The Lake Butler City Commission went along with a recommendation by engineers to abandon plans for a sidewalk on the west side of the Lakeside Park boat ramp and instead focus on improvements for the ramp’s east side.
Jeffrey Antonacci, a project manager for Infrastructure Consulting and Engineering, told commissioners that the city’s grant money would be better spent focusing on the east side of the ramp.
He said his firm’s design for the east side includes a pile retaining wall instead of a more expensive concrete retaining wall.
“We think the (pile) retaining wall right now will be a better service to you,” he said. “(It) will be cheaper, it’ll be easier to construct, and will also look nice.”
Antonacci told commissioners the pile retaining wall is common on Florida’s east and west coasts, as well as inland water bodies.
“What we would do is we would… drive sheet piling into the lake bottom and we would cap that with a six-foot-eight to six-foot-nine-inch-wide concrete sidewalk,” he said. “That would be nice, would match pretty nicely with the existing pier.”
“Our plan would also include lighting,” he said. “We would install lighting starting there at the beginning of the asphalt where the asphalt driveway goes into the boat ramp. We would provide lighting along that sidewalk.”
Mayor Melissa Hendrix said lighting is essential to the project because citizens often fish from the pier at night.
Commissioner Joe Stephenson said that in previous designs, boat slips had been included in the project, where up to six boats could park. He asked why the slips were not included in the current plans.
“We don’t have the money for that,” replied Hendrix, adding that city staff recently had to remove rotting wooden slips from the ramp area to avoid state fines, and floating, aluminum slips were cost-prohibitive.
“Is that something that we could add at a later time? Stephenson asked.
“Yes, sir,” replied the mayor.
Antonacci said the bottleneck for advancing the project is obtaining permits, which he hoped to get by Christmas.
A state grant will fund the boat ramp improvements.
