Public Input Wanted for Orange Beach Marina Designs

Sunday, October 23, 2005
By RYAN DEZEMBER Staff Reporter
ORANGE BEACH -- Along Terry Cove, nestled between the ornate townhouses of Mess About Marina and the expansive Sportsman Marina, sits a basin of splintered boat slips and 5 acres dotted with live oaks, water oaks and magnolia trees.
Purchased by the city last February, the former Walker Marina will soon undergo a transformation into a municipal marina where charter fishing vessels and small cruise boats -- their current mooring options shrinking due to redevelopment and storm damage -- will await fares.
On Monday night, captains of those boats along with homeowners of Mess About Marina and other residents will have the opportunity to chime in on the designs of the facility. A public meeting will be held at the Community Center on Canal Road beginning at 7 p.m.
In July, the City Council voted to hire MRD Associates, a coastal engineering firm that has blueprinted municipal marinas for Florida cities of Port St. Joe and Fort Pierce, as well as Orange Beach developments The Wharf and Bon Secour Village. The Destin, Fla., firm will be paid $37,500 to provide a plan for the public marina.
Last week, at its Tuesday meeting, the council voted to initiate the second phase of its contract with MRD in which the firm will conduct an archaeological and historical survey of the property as well as map its wetlands for $6,100.
"They have a couple of concept designs that they would basically present (Monday) and we want to get input," said City Administrator Jeff Moon. "There's a two-fold purpose: one, we want to make sure we're good neighbors to the folks at Mess About, and two, to make sure that we're serving the needs of the charter fishing fleet.
"This is both of their chances to have input into the design process."
Letters requesting attendance to the meeting were sent to the more than 100 captains holding licenses to operate fare-carrying vessels in Orange Beach, as well as to the 20 or so property owners at the neighboring development, Moon said. Other city residents are also invited to attend and give their thoughts, he said.
Orange Beach acquired Walker Marina using a combination of $7.6 million cash and property -- a small tract fronting Wolf Bay, valued at $2.1 million -- from an employee of former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy. Scrushy bought the marina and adjacent property along Canal Road in the summer of 2003 for a total of $3.45 million, according to probate court records.
When Scrushy combined the marina parcel with the adjacent Canal Road tract, the property exceeded 5 acres and became eligible for high-density development, which in turn raised the land's value.
With several marinas, including Griffith's, Capt. Trent, Hudson and Sun Harbor, destroyed in Hurricane Ivan or torn down to be redeveloped as condominiums, city official sought the Walker Marina property to ensure Orange Beach's charter fishing fleet would have a place from which to operate.
Moon said city officials anticipate being able to have between 50 and 70 slips at the marina, which opens into Terry Cove and gives captains a straight shot into the open Gulf via Perdido Pass. From the property, the Perdido Pass bridge is in full view, bookended by strips of high- rise buildings that line the beach.
No clear-cutting of the parcel's trees will take place; instead parking will be meandered around the tilted oaks and magnolias, Moon said.