating and maintenance costs for the initial phase length (covering routine repairs, stain/seal reapplication, trash service and minor board or rail replacement) and said that maintenance needs would increase if the boardwalk were extended. Board members also expressed concerns about ADA access and parking: current access at the dock includes a single handicap space and some approach trails are not ADA-compliant. Staff said ADA transitions and additional handicap parking would be considered, and pointed to other city projects where concrete sidewalks were used to provide compliant transitions into boardwalks.
Permitting and timeline: staff said completing the required additional surveys would take a couple of months and that St. John's Water District review can take three to six months; the RTP application materials are due at the end of May. Staff said the Army Corps of Engineers indicated a wooden boardwalk would not require Corps permits but that St. John's Water District approval and local city permits are necessary before construction could begin.
Next steps: staff will submit RTP materials by the end of May and return to the board with updates if the city is awarded funds; the presentation also fulfilled a grant requirement to have the item on a formal board agenda. No formal board vote on proceeding with construction was taken at the meeting; staff said they would not proceed without a grant agreement and offered to follow up to provide additional plan and budget detail to the board.
The board discussed follow-ups and asked staff to provide the previously completed survey files and to report back on remaining budgeted ADA funds and any lessons learned from nearby county projects. The Parks Board moved on to its parks update after the presentation.
