Early City Marina Designs Unveiled

Mayor says he'll fold suggestions into next version
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
By RYAN DEZEMBER Staff Reporter
ORANGE BEACH -- After an hour-long meeting with planners of the city's proposed marina and about 65 charter fishing captains and residents Monday night, Mayor Steve Russo said he'll bring suggestions he heard about high-tech fueling systems and a possible parking deck into final design talks, as well as continue to pursue the purchase of nearby property for additional parking.
"I think we heard a lot of real good ideas tonight," Russo said. "I was glad to see so many people show up -- it was encouraging."
The meeting was the initial unveiling of what city officials and the designers they hired have proposed for a 5-acre parcel along Terry Cove. Orange Beach acquired the property, the former Walker Marina, in February for $7.6 million in cash and land, envisioning a municipal marina that would be a hub for the area's charter fishing fleet.
With many marinas being redeveloped into private waterfront condo projects and others irreparably damaged by last year's Hurricane Ivan, captains of fishing boats and other fare-carrying vessels are finding increasingly fewer mooring options.
Orange Beach hired MRD Associates of Destin, Fla., for $37,500 to design a public marina that would provide dock space to fare-carrying boats. As part of the contract with the city, MRD was required to run its early plans by those who would likely use the marina and those living nearby.
On Monday night, the firm's president, Mike Dombrowski, presented conceptual designs that would offer 58 boat slips accommodating vessels between about 30 and 62 feet long. Docks within the storm-damaged marina's existing boat basin would be traditional fixed piers, while those that extend into Terry Cove would be floating, Dombrowski said.
Last year's charter fleet listings accounted for 92 boats, most of which were between 30 and 45 feet long, Dombrowski said.
An entrance and exit would be created at the property's north end along Canal Road and about 120 parking spaces would be meandered around the water oaks and magnolias on site, said Robbin Gregory, a landscape architect with Volkert Engineering who is also working on the project.
A dock store, office and restaurant would be located nearer to the boat basin on a small bluff at about the same spot a house once sat on the property, according to the plans shown Monday. A fountain was penciled in between those facilities and the docks.
"By no means is this plan set in stone," Dombrowski said