HISTORY:
The Indian Creek Seawall project started in 2016 in an effort to protect the exiting corridor against frequent flooding and sea level rise. The project limits extended from 25th to 41st Streets along Indian Creek Drive and a portion of Collins Avenue. During the first year of the project, construction of the seawall only took place within City owned street ends or previously deeded properties, however as the project progressed, the City was able to extend its construction into additional properties via quit claim deeds or easements, so there would be a continuous seawall to provide uniform protection from extreme tides and storm surge with the co-benefit that the upland area could be transformed into a greenway.
On December 18, 2017, problems related to the seawall construction were identified and the City met in the field with the Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM), South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) staff regarding the Indian Creek Seawall Rehabilitation project.
Several corrective actions were identified, including lack of Federal authorization north of 27th Street and a seawall built too far into the water in the vicinity of 29th Street, from 30th Street to 31st Street, and from 37th Street to 38th Street. The City immediately issued a stop work order to the contractor, Shoreline Foundation, and assigned a new City project manager. Over the next 10 months there have been numerous meetings with the regulatory agencies both in the office and in the field where the issues related to the wall construction have been reviewed in great detail and distilled to the three main areas listed above and the required permit modifications. It appears that the resulting consensus of the three agencies is to request the wall in the three locations to be relocated consisting of a total of 650 feet of seawall to be removed and relocated.
We have one remaining matter that must be resolved with the Division of State Lands. This matter was discussed in a meeting on November 13th and it was determined that encroachments into State submerged lands by more than 12 inches must be mitigated.
The type of mitigation was not determined however the preference was stated as being similar submerged lands, with other options of habitat restoration or water quality improvements. The Administration is currently exploring options for this mitigation.
The total seawall length along Indian Creek between 25th and 41st Streets is approximately 4,700 linear feet. As of today, the total seawall length constructed under the Shoreline contract on Indian Creek is 2,600 linear feet in the project amount of $3.7 Million. The total cost for relocating the 650 linear feet of seawall found to be out of compliance is approximately $1 Million, for which the City and Shoreline have discussed and are recommending a resolution which sets the City's maximum contributing amount at $529,570. As part of this change order the Contractor is requesting a payment for work performed that has been unpaid for nearly a year and the continuation of their contract to perform the additional seawall work needed along Indian Creek Drive between 25th and 41st Streets. There is still a total of 2,100 linear feet of seawall that will need to be installed by the contractor for an estimated cost of $3.3 Million. Approximately $2.5 Million of these required funds have already been budgeted.
The Administration recommends discussion of the change order with the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee for further direction. This change order for the Indian Creek seawall project between the City of Miami Beach and Shoreline Construction that includes the City’s maximum contributing amount of $529,570, for the relocation of three sections of the seawall along Indian Creek Drive. In addition, we recommend the allocation of the remainder of the budgeted funds for the seawall project be allocated to this contract.
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