Featured Project - The Westshore Yacht Club
The Westshore Yacht Club is a mixed-use residential community and a 217-slip marina developed by WCI Communities with environmental permitting assistance provided by Cardno ENTRIX, Inc. Located along Old Tampa Bay in South Tampa, the site previously existed as an abandoned industrial warehouse facility, deepwater shipping access, and a dredge material disposal site.
Classified as an urban redevelopment project, the development plan included the demolition of the existing industrial warehouses and office buildings and over-water structures previously used as a part of the ship docking. The project site is unique in that it has direct, open water access to Old Tampa Bay, creating adequate tidal flushing and ambient water quality conditions; it allows for the utilization of an existing, abandoned shipping basin that did not require dredging or permanent wetland impacts; and its location at the terminus of an existing channel prevents potential navigation hazards.
The 28-month environmental permitting effort required bathymetric surveys, seagrass surveys, detailed estuarine habitat mapping, and water quality sampling to demonstrate that the development would meet or exceed state and federal environmental rules. Environmental mitigation for the site redevelopment included the creation and enhancement of 1.65 acres of tidal wetlands, the removal of all on-site invasive, exotic vegetation. and water quality improvements through the construction of a modern stormwater management facility to replace the existing, antiquated system which was constructed prior to current permitting criteria.
The permitting effort also required extensive coordination with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the City of Tampa. In addition, extensive coordination with local civic organizations was required in order to draft, adopt, and implement a speed zone over the adjacent 428-acre seagrass bed to provide enforceable, long-term protection to this environmentally sensitive estuarine habitat.
The result of this four-year effort culminated in the conversion of an abandoned industrial site into an attractive residential community and marina.
For more information about this project, please contact Cardno ENTRIX's Drew Sanders at (813) 664-4500.