New Smyrna Beach receiving $1 million to help clear flood-prone canals.

Written by Kristen Schmutz

Belden Communications News

The City of New Smyrna Beach has announced it will receive $1 million in state funding to help clean up the canals surrounding Pine Island and Aqua Golf. These two centrally located mainland communities experienced four feet of flooding due to the storm surge during Hurricane Ian last September.

The canals have experienced a considerable build-up of vegetation and sediment since the 1950s and have no documented maintenance history. The city has proposed a project utilizing a small barge and dredging equipment to improve stormwater drainage into Turnbull Creek, a neighboring waterway.

According to a release, the appropriation partially covers one of several funding requests the city had submitted as part of an aggressive $16.1 million stormwater maintenance and preventative measures package that sought $1.85 million for the Pine Island and Aqua Golf canals, $3.75 million to dredge and clean Turnbull Creek, $2.5 million to restore and partially dredge Cemetery Canal, $3 million to implement a stormwater master plan for the New Smyrna Beach's Historic Westside neighborhood, and $5 million to do the same for its Corbin Park neighborhood.

The state funding announcement comes just weeks before the city unveils the findings of an expert exposure report commissioned to investigate the causes of the catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Ian. This report will help the city determine the best strategies to mitigate future flood risks.

City commissioners will deliberate after reviewing the report on which recommendations to adopt, along with the fate of a temporary six-month moratorium that currently prohibits new residential development projects on properties spanning 10 acres or more in FEMA Flood Zones A & AE.

State Senator Tom Wright notified New Smyrna Beach Mayor Fred Cleveland of the $1 Million appropriation in a letter dated Tuesday, May 2.

“I know this funding is going to be put to great use by your organization and look forward to seeing the positive benefit it has on our community,” wrote Wright. “I am incredibly proud to bring this critical funding home to our beloved communities and look forward to the effects it will have," Mayor Cleveland said.