BEAUMONT, Texas — Beaumont City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to move forward with plans to restore Riverfront Park in downtown.
Tropical Storm Harvey severely damaged the park in 2017.
Director of Beaumont Public Works Department Bart Bartkowiak says a Galveston-based construction company named Callan Marine will lead the Riverfront Park restoration.
Bartkowiak says the contactor will go in and put bulkhead along the river shoreline.
"We're going to put the dock back that use to exist prior to Harvey for docking boats, restore the sidewalks throughout the park, lighting benches, the pavilions," he said.
This restoration will come with a price tag of $17 million, which is paid for through FEMA funds.
"It's a long process involving FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers for the permitting. We had to work with the general land office. There's just a lot of regulations that you have to go through with it," Bartkowiak said.
Bartkowiak says there has to be a pre-construction meeting with the company, but he hopes to have the project started within the next few months
"They're use to working on water fronts and the shore so it's a specialty they'll be doing a lot of it off barges," he said.
Because of all of the erosion to the shoreline, this won't be a quick fix. The project could take a year-and-half, but for city leaders, it's been a long time coming
"The city been working on it since Harvey in 2017, so we're very excited to get this underway," Bartkowiak said.
The company will also be tweaking some drainage under the park as they go through the construction process.
This revitalization of downtown also includes the former AT&T building, which is currently being eyed by developers locally and around the state.
This project is not included in the $17 million FEMA funding.
Anyone interested in buying the building must submit a proposal by February 2, 2023. Then, a special committee will review the proposals and make a recommendation to city council whether they should sell to a developer.