Tampa officials said the Ballast Point Pier rebuild could take three to four years as the project moves through design, bidding and federal review.
The estimate surfaced during a Feb. 5 City Council meeting, which also included debate over how to spend leftover fiscal year 2025 funds.
Ballast Point has been a waterfront landmark for generations.
The area has served as a gathering place for more than a century, drawing picnickers, anglers and families to the southern end of the Interbay Peninsula.
Council member Bill Carlson pressed city staff to publicly lay out the pier’s schedule, saying residents keep asking when the landmark will reopen.
Council presses for a public timeline
Carlson said the project’s title creates the impression the rebuild is imminent.
“The title is ‘Project to Restore the Ballast Point Pier,’ and it gives the impression it is coming in the near future,” Carlson said.
Mike Perry, the city’s deputy chief financial officer, said the schedule depends on multiple steps, including FEMA oversight.
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“The process is slow,” Perry said. “It will take three to four years, if I were to guess. Don’t hold that to me.”
“FEMA is going to want to see every step of that,” Perry said.
Perry estimated design work could take 12 to 18 months, followed by construction that could take up to two years.
Carlson said residents deserve a clearer public explanation of what that timeline means.
“What we need is, as a city, to put out a message and say, ‘This is where we are at,’” Carlson said. “So everybody knows.”
Surplus discussion turns to parks and neighborhood priorities
The pier discussion came as council members turned to fiscal year 2025 surplus spending, including park repairs and youth programs.
Carlson said South Tampa parks have deteriorated and framed the request as basic maintenance.
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“The regular swings have mold all over them,” Carlson said. “They’re falling apart. They’re rusted.”
“The disability swings and accessibility not working at all,” Carlson said.
Council votes to bring back a detailed surplus list March 26
Council members raised concerns about approving a priorities list without clear details and pushed for a more specific breakdown.
“I would be uncomfortable approving this without having an exact list,” Carlson said.
Carlson made a motion for the city’s budget analyst, Hagar Kopesky, to work with council offices and staff to return with a more detailed list. Council approved the motion and set the item to return March 26.
Council also asks staff to find another $500,000
Carlson also made a motion directing the city’s chief of staff, working with the chief financial officer, to identify an additional $500,000 to cover an overage in the proposed priorities list. Council approved that motion.
What happens next
Council is expected to revisit fiscal year 2025 surplus priorities March 26.