The Southwest Florida Water Management District recently amended an agreement with the City of Safety Harbor to move forward on a project that will reduce erosion near the Rainbow Farms subdivision.
Rainbow Farms is located within the Bishop Creek Watershed. The goal of this project is to stabilize Bishop Creek to prevent further erosion. In the past 25 years the creek has eroded beyond the established easement and is encroaching onto the adjoining residential properties. The eroded material eventually deposits into Tampa Bay, impacting water quality.
The amended agreement decreases the size of the project and increases funding. The city redesigned the project to accommodate some concerns of the impacted residents. The original cost estimate was too low for the work involved in the redesign, which is why the city proposed to break the project into two phases and asked for additional funding for the first phase.
This phase of the project focuses on restoring a 270-foot section of the creek east of Rainbow Farms Drive back to the existing easement by using cellular concrete block, sheet pile walls and vegetative cover.
The District’s Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board and Safety Harbor have each budgeted $400,000 to complete this portion of project, which is expected to be complete by September 2007. Funding in future fiscal years for additional restoration work along Bishop Creek is contingent upon Basin Board approval.