The Gainesville City Commission voted Thursday to restore Bivens Arm Park, one of the city’s oldest nature parks.
The project is financed through the Wild Spaces & Public Places program, which previously oversaw Phase 1 of the Bivens Arm Marsh restoration project this year.
The first phase included construction of a sheet pile weir, a partly underground structure designed to regulate water levels by draining excess water in the marsh.
The commission voted unanimously to fund an additional two phases, which come together to create a $3.5 million project. Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker was absent during the vote.
Phase 2 will remove invasive plants from the marsh. Lost vegetation will be replaced with native aquatic plants.
Phase 3 will remove accumulated sediment buildup in the marsh.
Removal of the sediment is required by the Alachua County Wetland Protection Code to prevent impacts to wetland buffer zones, areas between natural wetlands and roads like Southwest 62nd Boulevard.
The park also plans to complete a boardwalk restoration project, which will occur at the same time as Phase 3.
Phases 2 and 3 are expected to cost $1.3 million, with the boardwalk restoration projected to cost around $2.1 million.
Betsy Waite, an engineer with Wild Spaces & Public Places, said the boardwalk has rotted and deteriorated over the past two years, prompting ongoing repairs by park staff.
“It’s been a struggle,” she said. “It’s really not sustainable at this point in time.”
The park plans to complete construction of the boardwalk with material designed to last 100 years without rotting. The current boardwalk is made out of lumber.
While the project has a large upfront cost, Commissioner Bryan Eastman said, the restoration is valuable to prevent frequent repairs to the structure.
“This is solving long-term problems,” he said. “Cities and governments in general have this tendency to patch things up.”
The project is expected to be completed later this year.
Contact Olivia Lofaso at olofaso@alligator.org. Follow her on X @OLofaso77652.
Olivia Lofaso is a third-year journalism student and the Summer 2026 city/county commission reporter. She previously worked as a contributing writer at The Alligator. In her free time she enjoys visiting art museums and solving crosswords.
