Marina NIM Left Many With More Questions

Attendees at the Neighborhood Informational Meeting (NIM) learned that Rose Marina management submitted a site development plan amendment, conditional use, variance, and boat dock extension to the City. They are proposing a 225-seat restaurant in the area previously occupied by the iconic Jack’s Lookout, a very small but popular spot for many islanders and visitors. That area has also been home to many fishing charter captains who have been located there for many years. The addition of a large restaurant would require relocating some of those charter boats to alternative locations yet to be identified. 

The boat docking facility extension would amend the existing boat dock extension granted in Resolution 03-13. This would allow for a second cruise ship operated by American Cruise Lines. The Marco Princess, a 90-foot sightseeing and dinner cruise ship, has operated from its present slip for many years and may have to be relocated within the marina to make room. Final plans for that relocation have not yet been formalized. 

The conditional use seeks to allowboat racks to exceed the zoned height of 35 feet to 44’6”. They are also applying for reductions and modifications of and to landscape buffer requirements and waste/recycling facility locational requirements that are already set in the LDC. 

Back in 2014, Rose Marina sought approvals for three major conditional use as well as a new site development plan for their Bald Eagle Drive property to update the island’s only full-service marina. The $15 million investment required the city’s cooperation as they sought a variance in height restrictions. Those enhancements to the property would include, but not be limited to, the following. 

The new hurricane resistant boat storage facility was a priority item and one of the first enhancements to be completed.Upgrades to the stormwater discharge systems were also part of the selling points, as well as plans for improvements in the 50-year-old property’s landscaping buffers along the property lines that abut their neighbors. Also proposed in 2014 was astate-of-the-artenclosedservice facility; the plans for that have been shelved. 

Last week’s informational meeting may have raised more questions than answers, and further information is expected in the coming weeks and months before many of these questions can be addressed.