Almost all of the memorial benches that lined the shore in Holmes Beach are gone.
And replacing them could cost a pretty penny.
City officials unveiled a program April 22 for sponsors to replace their missing memorial benches that formerly provided seating at the beach.
The municipality has accepted funding for many years from sponsors to build benches dedicated to loved ones.
The benches are made with a pair of concrete forms with wooden boards that form the seat and back.
Small plaques display a message of dedication determined by the sponsors.
Many of the benches were placed near public beach accesses to provide seating for beachgoers.
However, only 44 of 164 memorial benches have been found in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton, according to public works director Sage Kamiya.
Kamiya said the storms left many benches destroyed, missing, underwater or buried in sand.
Former Holmes Beach resident Joyce Doran told The Islander May 2 about a memorial bench dedicated to her daughter, Karen, who died in 2015 at age 24.
She said her friends came together a year later to sponsor the memorial bench on the beach near 65th Street, with a plaque reading “In Loving Memory of Karen Belinda Doran.”
Doran said the bench meant a lot to her.
“I could sit on the bench in the sand, looking at the ocean, where we loved to be,” Doran said. “It became a great consolation to me and it gave me a feeling of peace.”
She said losing the bench was “heartbreaking,” but she was hoping to have it replaced.
Mayor Judy Titsworth said at the April 22 meeting that replacing the lost benches would be expensive — a cost she was not comfortable with the city shouldering, especially with increased storm activity in recent years.
The mayor said there were other problems with benches on the beach, such as how they can impede nesting sea turtles, and she suggested the city should instead encourage tree plantings near the beach.
The city stopped accepting applications and requests for new memorial benches last September.
Nevertheless, sponsors will have a chance to replace any memorial benches that were installed within the past 10 years — as long as they are willing to cover the cost.
Under the city’s new program, sponsors must apply to replace a lost or damaged bench.
Replacing a bench will cost sponsors $1,200-$1,400, according to Kamiya.
He based the cost on an estimated 15 hours needed to rebuild a single bench, plus the cost of materials and memorial plaques.
Kamiya said that, so far, 29 sponsors have contacted the city about replacing damaged or lost benches.
He said the city would address them on a first-come, first-served basis and inform them of the cost of replacing each bench depending on what was recovered of the original.
If they agree to move forward and provide funding, public works will replace the bench in its original location.
Kamiya projected staff could complete up to two benches per month.
During public comment, former Commissioner Jim Kihm said the cost to sponsor a memorial bench for his wife was about $450 around five years ago.
Kihm asked city officials to “sharpen your pencils” to see if anything could be done to lower the price of replacing the benches.
Kihm said he believed the benches provide a public benefit by giving people places to rest.
Doran said she supported Kihm’s request to lower the proposed cost of replacing memorial benches, which she said was exorbitant “to say the least.”
“Let’s see what we can do with the financing,” she said.
Commission Chair Dan Diggins said he would look into making the matter a formal agenda item for a future meeting so it could be further discussed.
The city commission will meet next at 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 13, at city hall, 5801 Marina Drive.
A livestream of the meeting can be viewed on the city’s website, holmesbeachfl.org.