Long-awaited plans to breathe new life into Joe’s Creek and, by proxy, historically underserved areas surrounding the once prominent watershed, are moving forward.
Pinellas County officials comprising an evaluation committee selected Environmental Science Associates (ESA) July 2 to provide project engineering services. The San Francisco-based, employee-owned environmental consultancy firm’s proposal emerged from a competitive process that included Johnson, Mimriam & Thompson and Kimley-Horn.
The previously estimated $59.5 million Joe’s Creek Restoration project will primarily occur throughout Lealman. Over 20,000 residents live in the unincorporated community just outside St. Petersburg city limits; ESA will begin the first phase of what local officials have called the most important thing for this area that’s going to happen in the next five to 10 years.
“I was happy to see they have coastal experience as well as stream restoration,” said Emma Dontis, county environmental specialist, in her evaluation. “I think having those two skills for this sort of project is really quite important, and it seems like they’ve been able to tackle both.”
The 9,256-acre Joe’s Creek watershed also includes portions of Kenneth City, Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg. While the urban waterway resembles a large, flood-prone drainage ditch, local leaders have long planned to transform it into a public amenity.
The current project’s boundaries are Park Boulevard to the north, 54th Avenue North to the south, 71st Street North to the east and Park Street to the west. ESA will oversee nuisance vegetation removal and design stormwater controls – including green infrastructure that better absorbs harmful nutrients and other pollutants affecting water quality.
Contractors will plant native vegetation and trees, stabilize banks, remove a mosquito ditch, restore a tidal salt marsh and dredge the channel to improve water flow. Downstream waterbodies like Cross Bayou will also receive enhancements.
The engineering phase intertwines with additional Joe’s Creek initiatives. Those include creating an extensive, elevated and permeable pavement multi-modal trail to foster community connectivity.
County documents call the Lealman Community Redevelopment Area “disadvantaged” due to the high percentage of low-income households with limited transportation access. Officials believe a reimagined Joe’s Creek will foster much-needed economic development.
The evaluation committee credited the ESA’s “vast” experience. “They even have a drone pilot on their staff,” said Daniel Umberger, a county hydrogeologist.