St. Lucie County closed one park and the boat ramp of another last month to make repairs and renovations as summer approaches.
Harbour Pointe Park, near Avenue M between Fisherman’s Wharf and Taylor Creek, closed March 23, and the boat ramp at White City Park, 2018 W. Midway Road, closed March 30, county releases say.
Harbour Pointe Park closed March 23 to build out new access roads beyond a single unkempt dirt road. A new entrance will be built near the end of N. 2nd Street “to streamline the traffic flow,” to move the park past its “primitive” status, the county said.
Before construction began, Harbour Pointe had “minimal infrastructure and offerings compared to other parks” outside of sprawling green space and undeveloped shoreline trails, said county communications director Erick Gill.
A better pathway to Harbour Pointe also became “necessary” as its current Avenue M entrance had been “conveyed back” to a nearby landowner in an exchange agreement, Gill added.
“The new entrance is a vital upgrade,” said Joshua Revord, the county’s Port, Inlet and Beaches Department director. The construction will allow for “future developments including a new regional boat ramp and other amenities.” The county expects the work to finish at an unspecified date later this spring or summer, according to Gill. He did not specify a cost by press time.
The White City boat ramp, meanwhile, closed for repairs April 6. The rest of the park will remain open to visitors as construction there continues until the end of June.
Repairs at the boat ramp coincide with the county stabilizing shorelines along the North Fork of the St. Lucie River, weather permitting, according to a March 19 release. (It announced the boat ramp’s closure would begin March 30.)
The White City Shoreline Stabilization project, which closed the boat ramp, has cost approximately $505,000 so far with “split” funding from the Florida Inland Navigation District, according to Gill. Around $205,000 has gone toward design while $300,000 went toward the first of two buildout phases.
The project will stabilize “roughly 1,500 linear feet” along the river “from Midway Road south all the way to the boat ramp,” Gill said. The first phase will fortify 300 feet east of the shore near the access road while the second will cover the remaining 1,140 feet.
“Currently,” Gill added, “the county is contracted to do the first phase,” that will “protect the roadway system into the park.” More embankments will protect the park against “storm surge” and “water rises in the river resulting in greater flow rates.”
About $700,000 in construction since 2023 also continues near White City Park and other parts of the river, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Federal funding will cover $350,000 of costs to fortify “approximately 324 acres of floodplain (and) more than 30 environmental restoration sites.”
Harbour Pointe and White City parks join a roster of five parks undergoing construction projects, county records show.
Builders at North Causeway Park, 500 North Causeway on North Hutchinson Island, are installing parking lots and ADA-accessible amenities for approximately $3.2 million. These repairs, slated to finish in July, use a combined $1.27 million (39.7 percent) in grants from the Florida Inland Navigation District and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Summerlin Docks, 414 Seaway Dr. near Museum Pointe Park, remains shuttered since they were damaged in the November 2022 landfall of Hurricane Nicole. Its ruins have yet to be removed as “pre-design/conceptual efforts” continue to visualize new ideas there, the county website said.
Jetty Park, 2098 Seaway Dr., has been closed since March 30 for a $15 million nourishment project expected to be completed by “mid-May,” according to the county website.