Vero Beach City Council has approved a construction contract for a new boardwalk at Humiston Park, but organizers say they still need to raise $500,000 to cover the remaining cost.
Councilman John Carroll said the city budgeted for a sidewalk at Humiston Park, but residents pushed for a boardwalk instead — a costlier option that created a budget shortfall from the start.
"We went to the community, and the community wanted us to build this boardwalk versus the sidewalk that we had originally designed," Carroll said.
Before construction bids came in, Carroll said the shortfall stood at roughly $1.7 million. But he said the bids submitted two weeks ago were strong, and the City Council approved a contract with the low bidder at its meeting Tuesday.
"The bids came in very, very good," Carroll said. "So we're off and running now."
With the winning bid in hand, Carroll said the remaining shortfall has dropped to $460,000. The newly formed Humiston Boardwalk Citizens Committee set a fundraising goal of $500,000 at its meeting Monday.
Carroll said he and his family made an early matching donation to jump-start fundraising after the project's shortfall became clear, and other donors followed. By the end of the campaign's first year in 2025, organizers had collected about $400,000 in pledges.
But donations slowed significantly this year, prompting Carroll to meet with Jeff Pickering, President and CEO of the Indian River Community Foundation in February to discuss next steps.
That conversation led to the creation of the citizens committee, which Carroll said has two main jobs: developing a donor recognition plan and launching a new push to attract additional contributions.
"The main purpose of the committee is twofold," Carroll said. "One is to come up with a recognition plan, whether it be naming rights for the boardwalk, for the pavilions, the benches, stuff like that."
Carroll said the committee is also looking at more affordable ways for residents to give, including sponsoring individual planks — an approach he said has worked well.
Carroll said construction is still set to begin in November, work that must happen between October and April 1 because of sea turtle nesting season. He pushed back on online speculation that the timeline had slipped.
"That's the original date that hasn't changed, even though there's some stuff out there on the internet said that we kicked it back a year, but we never did," Carroll said.
He said the city is targeting a completion date of March 30, 2027.