BY TRACY LEE TATE
Special to the Times
The City of Lake Butler has won a grant from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that will allow the city to accomplish much needed work on the community boat ramp located at Lakeside Park.
The grant is from the Florida Boating Improvement Program, a state-funded program to help improve and encourage boating in the state. Funding is available through competitive grants for boating access projects and other boating-related activities, encouraging and promoting motorized vessels in Florida.
Any governmental entity in the state is eligible to apply, and the program covers a wide variety of boating-related projects. Examples include replacing, repairing, and installing boat ramps and related water-access equipment, docks, piers, and other mooring facilities; marking for channels and waterways; boating education; economic development initiatives that promote boating and other related projects and activities that enhance access for recreational boating.
The city applied during the 2024-2025 fiscal year funding cycle for the grant, being the tenth application made during that time, and is one of nine chosen for funding at this time. Lake Butler was one of 31 applicants for the program in 2024-25. According to the program’s website, Lake Butler was the third highest scoring applicant in the state, behind Wakulla and DeSoto counties.
The city will be receiving $100,000 for a project to repair/replace the concrete on the existing boat ramp.
The city has already put out both a request for proposals for grant administration services and a request for qualifications for engineering services for the project. The bids are already in for both facets of the project and have been opened and ranked, with the choices made reported to the Lake Butler City Commission at its regular March meeting and approved unanimously.
