Boot Key Harbor Message Board: 100 New Slips...

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Boot Key Harbor Message Board

100 New Slips...

Posted by Jim Lowry on July 16, 2008, 8:58 am
68.54.32.97

For those out of towners this was taken from
the Free Press (Marathon).

Please READ it all... I stood at the City Meetings along with others. Concerns were the lack of infrastructure needed to support 100 + new slips, the cost to tax payers for the slips and the supporting infrastructure, the added traffic into and out of the Marina area, on and on and on.

But the city still wants to spend your tax money on studies, where the tax payers don't want the slips.

Marathon NEEDS someone who will watch spending and control cost and that person is Joanie Nelson. Please MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

Please vote for Joanie Nelson.

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City marina building boardwalk

BY Rob Busweiler

Free Press Staff

A new concrete boardwalk being installed at the Marathon City Marina is expected to be finished in the coming weeks.

Marathon Deputy City Manager C.J. Geotis said the new boardwalk, which is a deep red color, will extend from the back of the marina and into the parking lot. It will make the marina more handicap accessible and allow for a tiki hut and seating area to be put up in an area which used to consist of just dirt.

"We will able to pay for the project through enterprise funds," Geotis said, noting that the profits from the marina were able to cover the boardwalk.

A new bath house for the marina is also being built. On Friday, construction crews were surveying the land, and the project is expected to be finished in several months. The new bath house will also serve to bring the marina up to the American's with Disabilities Act code, which was a problem with the marina's current facility.

In the near future, the City Council could be looking into what would be the biggest change in the marina and harbor since the expansion of the mooring field in Boot Key Harbor was completed last year. A study on the possibility of adding additional dock slips is nearing competition. City Councilman Don Vasil first broached the idea in 2007, but said that with the current municipal budget crunch, it may be wise to hold off on such plans. The marina currently has dock space for about 15 boats, but could expand along one of its shorelines to add more than 100.

Geotis said the city could apply for permits to do such work in the meantime and wait for the budget situation to improve.

"Those permits take between 12 to 24 months anyway," Geotis said.

The council will also be reviewing this year's suggested increase in dockage and mooring ball fees during the upcoming July 22 general meeting. Last year, the council forced marina staff to go above the suggested increased rates in order to prevent the city from competing with nearby local businesses who offer dock slips.

rbusweiler@keysnews.com