County Fixing Potholes on Causeway Beach

The Dunedin Causeway beach will soon make for a much smoother ride.

All those large potholes that had made certain areas hazardous for pedestrians and drivers are finally being leveled after months of back-and-forth with Pinellas County leaders. 

Vince Gizzi, parks and recreation director, told residents on the Dunedin Causeway recently that the city and county were collaborating to find a long-term solution to the large potholes caused by erosion.

Maintenance, which began on the northside shoreline in March and is ongoing on the south side, will continue every two months, Gizzi says. 

A citizen group with the Dunedin Beach Civic Association  in September, saying the county was not holding up its end of a 2001 interlocal agreement to maintain the Causeway. Residents were even supported by the City of Dunedin, which drafted a resolution calling for years-overdue erosion maintenance in October.

The county first balked. In February, the Civic Association learned that the matter was deferred to the Transportation and Stormwater Division and pushed aside.

"Our Causeway should be treated as a park, not a road bed," Glenn Stienke of  said at an Association meeting in February. 

Residents said the Dunedin Causeway beaches act as a gateway to the state's beloved , which sees more than a million visitors each year.

Members continued writing Latvala, until Gizzi shared news of the agreement in March. 

Gizzi said under the recent agreement, the city is to supply the heavy equipment grader and the county is to provide the beach materials. Crews are operating the grader, which levels the surface of the shoreline, during early morning hours when fewer cars are parked on the beach.