Yacht club proposal to go before planning board again Friday

Two docks proposed for construction at the Marco Island Yacht Club have not gotten any shorter since the plans last went before the Marco Island Planning Board Aug. 10.

However, Rudi Landwaard said he thinks the changes in the design will be appreciable enough for the board Friday to finally approve the variance needed for a project that has been four years in the making. Landwaard, the vice chair of the Yacht Club, is also chair of the ad hoc committee formed to design and implement plans for the docks.

“They wanted it smaller but we can’t make it smaller because it’s not economically feasible for us,” Landwaard said.

One dock would jut 333 feet into the waterway, sitting inside a larger, “L”-shaped dock. The larger, 390-foot structure is designed to accommodate three ships up to 100 feet in length.

Existing city code limits docks to a length of 20 feet into any waterway.

In all, the plan calls for the addition of 40 wet slips to add to nine currently owned by the club, which are located on Marco Island Marina Association docks. The Marina is a partner in the Yacht Club’s proposal, and would own 10 slips on the proposed docks.

Photo by LESLIE WILLIAMS HALE, Eagle staff
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The edge of the Marco Island Yacht Club’s deck curves back toward land at the point where a 390-foot “L”-shaped dock would begin. It is the longer of two proposed by the Marco Island Marina Association and club, which is seeking a variance from the city to build structures with room for 40 new wet slips.

The larger dock was originally designed at 402 feet, but a shift in the design that brings the dock further in from the Chestnut Waterway actually allowed the dock to be shortened without losing any room for boat slips. It also means that the dock will extend to the same spot in the Marco River that was pinpointed in the previous plan.

Revised plans called for the inward shift because the planning board expressed concern Aug. 10 over the docks’ imposition on the waterway, which runs alongside the marina and yacht club before dumping into the Marco River.

“The channel width at the mouth of the Chestnut Waterway is approximately 151 feet in width,” City Planner Brian Milk wrote in a memo to the Planning Board in advance of Friday’s meeting. “Moored vessels staged and/or moored along the north side of the proposed L-dock may encumber vessel navigation in this area for MIMA members, passersby and residents living along the Chestnut Waterway.”

Pulling the structures closer to the bridge would open up the mouth of the channel to allow boats more room to enter and exit, Landwaard said, and part of the presentation Friday will attempt to demonstrate that traffic patterns would not be affected by the docks’ construction.

However, this may bump up against other concerns the planning board has already expressed.

At the August meeting, the board aired fears about increased boat traffic on the beach adjacent to the yacht club, plus the possible problems of the docks’ proximity to the Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge. The 25-foot shift of the docks brings the structures closer to both the beach and the bridge.

A handful of residents have e-mailed the city about the plans since the last meeting, addressing both aesthetic and logistical concerns. Four e-mails, three from residents who live across the channel from the club, express the same fears about increased traffic and extra strain on the manatee and dolphin populations in the area.

According to Milk, the length of shoreline along the yacht club and marina is sufficient to meet the city’s manatee protection criteria.

Milk’s states in the memo is that the yacht club has not fully addressed the resolved the issues raised at the planning board’s August meeting, but does not recommend an action to be taken the board.

“I would say it eases some of the concerns,” Landwaard said of the revised plan. “I can’t satisfy everything and still have a feasible project plan. I think we did everything we can to make it the best-looking marina you can see when you come across the bridge.”

The City of Marco Island Planning Board meets this morning at 9 a.m. in the community meeting room of the police building at 51 Bald Eagle Drive.