ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — St. Augustine neighbors say the Maria Sanchez Lake and the marsh just south of it have long been a significant flooding danger to surrounding homes.
“It floods here pretty much every time it rains, or if there’s a king tide, it just seems like we have a bunch of flooding,” nearby homeowner Jerry Bain told Action News Jax on Thursday.
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Now, the City of St. Augustine is looking to move ahead with the plans to build a pump station on South Street and a seawall around the surrounding marshlands to the south, to minimize those flooding impacts that often are far-reaching beyond just directly along those marshlands and the Maria Sanchez Lake.
“A lot of the properties that are included within the project area … we’ve got schools, there’s churches, there’s City Hall, there’s businesses, there’s residents, it’s a pretty dynamic set of properties that are within the project area that are historic, and we’re trying to protect,” outlined Chief Resiliency Officer for the City of St. Augustine, Jessica Beach.
The project has been in planning for years now but hasn’t been able to progress because some of the property owners set to have the seawall go right through their parcels haven’t signed off.
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However, city commissioners voted Monday to allow the seizure of those properties without permission, but with monetary compensation, if necessary.
“The eminent domain is not really a preference that the city wants to do, we still want to get negotiated voluntary easements,” Beach explained to Action News Jax. “But this at least allows that ability as a fallback if we do have to take that action.”
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Action News Jax attempted to reach out to those property owners for statements or thoughts on that decision both in-person and over the phone but hasn’t heard back.
Phase one of the project – the new water pump on South Street – is scheduled to begin pre-construction community meetings in 2026. There is currently no timeline for phase two – the seawall portion of the project.
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