Sanford Seeks $18M to Rebuild Hurricane Ian-Damaged Downtown Marina

Three and a half years after Hurricane Ian shredded Sanford's downtown marina, a staircase leading to nowhere and pilings jutting from the water still mark the wreckage at the west basin docks, while the city fights a nearly $12 million funding shortfall that is holding back a full rebuild.

Marine engineers hired by the city assessed roughly $18 million in damage to the docks and basin from Hurricane Ian. Sanford is pressing ahead with a plan of that scale, but of the estimated $18 million in damages, FEMA has approved approximately $6.4 million for reimbursement, leaving the city well short of what it needs.

"This is where a lot of the damage was sustained during Hurricane Ian. That dock there, this middle dock, which was there before Hurricane Ian, sustained a lot of damage. Now, a lot of the material from the dock has been removed, or it's on the lake bottom," said Assistant City Manager Craig Radzak. The FEMA shortfall landed hard. "They only estimated they would pay us about $6.4 million. So that's far short of the $18 million that we've requested from FEMA. So right now, we're going through an appeal process," Radzak said.

The storm wiped out about 20 percent of the city's public boat slips and left much of the marina unusable. The full rebuild calls for new docks, restoring the basin, and repairing key infrastructure throughout the waterfront.

The city's FEMA attorney office, Baker Donelson, prepared the first appeal to send to the Florida Department of Emergency Management, with the appeal due October 28, 2025. FDEM then has 60 days to forward it to FEMA.

FEMA has noted that by law it may only reimburse costs to return the marina to its pre-disaster condition, and any damage must be a result of the declared disaster. FEMA cannot reimburse for repair of damage caused by deterioration or deferred maintenance.

FEMA had previously announced it wanted to "start over" and review the case from the start, leaving the marina project stalled since the agency would only reimburse for repairs done after its approval. Mayor Art Woodruff described the situation as "frustrating."

Woodruff has said the city is now ready to go ahead and pay to restore the marina with money from the city's general fund if needed. The city had originally set aside $12 million for several waterfront projects, including the marina, before Ian struck and added an entirely new layer of repair costs on top of the planned improvements.

A dredging design and dock replacement contract with engineering firm Neel-Schaffer was finalized and presented to the City Commission at their September 22, 2025 meeting. The mayor has noted that the design and permitting process alone could take a year to complete before any construction or dredging begins along the waterfront.

Local businesses have consistently said marina access is critical for tourism and revenue along the downtown corridor. Part of the damage cannot be seen from the surface, hidden as silt pushed into the basins by Ian's wind and waves that must be dredged out, while the rest of the damage was to the docks and the pilings securing them.

Mayor Woodruff has said the city is going ahead with the project while still working with FEMA to recover reimbursement for the remainder, though the engineering and permitting process alone will take roughly a year before major work can begin.