Belvedere puts $550,000 in extra cash toward failing infrastructure, outsourcing

Workers in April 2019 perform the final phase of reinforcing the Beach Road seawall in Belvedere during low tide after discovering a segment of the wall was crumbling, shifting and at risk of failing. The city says repairs now need to be done to that work, and that new sheet piles need be installed, across two projects at an estimated cost of nearly $700,000. (Elliot Karlan archive / For The Ark 2019)

Belvedere has stashed $450,000 in extra cash from last year’s budget into essential infrastructure projects, which could include two new rounds of repairs to the chronically troubled Beach Road seawall.

The City Council on Jan. 22 unanimously approved the allocation plus another $100,000 — $50,000 for staff bonuses and another $50,000 for outsourcing website development and Finance Department tasks — on recommendations from the Finance Committee.

The year-end bonuses were already approved by the council in December, recognizing City Hall’s challenges amid staffing shortages and controversial issues such as the Mallard Pointe redevelopment proposal.

City officials say a top spending priority is to repair the partial Beach Road sheet pilings that were installed in 2019 after staff discovered the seawall near the China Cabin was shifting, crumbling and in danger of collapsing. The partial pilings are now rusting and may need cement caps, an estimated $300,000 cost that hasn’t been budgeted yet.

A second project to install full sheet pilings to reinforce a problematic section of the seawall is expected to cost nearly $400,000 and hasn’t been budgeted either.

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