Posted on May 19, 2025
4 proposals range in price from $3.6M to $28M
PALM COAST, Fla. – Palm Coast city leaders and residents received an update Tuesday on what could become a multimillion-dollar effort to dredge the city’s saltwater canals.
More than 2,500 homes back up to the canals, which many residents view as a community asset. However, some have expressed concerns about how shallow the waterways have become.
“My neighbors, many of them, can’t even get their boats off their docks,” a resident said during public comment.
For several years now, the city has worked with engineers to evaluate the canal system. A study released by the city in 2023 found that about 13 miles of canals had center-depths of under 6 feet, shallower than their original depth of roughly 9 feet when they were built in the 1960s and 1970s.
City stormwater engineer Carmelo Morales said there are no records of previous dredging efforts. Despite that, he said the canals are in better condition than anticipated.
“The canals are in fairly good shape,” Morales told the council. “They’re in better shape than I think we expected. It’s really within the first 20 feet that it’s mostly sediment.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, engineers presented several options to the city council, with a recommendation for option two:
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Dredge all canals to 9 feet: $28 million
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Dredge all canals to 7 feet: $3.7 million
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Dredge canals not blocked by bridges to 9 feet, and the rest to 7 feet: $13.8 million
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Dredge certain canals to 9 feet and dead-end canals to 7 feet: $12.3 million
According to engineers, the estimates do not include the cost of dredging entrance channels or the property owners’ area, which extends 20 feet from their property line.
“I think option two is the only one that we can actually afford to do, and it’s still going to hurt and cost money,” Councilmember Ty Miller said. “That money has to be shifted from somewhere else to be able to pay for that.”
Vice Mayor Theresa Carli Pontieri expressed support for option three while acknowledging the challenges of securing funding.
“I just don’t want to see us do a half-job on this and later wish we had done it right the first time,” she said.
Pontieri also noted the annual property tax for a canal home is nearly double compared to other properties in the city.
“I think we have to be very mindful of how much more our canal homeowners pay in property taxes when we’re considering this amenity because it is an amenity for the entire city,” she said. “These are public canals. Anybody can access them.”
In a public survey conducted in November 2024, 75% of respondents agreed that dredging is necessary to preserve the canals’ appeal.
When asked whether canal-front homeowners should be subject to a special assessment or fee to help cover dredging costs, 52% of respondents said yes; the remainder said no.
“I don’t feel this is a dire need for our city when we have the need for water treatment plants, for sewage treatment plants,” a resident shared during public comment, “I think 7-foot depth is enough at present. I don’t see any calamity. They’re not overflowing.”
A city spokesperson told News 6, “We received consensus from the City Council to proceed with the design phase for Option 3. This will be included in the Strategic Action Plan, which is set to be adopted on May 27, 2025. At that point, staff will gather the information needed to determine the cost of the design phase, and that request will be included in the FY2026 budget, which goes into effect on October 1, 2025. The design phase is not currently budgeted.”
