"You do not need to be home while crews are working." The City of Mary Esther printed that line on the door hangers it left in the Azalea Park neighborhood on September 4, 2026. It was the morning Mayor Stein and the City Council broke ground in Azalea Park, joined by the project engineer, Jacobs, and the contractor, ECSC.
Four days later, on Tuesday, September 8, crews started on Caswell Circle. Their first job was cleaning and inspecting the sanitary sewer system. If you live on one of these streets, the first thing you'll see is trucks parked by manholes, and maybe a crew member asking how to reach a manhole in your back yard. A torn-up road comes later. The order makes sense once you see what the contract covers.
One Contract, Five Systems
The work has a plain name: the Azalea Park and Caswell Circle Neighborhood Improvements Project. On June 1, 2026, the City Council voted 5-0 for Resolution 26-11, which awarded ECSC, LLC a construction contract of $6,929,530.14. Mayor Pro Tem Susan Coxwell made the motion and Councilmember April Sutton seconded it. Back in March 2026, while the project was still out for bid, the city's monthly performance report listed its budget at $7.54 million. So the winning bid came in about $600,000 under that figure.
When the city announced the groundbreaking, it listed what the money covers in the neighborhood:
- Replacing water lines throughout the neighborhood
- Rehabilitating sewer lines and manholes
- Repaving streets and replacing curbs and driveways
- Sidewalk improvements on Caswell Circle
- Improving stormwater drainage
The city's FY 2027 budget calls the Azalea Park neighborhood the centerpiece of its capital program. It says the streets, sidewalks, stormwater, water and sewer lines "are being rebuilt together." That bundling is why the sequence matters on your block. The repaving and the new curbs and driveways are in the same contract as the pipes underneath. The sewer inspection happening now comes before the visible work, so a street that gets new asphalt won't be cut open again for a water line that wasn't part of the plan.
One piece of the contract is waiting on something else. The resolution lets the City Manager hold the Notice to Proceed on Additive Alternate No. 7 until the city hears back on its FFY 2025 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application. In a spring 2026 notice, the city described that application as a $3 million Small Cities CDBG request for the Azalea Park and Caswell Circle street improvements. The city hasn't said publicly what Alternate No. 7 covers, so that part of the project is still undecided.
What the City Has Told Residents So Far
The city has posted its updates as News Flash items on cityofmaryesther.com. Here are the ones published so far, in order:
| Posted | What the city said |
|---|---|
| August 28, 2026 | Invitation to the groundbreaking at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, September 4, plus the five-part scope list |
| September 4, 2026 | Ground broken in Azalea Park; work begins September 8 on Caswell Circle with sewer cleaning and inspection; door hangers delivered to homes in the work area |
| September 14, 2026 | Work on Magnolia Drive, Palmetto Drive, Camellia Drive, Azalea Drive and Hollywood Boulevard from Monday, September 14 through Friday, September 18; expect trucks, lane limits and possible yard access for sewer work |
The September 14 notice says the dates may change and asks residents to follow contractor flyers and posted signs. It is the most recent weekly update we found, and it only covers work through September 18. The city hasn't published a full street list, a phase-by-phase schedule or a finish date. For where crews are this week, check the project page at cityofmaryesther.com/azalea or call City Hall. Water shutoffs, detours and trash pickup during construction haven't been addressed in any city notice yet, so don't plan around rumors on those.
The Back-Yard Question
Most people picture road work happening in the road. Here, some of the sewer manholes crews need to reach are in back yards. That's why the door hanger matters, and why the city's guidance covers yards as much as streets. Here is what the city says to do:
- Keep the door hanger. It lists direct numbers for the contractor crews that schedule back-yard access.
- Call before the crew arrives if you have a dog, landscaping or a blocked gate. The city lists protecting pets, protecting shrubs and clearing a path to a manhole as reasons to call the number on your hanger.
- Check for identification. Crew members wear uniforms and carry ID.
- No hanger? Call City Hall at 850-243-3566. Staff will connect you with the crews.
- Report problems with a photo. For drainage trouble, property damage, blocked access or "anything that doesn't look right," use the Report a Concern tool on the project page. It takes a photo and a location, gives you a tracking number and sends updates as the issue is handled.
That last step is worth using. Because the contract includes new curbs and driveways, a photo of your driveway taken before crews reach your street gives you a dated record if anything comes up later.
Azalea Park Is First in Line
The project is the biggest single piece of what the city manager's budget message calls "the city's biggest capital year in recent memory." That's $12,572,601 in capital spending across all three city funds for Fiscal Year 2027. Most of it is paid for with the voter-approved sales surtax, state grants and low-interest State Revolving Fund loans, not the city's savings. The proposed millage rate stays at 5.0261 mills, which works out to about $5.03 per $1,000 of taxable value. Property taxes make up about 37% of General Fund revenue. The rest comes from shared state revenue, utility and franchise taxes, tourist development dollars, grants and fees.
The same budget lists more work after Azalea Park:
- The North Ditch stormwater project
- Sewer-line rehabilitation in the Springdale Park and Bryn Mawr neighborhoods
- Upgrades to Well 3
If you live in Springdale Park or Bryn Mawr, this fall's Azalea Park notices are the best preview you'll get of how your own project might be announced. Expect door hangers, weekly News Flash posts and a hotline at City Hall.
The Boulevard and the Library Come Next
Two of the five priorities in the FY 2027 budget are projects people will see from the road, not underground. One is finishing the Mary Esther Boulevard median beautification. The other is the Library park improvements, which the budget describes as creating programming space for the library and a venue for community events.
Both sites already have something going on this fall. On the boulevard, a 7 Brew Coffee opened at 490 Mary Esther Blvd, one of the newly opened spots in the Northwest Florida Daily News roundup of 2026 restaurant openings. The Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber scheduled its ribbon cutting for September 9.
At the library, the Mary Esther Library Trunk or Treat runs Saturday, October 17, from 2 to 4 p.m. It has candy, snacks, games, pumpkin decorating and a stiltwalker, and no registration is needed. That's the kind of event the planned park improvements are meant to give more room to.
The budget also names a bigger project down the road: finishing the funding package for a regional wastewater force main, which the budget calls "the largest infrastructure project on the city's horizon." For now, the work you can see is in Azalea Park, starting with the manholes in streets and back yards that crews are inspecting this fall.
If your home is on Caswell Circle, Magnolia, Palmetto, Camellia, Azalea or Hollywood and you're wondering how new water lines, sewer work and a new driveway might figure into a future sale or a rental listing, the team at Briar Patch Realty can talk it through with you, using what the city has actually published. Ask us for a free home valuation and we'll keep you posted on new project updates as the city puts them out.
