Wayside Park repair funds delayed as FEMA questions if Sally or Skanska caused the damage

Pensacola is still waiting on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to approve funding to repair Wayside Park more than 31 months after Hurricane Sally.

Wayside Park is the last remaining waterfront park in the city that has not been repaired from the damage caused in 2020 by Hurricane Sally.

Pensacola has gone back and forth with FEMA over the damage to the park's seawall and bulkhead. Before Hurricane Sally, the park was a popular spot to fish in the city, but that activity has been halted at the waterfront area of the park because of safety concerns.

Pensacola Public Works Director Amy Tootle told the News Journal the city estimates the repairs to the park's seawall will be about $2 million.

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While FEMA has already approved paying for repairs to Pensacola's other waterfront parks that were damaged in the hurricane, like Plaza De Luna and Community Maritime Park, FEMA has not yet approved funding for Wayside Park.

Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves told a town hall audience last week there were questions from FEMA over whether the damage was caused by a runaway Skanska barge rather than the hurricane itself.

"This has been a long, long road with the Wayside Park seawall," Reeves said. "We've kind of been one step forward, two steps back."

Tootle told the News Journal that FEMA requested additional information about the damage to the park in March and the city said it would sign an agreement that it was not seeking damages caused by a third party.

Tootle said the ball is now back in FEMA's court to decide on how much it will reimburse the city to repair the park.

"It's a long process, and there are many layers of approval," Tootle said. "We're still working through the process."

Tootle said she doesn't know how long it will take FEMA to return a definitive answer.

"We know it's important for the citizens to be able to get the use of Wayside Park back," Tootle said. "And that's what we're really striving for."

Reeves said once the repairs are complete, he wants to work on activating Wayside Park beyond what it was before Hurricane Sally.

Reeves said he was looking into a project to reconnect the pedestrian access to Wayside Park to areas north of the railroad and Graffiti Bridge by restoring a waterfront walkway that goes under the railroad trestle.

"We know we want a vibrant park, we want a vibrant boat launch, we want a vibrant waterfront," Reeves said. "We need human activity."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola's Wayside Park awaits Hurricane Sally repairs, FEMA approval