Add $900,000 to the city’s bill for damage caused by Hurricane Matthew.
That’s the cost estimate for repairs needed at Huguenot Memorial Park on Heckscher Drive in North Jacksonville.
An ordinance will be introduced at City Council next week to appropriate $550,000 to repair the road leading to and within the park.
Damage to the office building and maintenance area is estimated at $100,000 and replacing the entrance gate system will cost $100,000.
Repairing or replacing the 450-acre park’s shelters will cost $100,000 and $50,000 is needed to repair or replace the lifeguard station, signs, barbecue grills and trash receptacles.
Council on Oct. 25 enacted an emergency ordinance to appropriate $7 million for dune restoration in Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach.
Of the total, $6 million would be used to extend the contract for the beach renourishment project in progress to also include rebuilding the dunes destroyed by the hurricane.
Sea oat replacement accounts for the remaining $1 million of the appropriation.
Kevin Brown, a teacher at Fletcher High School in Jacksonville Beach, and student volunteers have offered to assist in planting the sea oats, which stabilize dunes from normal erosion.
As of Monday afternoon, negotiations between the contractor and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to add the dune restoration to the contract were not resolved.
Corps spokeswoman Amanda Parker said there could be an answer Wenesday on the proposed contract addition.
She also said the corps is considering beach renourishment at other areas within the boundaries of the Duval County Shore Protection Project including Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park and Mayport, but no schedule has been set.
During the discussion of the emergency dunes ordinance, city Chief Financial Officer Mike Weinstein said the Federal Emergency Management Agency upgraded Duval County’s disaster designation to a level that would allow federal reimbursement of permanent repairs to public facilities damaged by the hurricane.
He also said the city could be reimbursed by FEMA for up to 75 percent of repair costs and an additional 12.5 percent by the state, leaving the city’s liability at 12.5 percent.
Reimbursement could take as long as two years, Weinstein added.
Council member Al Ferraro, whose district includes Huguenot Memorial Park, did not respond to phone calls for comment about the repair plan.
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