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Residents get a sneak peek at proposed downtown marina
By LESTER R. DAILEY
Article published on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007
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![[Image]](/content_images/012507_cit-01.jpg) |
| Photo courtesy of CITY OF CLEARWATER |
| An aerial shot of what a proposed downtown 129-slip marina might look like is shown for voters who will consider the marina in a March 13 referendum. |
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CLEARWATER – It was standing room only at the Harborview Center on Jan. 17 as city officials and hired consultants informed residents and answered their questions about the 129-slip marina that will be built downtown, if the voters approve it in the March 13 referendum.
“We’ve seen other boat slip projects, but we’ve never seen a stand-alone boat slip project,” Mayor Frank Hibbard said, adding that the boat slip projects defeated in two previous referendums were part of larger downtown redevelopment plans.
“Our desire is to have an active waterfront 365 days a year. We believe that having boat slips will create daily activity,” he said.
Hibbard listed fishing, dolphin watching and walking on the promenade as some of the activities that will draw people to the area.
The referendum would authorize 140 slips, ranging from 30-to 55-feet in length, but the state Department of Transportation has requested an easement that would eliminate 11 of those slips. Water depth in the slips would range from 4.5 feet to 16 feet at mean low tide. A wave attenuation system is designed to protect the marina in winds up to 110 mph.
The floating docks would be made of concrete, which is quieter and more durable than aluminum. Each slip would have electric and water hookups, but sewage would have to be discharged at a central pump-out location or be collected by the city’s pump-out boat.
There would be more than 1,700 feet of “side-tie” mooring for overnight visitors, and another 800 feet of free side-tie mooring for daytime visitors and special events.
Grants, a $500,000 contribution from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency and a $10,000 annual stipend for 10 years from the Downtown Development Board, would cover part of the $11 million cost of the project. The rest would be financed by a 20-year bond issue that would be repaid by slip rental fees.
“This not only cash flows; it creates revenue for the city,” Hibbard said.
Margie Simmons, the city’s finance director, estimates that, over its first 40 years, the marina would generate $12.7 million for its own maintenance and earn a $4.8 million profit for the city.
“We wanted to be sure that the cost of the project would be borne by the users of the slips and will not come back on the taxpayers of Clearwater,” Simmons said.
Initial rental fees have been pegged at $2 a day, or $15.50 a month, for each foot of the boat’s length. The statewide average is $1.86 a day or $20.84 a month. Permanent slip rentals would be awarded by lottery system, with Clearwater residents given preference.
“The market conditions we found were alarming,” said Kirby Marshall, a consultant with Applied Technology Management. “There has been a drastic reduction in the number of publicly available boat slips.”
He estimated that in the past five years, while boat registrations have increased by 15 percent in Pinellas County, the number of boat slips has dropped by 23 percent.
The project would include a more ambitious rehabilitation of the Drew Street Pier building than the one already scheduled, possibly including showers, restrooms, a laundry facility and a dockmaster’s office.
It would also include parking improvements, landscaping, and a place where excursion boats and a beach ferry could pick up and drop off passengers. It would not include permanent fencing, a fuel dock, commercial boats or storage lockers for boating gear.
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Article published on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007
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