St. Johns County wins $1. 48M for Vilano boat ramp and Summer Haven dune work

St. Johns County has secured $1. 48 million in state grant funding to stabilize a critical public boat ramp in Vilano Beach and strengthen coastal defenses along the Summer Haven River, county officials announced this week.

The St. Augustine Port, Waterway, and Beach District awarded $500,000 for the Vilano Boat Ramp Repair Project and $983,000 for the Summer Haven River Dredge and Dune Project. Both projects address aging coastal infrastructure under growing pressure from erosion, heavy use, and storm vulnerability along St. Johns County's Atlantic coastline.

What's happening

The funding was secured through collaboration between the St. Johns County Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Parks and Recreation, and Coastal Management. The awards represent the latest chapter in an ongoing partnership between the county and the Port, Waterway, and Beach District to maintain public waterway access and protect coastal communities.

At Vilano Boat Ramp, the $500,000 will fund repairs to the heavily used deep-water access facility, which provides direct access to the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway. An engineering assessment completed in June 2026 identified opportunities to maintain the ramp's functionality, improve structural stability, and extend its service life.

The project's phased approach includes pressure grouting concrete slabs to stabilize the ramp, installing sheet piles to reduce erosion and improve structural support, and targeted repairs to the existing seawall. The improvements are expected to extend the useful life of the facility by approximately 10 years.

Engineering, permitting, and construction are anticipated to begin in Fall 2026, with completion expected in Summer 2027.

The $983,000 award for the Summer Haven River Dredge and Dune Project will support excavation of the Summer Haven River and construction of a dune or berm using beach-compatible sand. The dune will provide infrastructure and river protection, extending from the northern revetment to the Old A1A access.

St. Johns County and the St. Augustine Port, Waterway, and Beach District have a history of working together on dredging and excavation activities in the Summer Haven River. The latest investment builds on that partnership and supports continued efforts to protect the area's coastal infrastructure and natural resources.

Why the Vilano ramp matters to boaters and the local economy

Vilano Boat Ramp is one of the most heavily used public launch facilities in St. Johns County, offering deep-water access to both ocean and Intracoastal routes. For recreational boaters, fishing guides, and charter operators, it serves as a gateway to productive offshore fishing grounds and protected inshore waters.

Projects of this type typically require coordination between county parks departments, state environmental permitting agencies such as the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and potentially the St. Johns River Water Management District if work affects wetlands or waterways. Permitting for in-water work and seawall repairs generally involves reviews of impacts to manatee zones, water quality, and navigation.

The phased approach—grouting, sheet piling, and seawall work—is a common strategy for aging boat ramps throughout coastal Florida, where tidal action, saltwater corrosion, and subsurface erosion compromise structural integrity over time. By stabilizing the slabs and reinforcing the shoreline, the project aims to prevent catastrophic failure that would force a closure and require far more expensive reconstruction.

Loss of access at Vilano would push users to other facilities in the area, increasing congestion at ramps in St. Augustine, Crescent Beach, or across the river in Jacksonville. For guides and commercial operators who depend on predictable launch times during peak fishing seasons, a functional ramp is a business necessity.

Coastal protection and the Summer Haven story

Summer Haven has become a symbol of the challenges facing low-lying coastal communities in Northeast Florida. The narrow barrier island settlement, just south of St. Augustine Beach, has endured repeated overwash, dune loss, and infrastructure damage from hurricanes and nor'easters over the past two decades.

The Summer Haven River, which separates the developed barrier from the mainland, is a shallow tidal waterway prone to shoaling and sedimentation. Dredging the river and using the excavated sand to build protective dunes addresses two problems at once: it maintains navigability for small boats and creates a natural buffer against storm surge and wave action.

Beach-compatible sand—material that matches the grain size and composition of the natural shoreline—is essential for dune projects because it allows the feature to behave like a natural system, shifting and rebuilding in response to tides and storms. Florida coastal-construction permitting, overseen by the Department of Environmental Protection, requires compatibility analysis to prevent downdrift erosion and protect sea turtle nesting habitat.

Dune and berm construction along the Summer Haven River will help protect inland infrastructure, including residential properties, roadways, and septic systems in a community where repetitive loss claims and flood insurance costs have strained homeowners for years. The project extends from the northern revetment—an engineered rock structure—to the Old A1A access, a historically significant roadbed that has been breached and rebuilt multiple times.

The St. Augustine Port, Waterway, and Beach District has been a recurring funding partner for Summer Haven work. The District, a dependent special district under state law, is funded by a property-tax levy and is charged with maintaining navigation channels, beach access, and coastal infrastructure within its jurisdiction, which covers much of St. Johns County's coastline.

How coastal projects like these move forward

Coastal infrastructure projects in Florida typically require a layered permitting process. Work below the mean high-water line generally requires a Joint Coastal Permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which reviews impacts to water quality, marine habitat, and public access. If federal waters or wetlands are involved, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers may also assert jurisdiction.

For dredging and dune work, additional approvals may come from the St. Johns River Water Management District if stormwater or surface-water management systems are affected. Sea turtle nesting season—May through October—often constrains the construction window for beach and dune projects on Florida's Atlantic coast, so contractors and agencies plan work around those blackout periods.

The Vilano ramp project, while smaller in scope, involves in-water construction, seawall modification, and potential impacts to the Intracoastal Waterway, a federally maintained navigation channel. Sheet pile installation—driving interlocking steel or vinyl panels into the sediment to form a retaining wall—is a standard erosion-control technique but requires careful staging to avoid blocking the ramp during peak boating weekends.

Pressure grouting, the technique planned to stabilize the concrete ramp slabs, involves injecting a cement slurry beneath voids or settled sections to fill gaps and re-level the surface. It is less disruptive and less expensive than tearing out and replacing entire sections of pavement, and it can be done in phases to keep portions of the ramp open during construction.

County officials indicated that engineering, permitting, and construction for the Vilano ramp are anticipated to begin in Fall 2026, with completion expected in Summer 2027. No specific timeline was provided for the Summer Haven dredge and dune work, though dredging projects in the area have historically been timed to avoid turtle nesting season and scheduled in coordination with beach renourishment cycles.

What happens next

Engineering and permitting work for the Vilano Boat Ramp Repair Project is set to begin in Fall 2026, with construction to follow and completion targeted for Summer 2027. St. Johns County Parks and Recreation will oversee the ramp project, while Coastal Management will lead the Summer Haven effort.

Details on construction schedules, lane closures, or public meetings have not yet been announced. Residents and boaters can monitor progress through the county's Featured Projects web page, which tracks capital projects across Coastal Management, Public Works, and Utilities departments.

For the Summer Haven project, key milestones to watch include permit approvals from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the St. Johns River Water Management District, contractor selection, and the start of dredging operations. The county and the Port, Waterway, and Beach District have collaborated on multiple dredging cycles in Summer Haven, so the project is likely to follow established protocols.

No public hearings or community input sessions were mentioned in the county's announcement, as grant-funded improvements to existing facilities typically do not require rezoning or land-use changes. However, residents in the immediate vicinity of construction—particularly along the Summer Haven River—can expect notices as permitting and staging plans are finalized.

Coastal pressure across Northeast Florida

The two projects underscore the infrastructure challenges that accompany rapid growth and environmental change across Northeast Florida's coast. St. Johns County remains one of Florida's fastest-growing counties, with much of that growth concentrated in master-planned communities and subdivisions west of I-95. Yet the county's identity—and much of its recreational appeal—is rooted in its beaches, rivers, and waterways.

Maintaining public access to those resources, while protecting vulnerable coastal communities from erosion and flooding, requires sustained investment and coordination among local, state, and special-district partners. The Vilano ramp and Summer Haven dune projects are modest in scale but essential to the day-to-day quality of life for residents and the economic vitality of the county's tourism and marine industries.

As sea levels rise and storm intensity increases, the balance between development pressure inland and resilience investments at the water's edge will remain a defining challenge for St. Johns County and its coastal neighbors throughout the First Coast.