Holmes Beach flooding has become a major problem. The causes appear to be two areas of road construction – the Manatee County Force Main Project and the Holmes Beach City Center project.
First, the county work on Holmes Boulevard has now caused flooding on just about every street that runs off it.
We know that some drains were buried, but questions remain. Were the drains replaced? If so, what were they connected to? Did our tenuous liaison with the county affect the ability to oversee the construction? Were there leadership issues?
Second, the City Center project caused some areas to be elevated more than a foot. This is evident from the engineer drawings. This has caused major flooding on Marina from 56th Street and further down, and also down 56th Street and other side streets as well.
Heading north on Marina from the light at Gulf, if you have a straight line of sight, as I did late one evening when there was not much traffic, you can see the difference in elevation. It appears to act like a dam backing the water up to the north.
The changes have been dramatic. There has been damage to residents’ properties. The auto shop on the corner of Gulf and Marina had to raise their floor. It even caused closure of the library, which we have never known to occur before.
We are left wondering why was it elevated? Who was in charge? Who did the planning? Who did the engineering? Where was the leadership? And most importantly at this point, how is the city going to correct the problem?
Richard Motzer
Holmes Beach
