You’ve got to spend money to save money
May 12th, 2008
Stuart, FL - That’s the idea behind the future restoration project to the St Lucie Inlet North jetty. The county is planning a $5.4 million project to help reduce the year to year costs of maintaining the jetty and the navigational waterway. The thought behind the restoration is that the increased size of the seawall will block waves out of the Northeast and prevent excess sand from getting into the waterway, instead funneling it into a basin to make future dredging projects easier and less costly.
Besides the obvious tax savings benefits to the county there will be significant benefits to your average boater. The upgrades to the North jetty seawall will help to make the inlet calm which will make navigating the inlet safer and easier. Another proposition from county engineers is to install navigational aide lights to the ends of the inlets which will make entering and exiting the inlet after dark much safer. This could be called a win, win….win situation. Add to that the cost to Martin County taxpayers right now is $675,000 for the upgrade, the rest of the $5.4 million bill is being picked up by the state of Florida and the Army Core of Engineers, the brunt of which is from the engineers. On top of that, Martin County officials have put in for a grant from the Florida Inland Navigation District which, if accepted, will reduce the costs to Martin County even further to only $375,000. If that goes through, you can add another win to my list.
Inlet photo courtesy of www.StLucieInlet.com
