Marina Dock Age

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that four Maine cities would join other “No Discharge Areas” in New England, according to a Feb. 5 EPA report.

Camden, Rockport, Rockland, and portions of Owls Head, Maine, will join several other coastal towns in prohibiting the discharge of treated and untreated boat sewage. The EPA’s decision is based on the availability of sufficient pumpout facilities to serve the boating public in these areas. The agency said they were six pumpout facilities to accommodate the area’s approximately 813 boats that are large enough to have a toilet onboard. EPA conducted site visits to ensure that the six facilities could meet the needs of the local boating public.

Other New England “No Discharge Areas” include all marine waters of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, as well as other coastal areas of Maine and Massachusetts.

At a White House meeting about the Asian carp threat to the Great Lakes, federal officials said they may seek to close navigational locks on Chicago-area waterways for up to three or four days a week, according to a Feb. 8 Chicago Tribune report.

The proposal is only one piece of a $78.5 million, multi-pronged plan to stop the invasive species from establishing a large population in Lake Michigan. Midwest governors attended the White House meeting to help federal officials develop the Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework. The plan includes more than 25 short-term and long-term actions designed to protect the estimated $7 billion commercial and recreational fishing industry in the Great Lakes.

In addition to opening Chicago’s navigational locks less frequently, the strategy plan to block carp movement also includes:

• funding a study to look at the potential impact of permanent lock closing, the effectiveness of lock operations, and alternative methods of keeping the carp out of Lake Michigan
• spending $10.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to build a third underwater electric barrier in the Sanitary and Ship Canal near Romeoville, Ill.
• awarding $13.2 million from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to construct concrete and chain link fencing between the canal and the Des Plaines River in case the carp bypass the electric barriers
• committing $5 million for additional toxic chemical treatment, $3 million to expand the commercial market for Asian carp in Illinois, and additional funding to further environmental DNA testing.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn said the plan is a positive step forward. “It balances the urgent need to remove Asian carp for the Chicago-area waterway system with the need to maintain the waterway system for navigation, storm water, and wastewater management,” said Quinn.

Government officials from other states with vested interests in Lake Michigan want to close the locks permanently. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox sued Illinois in an attempt to have the locks closed. After the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, Michigan asked the court to reconsider its decision and filed another suit seeking to separate the manmade connection between the Great Lakes and Mississippi water basins. Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, and Pennsylvania have joined that suit.

Asian carp were originally introduced in Arkansas in the 1960s to clean up algae from sewers and fish hatcheries. After a flood, they escaped into the Mississippi River in the early 1990s and have been migrating north up Midwestern rivers ever since. The fish are voracious eaters, can grow up to four feet long and weigh 100 pounds, and reproduce quickly, displacing native species.

“We have got to hit these carp and beat them back with all of the tools in our toolbox,” said Cameron Davis, a Great Lakes advisor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

While few can deny the potential harm of the Asian Carp invasion, Mark Biel, executive director of the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, can’t fathom closing the locks permanently. “I don’t think people fully understand the impact of closing these locks,” he said. “Chicago would not be Chicago if not for the shipping access between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.”

Two Portland, Maine-based marina businesses, MarinaSales, LLC, a marina brokerage firm and Tranzon Auction Properties, a full-service auction and real estate disposition company, announced their strategic alliance Jan. 20.

“We anticipate a strong need for timely sales with market driven pricing over the next 12 to 18 months,” said Jed Harris, principal at MarinaSales. “Continued credit tightening, an abundance of maturing debts and sustained challenges selling residential components will likely compel many marina property owners into aggressive selling positions.”

He noted that the biggest challenge facing marina seller clients is pricing their properties at levels that fairly reflect current market conditions in this challenging economy. MarinaSales believes its partnership with Tranzon will assure that their clients’ properties sell at fair market prices.

“MarinaSales has intimate knowledge of marine related properties, and Tranzon has unparalleled experience and expertise in handling accelerated dispositions of real estate for our banking, bankruptcy, and other institutional clients,” said Mike Carey, vice president at Tranzon.

Several marinas were among members of the Connecticut Maritime Coalition and representatives from shoreline businesses that met with Connecticut state lawmakers Feb. 5. They claim that the state must ease regulatory obstacles to dredging or risk damaging the economy in the long term, according to a report from The (New London, Conn.) Day.

Members of the state Environment, Appropriations, and Transportation committees heard businesses complain that they could not complete necessary maintenance dredging because of the high costs and long delays associated with complying with state and federal regulations.

Rives Potts of Brewer Pilots Point Marina in Westbrook said his company had struggled to secure permits for relatively moderate maintenance dredging projects. In addition, Potts was forced to transport what he considered to be mildly polluted sediment many miles to the state’s central Long Island Sound dumping ground. This added $165,000 to the cost of the project.

Opponents to the current regulations aimed their strongest criticisms at the state EPA for changing the dredging permit requirements in recent years, creating project delays and increasing the cost of dumping dredged material in offshore water.

EPA, however, replied that its regulations haven’t changed at all. Brian Thompson, director of the agency’s Office of Long Island Sound Programs, said the vast majority of dredged material in Connecticut goes to four disposal sites in Long Island Sound, off the shores of Greenwich, New Haven, Old Saybrook, and New London, Conn.

The state also is under pressure from the federal government and the state of New York, which opposes open-water disposal of dredged material. Connecticut is more determined to monitor its dredging operations for pollutants, Thompson said, and could halt open-water dumping altogether. He added that using these open-water sites requires testing and adhering to standards, which account for a lot of the time delays and cost increases in acquiring dredging permits.

The waterfront businesses noted that closing the offshore dumping sites means inland disposal would be the only option for disposing of dredged materials. This option is several times more expensive than open-water disposal, the businesses said.

Wilshire Marina in Hollywood, Fla., may face foreclosure over a mortgage made for $22.7 million in 2006, according to a Feb. 8 report in the South Florida Business Journal.

New Orleans-based Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Co. filed the action on Jan. 13 against Wilshire Marina, LLC and its managing members R. Jeffrey Arnold, Paul D’Agnese, and Taraneah Sirang, according to Broward County Court records.

The 22-slip marina along the Intracoastal Waterway was purchased in 2006 for $18 million. The owners replaced a pier that had been damaged by Hurricane Wilma and two years later, demolished a restaurant that had served as the site’s only major building.

The $22.7 million mortgage came from Alpharetta, Ga.-based Integrity Bank, which failed in 2008. Last September, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., acting as a receiver for certain assets of Integrity Bank, sold the Wilshire Marina loan to Gulf Coast Bank & Trust.

A four-year study of Florida’s registered boaters and what their spending means for the state’s economy revealed that Florida’s boaters bring in more than $8.5 billion annually, according to a Dec. 30, 2009, report on the Web site: www.tbnweekly.com.

The study, conducted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), examined 2007 boating trips and craft-related spending of registered boaters in various regions of Florida. The study showed that Florida boaters spent $3.4 billion on boat trips in 2007 and $5.1 billion for repairs, marina expenses, and other costs not associated with specific boat trips.

The 572-page report entitled “Florida Boating Access Facilities Inventory and Economic Study, including a Pilot Study for Lee County,” notes that boating trips and other boating-related spending supported 97,000 jobs in Florida. Boaters took 21.7 million boat trips in 2007.

David Harding, FWC economist who managed the study, said it will help state and local governments plan whether or not to maintain or construct new boat ramps or marinas and where to locate them. It also identified the features and characteristics of boating access points for site selection favored by boaters for freshwater and marine access on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.

“The results of the study show the importance of launch lanes, parking lots, and their overall conditions, as well as the area’s level of development—the number of developed facilities, such as restrooms, at the ramp,” said Harding. “Artificial reefs, seagrass, and management zoning are some of the important characteristics in site selection for boaters using marine access ramps.”

For freshwater boating access, boaters preferred sites with restrooms, the presence of marinas, and available parking, he added.

The study projects a price tag of $68 million to $111 million to maintain boaters’ access to water at the 2006 levels.

The entire report is available as a PDF document at: www.MyFWC.com. Click on “Economic Benefits.”

Merrill-Stevens Dry Dock Co., one of Florida’s oldest businesses and a fixture on the Miami River for more than 80 years, has shut down its boat repair business due to the weak economy, according to a Jan. 5 South Florida Business Journal article.

In the last two years, Merrill-Stevens has downsized from 160 employees to about 20 employees. Hugh Westbrook, who owns the company with his wife Carole Shields Westbrook, said that the company has been hit hard by the economy. The current plan is to keep the company operating on a project-by-project basis, but the primary business focus will be boat storage.

When he purchased Merrill-Stevens in 2005, Westbrook planned to spend $60 million to transform the boatyard repair facility into a megayacht repair and refit facility. The company currently can handle boats up to 155 feet long but is looking to expand the yard to accommodate megayachts up to 250 feet long.  This would require a $12.5 million investment, according to Westbrook, and banks are not lending that money right now.

Austin Cameron, a North Texas real estate entrepreneur who owns AC Properties, AC storage, and other businesses, acquired bankrupt VIP Volente Marina on Lake Travis, which is near Austin, Tex., for an undisclosed amount, according to a Jan. 6 Austin Business Journal report.

VIP Volente Marina is a 148-slip marina for small and large boats. It also has a parking lot, gas fuel dock, convenience store, and a fleet of boat rentals. Cameron said that he plans to upgrade the marina’s offerings and amenities and renovate certain parts. He expects all this work to be completed by the summer.

In Tennessee, Wisdom Dock Marina on Dale Hollows Lake was sold to Jim Figuardo, who also owns Grider Hill Dock on nearby Lake Cumberland, for slightly more than $6 million. Figuardo said that he expects to take some immediate steps to expand the marina by adding new docks and slips.

The previous owners of Wisdom Dock Marina, Paul and Judy Boggs, had owned the facility for 28 years and were planning to retire. They are delighted with the sale price for the full-service marina that has 175 slips, as well as a houseboat, pontoon, and toy rental program, and much more, according to Polly Fuqua, who acted as the marina business broker for this transaction.

Dock Street Marina in Tacoma, Wash., and Las Vegas Boat Harbor Inc. in Henderson, Nev., were named the winners of Marina Dock Age (MDA) magazine’s 2009 Marina of the Year contest.

Each year, MDA honors two marinas for their outstanding management results, marketing activities, community and industry involvement, customer satisfaction, and environmental efforts. It divides entrants into two categories based on slip size: those with fewer than 250 slips and those with more than 250 slips.

This year’s winner for marinas with 250 and fewer slips is Dock Street Marina, an 80-slip marina that has 25 transient slips. It is proud to report that usage of its transient docks has increased every year since it opened in 2005.

The marina is noted as much for its significant economic impact on downtown Tacoma as for its outstanding customer service, environmental friendliness, and making Tacoma’s waterfront a tourist destination. In fact, the Tacoma Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau named Craig Perry, the marina’s general manager, “Tourism Professional of the Year.”

For marinas with more than 250 slips, the winner was Las Vegas Boat Harbor Inc. , a family-owned and operated marina on Lake Mead. Las Vegas Boat Harbor currently has nearly 1,500 slips and describes itself as one of the largest inland marinas in the United States.

In addition to its wet and dry slips, Las Vegas Boat Harbor Inc. is a full-service marina that houses a floating service center, two restaurants and lounges, two pumpout stations, a fuel dock open 24 hours a day, two restrooms/showers for permanent and transient boaters, and a rental fleet of powerboats, waverunners, and pontoon deck boats.

The Gripentog family, which owns and operates the marina, said that one of its biggest responsibilities is keeping Lake Mead looking clean and beautiful. To do this, the marina employs a variety of activities ranging from handing out free trash bags to the public to putting power meters on slips to save energy.

As a concessionaire with the National Park Service, Las Vegas Boat Harbor works hard to provide customers with a “family oriented” marina, one that is designed to fulfill every boater’s needs and wants.

A developer that owns land off Old Hickory Lake in Gallatin, Tenn., has filed for bankruptcy protection in a move that a spokesman said was aimed at preventing foreclosure, according to a Jan. 1 article in The Tennessean.

Foxland Harbor Marina, LLC, the developer that planned to use the land for a new marina, filed its bankruptcy petition in Nashville’s U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Dec. 30, 2009. This was in advance of a foreclosure sale that American Security Bank & Trust had planned for Jan. 4.

The article claims that Foxland Harbor Marina has an estimated $1 million to $10 million in assets and a similar range of liabilities. Prior to filing for bankruptcy, Foxland Harbor Marina had been seeking approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a full-service marina at Station Camp Creek.