By Steve Plunkett
Severe corrosion of metal connectors on Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s popular boardwalk has forced Boca Raton to close the wooden pathway until it can be repaired or renovated, a task that could take at least six months and more than $1 million.
Bridge Designs Associates Inc., the city’s consulting engineers, inspected the quarter-mile boardwalk and warned parks officials Feb. 22 that a number of joists under the planks had “no positive means of support.”
“Because these connection points could fail without warning and the deck could drop, these boardwalks should be closed to the public immediately,” the engineers wrote.
The next day Boca Raton closed the educational loop trail and its observation tower. Deputy Recreation Services Director Buddy Parks also asked the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District, which pays the nature center’s operating and maintenance costs, for money to replace the boardwalk.
He included three bids the city obtained last April ranging from $1.3 million to $1.9 million.
Beach and Park District commissioners wrestled with the request at their March 2 meeting.
“Is there any price guarantee on these bids?” asked Commissioner Steven Engel asked. “Because if there isn’t, then these bids are virtually useless.”
Steve Alley, who sits on the board of the Friends of Gumbo Limbo and also leads tours on the boardwalk on Sundays, emailed commissioners to say he thought the city’s replacement proposal was “cost overkill” and that “a more fiscally responsible way” should be found.
Commissioners told Arthur Koski, the district’s acting executive director, to get consultant Miller Legg to analyze the city’s proposal. Miller Legg already is updating the master plan for the oceanfront Red Reef Park, which includes Gumbo Limbo.
“I just think that it would be not prudent to make a decision to spend that amount of money without getting all the facts,” Koski said.
The district spends about $2.2 million a year operating the park.
Only the loop trail is closed. The northern Ashley Trail, which Alley complained is “far less diverse,” remains open, as does the southern spur from Red Reef’s parking lot.
News of the boardwalk’s closure spoiled an otherwise upbeat week for Gumbo Limbo. The nature center celebrated its 30th anniversary of its Sea Turtle Day on Feb. 28. And turtle watchers logged the first nest of 2015, a leatherback, on Feb. 26.
Turtle nesting season is March 1 to Nov. 30.
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