A West Palm Beach construction company wants out of its contract with the City of Boynton Beach, claiming in a new lawsuit that the city owes it more than $300,000 for work on a stalled boat ramp project at Pioneer Canal Park. Mangonia Construction Group filed the suit in Palm Beach County on Friday, alleging faulty project plans and an unpaid change order brought the $798,225 job to a halt.
According to cw34.com, Mangonia is asking a Palm Beach County judge to let it terminate its contract for the Pioneer Canal Park Boat Ramp and Driveway Reconfiguration Project and to order the city to pay for work and expenses it says remain unpaid. The lawsuit was also covered by CBS12, which first reported the filing. The project, located at 848 NW 13th Avenue, was meant to reconfigure the existing boat ramps and docks and reconfigure and resurface part of the driveway, per details listed in the city's own bid documents.
A Disputed Change Order at the Center of the Fight
Per the complaint, Mangonia says it completed additional work under a revised design and submitted a change order for $284,638.12 on July 14. The company alleges the city did not approve or deny that request within the 35-day period it says is required under state law, and argues the change order should therefore be considered approved — though the city has not paid it, according to the same account. On top of that disputed amount, Mangonia is seeking more than $50,000 for other unpaid work and expenses, plus interest, costs and attorney fees.
Florida law does set specific payment deadlines for construction services purchased by local governments. Under 2026 Florida Statutes section 218.735, agencies generally have 25 business days to approve a payment request when agent approval is required, or 20 business days when it is not, and must reject any noncompliant request in writing within 20 business days. If a dispute remains unresolved, the statute says it must be handled under the dispute-resolution procedure spelled out in the construction contract itself.
Faulty Plans and a Stalled Ramp, Mangonia Says
Mangonia's complaint traces the dispute back further, alleging it first discovered problems with the city's project design in April and told the city the work could not proceed as planned. The company says the city then directed it to perform additional work under a revised design, but that the revised design still failed to address site conditions. The lawsuit alleges the project remains stalled because the city has not provided a workable design, leaving Mangonia, subcontractors and vendors idle while costs continue to grow.
It is worth noting that the complaint lays out Mangonia's version of events, and those allegations have not been proven in court. The filing reviewed by cw34.com did not include a response from the city.
A Years-Long Headache for Boat Ramp Users
The boat ramp dispute is the latest chapter in a project that has already dragged on well past its original timeline. The City of Boynton Beach has said on its own website that the Pioneer Canal Park boat ramps were closed indefinitely after an assessment by Public Works, Engineering & Construction Services deemed them unsafe, though the west side of the ramp was temporarily reopened back in September 2024. The city has said the ramp closed for reconstruction, resurfacing and the addition of parking spaces, and that conditions discovered during construction required additional engineering evaluation that extended the original schedule. A confirmed reopening date is still not available, according to the city's Park Improvement Projects page.
The Pioneer Canal Park dispute is separate from another city waterway project: a planned week-long dredging effort near Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, intended to clear sand from navigation channels near that boat ramp and inlet and place it along the eroded shoreline at Oceanfront Park. The city has said that boat ramp would close during the dredging work. A similar Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park dredging project, a partnership between the city and the Palm Beach County Environmental Resources Management Department, was previously scheduled to start April 18 with a tentative completion date of April 25.
