Marco Yacht Club begins permitting for expansion

The long-awaited expansion of docking facilities at the Marco Island Yacht Club has finally cleared one of its toughest obstacles: the filing of the permit application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The project will add 40 floating dock slips, each 100 feet long, to accommodate the larger yacht-sized vessels used by club members and guests, Yacht Club Commodore Rodger McGinn said Thursday.

“That was the biggest hurdle — just to get the permit under way,” McGinn said. “You wouldn’t believe how much goes into filing this permit. It’s not easy. This also has to be approved by several other local and state agencies. But we hope to have this project done in 12 to 18 months.”

The city of Marco Island, Collier County, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are among the agencies that must review and approve the project.

“So far, we seem to be getting cooperation from everyone,” McGinn said. “It doesn’t look like there are any giant hurdles to jump at this point.”

The plan, according to the permit application, is to replace the existing dock and chickee on the Yacht Club side of the marina with approximately 3,862 square feet of floating docks. The new docks will accommodate 40 vessels up to 100 feet in length.

The Yacht Club now has nine slips for its members, among the 120 slips owned by Marina Association members. The Marina Association’s slips range in length from 40 feet to 45 and 50 feet, plus a few 100-footers, McGinn said.

“So we’ll be adding another 30 slips for Yacht Club use, and the docks will be big enough for the larger boats,” McGinn said.

To install the larger floating docks, the project requires dredging 3,024 cubic yards to create enough water depth for the bigger boats. The spoil from the dredge will be off-loaded across the Marco River on the northern side of Collier Boulevard, the permit states.

The Yacht Club’s 514 full-time members and 25 summer members agreed to share the project with the Marco Island Marina Association’s approximate 110 members.

Both organizations coexist on separately owned land just across the Marco Island-side of the Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge, on the north side of the bridge on the Marco River.

The Yacht Club will pay for construction of 30 of the slips, and the Marina Association will pay for construction of 10 of the slips. The Yacht Club will rent the 30 slips out to members and to the public on daily, weekly and monthly time spans, but those plans have not been finalized, McGinn said.

The Marina Association most likely will sell its 10 slips to members. Both organizations will share day-to-day operations costs once the new docks are completed. Those costs include salary for a full-time dockmaster, McGinn said.

“When we first started planning this a few years back, we thought it would be finished by now,” McGinn said. “But we are excited to finally get this project going. It will be a great asset to the area’s boating community once it’s completed.”