City Scrambling For Ways To Keep The Marina From Sinking

City officials are scrambling in the wake of a surprise letter from the State Department of Boating and Waterways, advising that no further loans for the facility will be made until most of the outstanding $4 million in loans are paid off.

That letter, delivered last Friday, sent shock waves through City Hall. The demand for most of the outstanding loan repayment puts the city’s long-standing plan for marina renovation at sea.

Now officials are looking for ways they can salvage the facility with the limited resources they have on hand.

“We have to save what we have,” said recreation manager Mitch Austin, who said he was very surprised at the state’s sudden demand for most of the money. “We will be looking for ways to repair the eastern wall, instead of replacing it. We will try to dredge the entrance and as many of the slips as we can. By doing that, we can hopefully generate enough revenue to dredge even more slips.”

The eastern sea wall is full of holes and is allowing mud to come into the marina and collect to the point where boats have a difficult time getting in and out. At this point, the eastern portion of the marina is unusable.

“The City is disappointed this requirement was not shared with City staff sooner so other plans could be developed,” Austin said in a release. “It is uncertain if the Department of Boating and Waterways even recommended our request for grant funding be included in the 2012/13 funding cycle for the $750,000 we requested for replacement of the wall.”

“It’s a shock,” said Mayor Rob Schroder. “We’ve always tried to work with DBAW for years to get them to release the 3.1 million in loans.  The rules by which they operate have changed over the last few years. They were told to tighten up their lending practices and act more like a bank.  All the while the marina is silting up. Time is of the essence. We’re going to have to regroup.”

Schroder said the city is pursuing plans with state legislators to help with grants and other sources of money for the marina.

“Our intent is to fully repay the loans,” he said. “The original marina loan was made in 1959. I was six years old. The marina is what it is. We’ve been doing as much as we can with the resources at our disposal. We have made some progress, but we’re not there yet.”