Boat launch considered at marina property

Originally Published by the Mobile Register

Link:http://www.al.com/news/press-register/baldwin.ssf?/base/news/1248945367209250.xml&coll=3


Thursday, July 30, 2009
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter
ORANGE BEACH — Looking to relieve overcrowding at two public boat ramps, city officials said Tuesday that they were exploring the possibility of installing a launch on about five publicly owned acres on Terry Cove.

Last month, the City Council voted to set aside the northwest corner of the property for a dog park, leaving more than half of the former Walker Marina unused.

Using that space to accommodate a boat launch was proposed by a Marina Road resident during a council work session discussion about the overflow parking problem at the state's Boggy Point boat put-in. Mayor Tony Kennon said that City Hall already has employees looking to see if Orange Beach qualifies for any state or federal funding for such a project, and has a citizen advisory committee reviewing other aspects of the proposal.


"I do think it's an option," the mayor said. "We have to see what kind of grant money is available."

City Administrator Ken Grimes said that, in addition to looking for funding, municipal employees and the citizen panel are discussing the proposal with residents of the neighboring Mess-About Marina complex, contemplating designs and thinking about whether a boat launch would be compatible with a dog park.

"It's very preliminary," Grimes said.

In 2005, Orange Beach paid

$9.6 million for Walker Marina, which was battered by Hurricane Ivan the previous year. From the outset, city officials envisioned transforming the property into a municipal marina for the local charter fishing and nature cruise fleet that was quickly losing moorage to redevelopment.

To do so, however, would cost $17.2 million and Orange Beach, strapped for cash and having already laid off employees, decided to scrap the plans.

Grimes has said the city will consider offers for the property but has not actively shopped it.

Now the land could provide a place to salvage part of another scuttled city project: a new boat launch to relieve congestion at the state-owned ramps at Boggy Point and Cotton Bayou.

Two summers ago, Orange Beach designed a $2 million, five-ramp boat launch facility on Perdido Key, just off Ono Island's western tip. The Old River facility would be paid for and managed by Orange Beach but built on state land. When Ono Island's residents voiced opposition to the plans, however, state officials backed off, deciding not to let the city build on its property.

"At this point, I would say it's dead," Kennon said Tuesday. "The state has to be the ones to bring it back."