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Federal infrastructure grants help build hundreds of new transient slips and berths, and thousands of linear feet of side-tie docking space each year
Safe Harbor Charleston City’s 17,000 linear feet of transient dock space can accommodate boats up to 455 feet with an 18.5 foot max draft. Photo: Shine United
BoatU.S. was an early and enthusiastic champion of the 1998 federal legislation that created the Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) program, a state-industry-federal partnership that annually returns fuel tax monies paid by recreational boaters back to states and communities where it’s spent on construction of “safe, protected harborage” for transient boats. The objective is to mutually benefit both cruising boaters and the hosting waterfront communities where boat owners will buy goods and services locally while visiting.
Among the approximately 11 million recreational boats registered in the U.S., a little more than a half-million are power- and sailboats that visit different ports, whether on weekend getaways or snowbird flights south. The savvy crews aboard these cruising boats tend to gravitate to ports with ample docking and on-site facilities.
“Cruising boaters seek out welcoming waterfront communities, and these grants help interested towns roll out the welcome mat,” says David Kennedy, manager of our BoatU.S. Government Affairs department. “Word spreads quickly in the cruising community.”
How it works
The BIG program provides funds for tie-up and support facilities for transient vessels greater than 26 feet in length for stays of up to 15 days. Grant funding supports construction, renovation, and maintenance of marinas and other boating facilities for outdoor recreation and waterway access.
Under the program, public and private operators of open-to-the-public boating facilities from all states, commonwealths, territories, and the District of Columbia can submit proposals for two different tiers of funding, each requiring that grantees pay at least 25% of project costs.
Tier 1 provides maximum federal funding of $300,000 per state annually. Each state can submit more than one project proposal and is eligible for more than one annual grant.
Tier 2 funding is nationally competitive and is typically for larger-scale projects with maximum federal funding of $1.5 million per application. As with Tier 1 funding, each project is judged individually on its merits.
Boaters and manufacturers fund the program through excise taxes and duties on boating fuels and certain fishing and boating equipment directed to the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund and administered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Since its inception, the program has awarded more than $300 million to projects for transient recreational boats, including the construction of more than 7,000 berths, the addition of amenities such as fuel docks and Wi-Fi access, and benefitting boaters across most U.S. states and territories.
One step closer
Time will tell which of the 2024 BIG grantee projects come to fruition, which may not be known for several years (Most grants require project completion within three years, but extensions are granted). Here’s a quick look at the proposed projects:
- Alabama: Browns Ferry Marina in Athens plans to build 52 slips of new transient dockage, plus 672 linear feet of side-tie dockage accommodating up to 22 vessels.
- California: Ayala Cove has the largest public docks and moorings hub on San Francisco Bay, but the state-operated Ayala Cove Boat Docks on Angel Island are in severe disrepair and hazardous in spots. Grant funding will be used to replace the docks that will include 34 dedicated transient slips plus adding lighting and potable water to the facility.
- Florida: Amelia Island Marina is a full-service marina a few miles south of the ICW and about 30 miles northeast of Jacksonville. The marina has 130 wet slips and 200 dry slips, along with a service yard complemented by a 50-ton Travelift but plans to construct 1,528 linear feet of side-tie dockage with utilities.
- Georgia: Brunswick Landing Marina, a popular hurricane hole with 380 wet slips and 100 dry slips, plans to replace the existing transient docks with new infrastructure and utilities, providing a total of 17 transient slips, accommodating vessels 60- to 135 feet, and a new fueling dock. Utilities will include in-slip pumpouts, potable water, and up to 100A electrical service.
- Maine: DiMillo’s Marina, in the heart of downtown Portland, plans to add two 75-foot transient berths and 70 feet of side-tie dockage to extend the current dockage to 200 linear feet. It will also replace aging pilings, install three-phase power, add a more accessible gangway and a boater’s lounge, and replace an aging fuel dock. Peaks Island Marina, also near Portland, plans to add 30 new dedicated transient slips and 1,438 linear feet of transient side-tie dockage. Plans also include adding wave attenuation, fueling, and utilities.
- New Jersey: Wiggins Waterfront Park Marina on the Delaware River in Camden plans to add 11 transient slips, ADA-compliant gangways, increased electrical service, new piles to anchor the docks, and LED/solar lighting.
- New York: Cape Vincent Marina in the 1,000 Islands region plans to add 214 linear feet of transient dockage including utilities.
- North Carolina: Midway Marina in Coinjock, on the ICW by the Outer Banks, plans to repair and expand the existing transient dockage resulting in 1,092 linear feet of side-tie availability. The plan also includes shoreline stabilization and dredging.
- Rhode Island: Newport Shipyard Transient Docks, known regionally as a “megayacht marina,” plans to add eight new transient slips for vessels ranging from 80 to 110 feet in length, along with upgraded utilities specifically designed for larger vessels.
- South Carolina: Heritage Plantation Marina on Pawleys Island plans to add 770 linear feet of transient side-tie dockage along with utilities.
- Virginia: Cape Charles Yacht Center on the state’s Eastern Shore, near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, plans to build 1,238 linear feet of dockage, a bathhouse, and a fuel station. Fisherman’s Wharf Marina in Virginia Beach plans to construct 19 slips and 746 linear feet of side-tie dockage for transient vessels. They will also include utilities, and limited shoreline stabilization and dredging.
- Wisconsin: Manitowoc Marina in Green Bay plans to add a new dock with 14 dedicated transient slips with utilities.
Visit fws.gov/program/boating-infrastructure to learn more about the BIG program and this year’s awardees. — R.A.
2024 awardees
For 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded more than $21 million in support of projects. The funding is allotted for the collective construction of an estimated 187 new slips and berths as well as 7,768 linear feet (nearly 1.5 miles) of additional side-tie docking space, and amenities such as fuel docks and showers.
Breaking down this year’s grants:
- $4.4 million will fund projects in 18 states, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands under the BIG Tier 1 subprogram.
- $17 million will fund projects in 12 states (nine of which are also receiving Tier 1 grants) under the BIG Tier 2 subprogram.
- States receiving 2024 BIG grants: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Showcasing more modest improvements, St. Marys Intracoastal Gateway Marina in Georgia used BIG Tier 2 funding to add 600 feet of transient dockage with water, electricity, and pumpouts, crucial for cruisers heading to and from Florida on the ICW.
First, a few hurdles
The awarding of grant funding is only one step in the process before a check is in the mail to these local awardees.
“There’s a lot of work to be done even after the grant is awarded,” says Brad Gunn, who reviews the BIG applications for FWS. “In some ways, that’s when the hard work begins.”
Financing deals fall through, properties change ownership, there could be permitting issues, or an owner may balk at the 20-year obligation to provide transient dockage that comes with accepting BIG money.
“This isn’t free money,” he says. “It’s money with strings attached.”
For starters, projects don’t receive grant funding at the time of approval – it’s reimbursed after the sponsor certifies that expenditures have been made. Other eligibility requirements include:
- Facilities should be built on navigable waters available to the public in water deep enough for nontrailerable recreational vessels to navigate.
- Grant recipients must install navigational aids to allow safe passage for transient vessels between the tie-up facility and the channels or open water.
Since its inception, the program has awarded more than $300 million to projects for transient recreational boats, including the construction of more than 7,000 berths
From his experience, Gunn estimates that about 30% of Tier 2 projects awarded grants won’t make it to the finish line. Large marinas in major stopovers and destinations tend to get the bulk of grant money because those big operations are more likely to apply and are better able to leverage additional financing, Gunn says, but some awardees are small facilities located in just the right spot for cruiser traffic.
As an example of the former, Gunn cites Safe Harbor Charleston City Marina in South Carolina. Since opening in 1994, marina managers have applied for and were awarded BIG grants over multiple years that helped fund expansion and upgraded dock and slip space, fueling infrastructure, and added amenities like power and potable water for the transient boating community. Today, the marina features 17,000 feet of linear dock space covering 40 acres of water with a variety of public berthing spaces and amenities, particularly at its Megadock – a 1,500-foot floating concrete dock for transient megayachts, which brings more income to the local community.
For the latter, Gunn points to St. Marys Intracoastal Gateway Marina, near a deep-water inlet with no bridges and easy access from the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, in remote St. Marys, Georgia, on the coastal Florida border. The city-managed marina lost many of its facilities in Hurricane Irma in 2017. Even after rebuilding, upwards of 60 boats are anchored in the St. Marys River at any given time because there is no access to shore, the city indicated in its grant application, “And during times of more traffic, there can be upwards of 100 boats looking for dockage as they travel to and from Florida.”
This spring, construction was finished at the project site, and the city of St. Marys has added 600 feet of dockage dedicated to transient boaters. The new dock, rated for a Category 3 hurricane, offers utility pedestals for water and electricity, and the dock offers pumpout services.
ICW dredging backlog gets $48.5M
After years of dire warnings, navigation along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway should get safer with $48.5 million in federal funding approved for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to address critical waterway maintenance and dredging. That’s $10 million more than the previous year — part of an effort that has significantly reduced the maintenance dredging backlog since 2016. The waterway’s chief advocate, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association, has worked for more than a decade to fund dredging to return the waterway to its authorized depth of 12 feet.
“The Intracoastal is used by many kinds of boaters and anglers, and dredging is critical to safety and the economic development that boating brings to waterfront communities,” says David Kennedy, manager of BoatU.S. Government Affairs and AIWA board member. “This latest win, along with more sustained support for other shallow draft harbors, gives promise that the boater’s voice is being heard in the halls of government.”
States receiving funding for FY24 include Florida ($4M), Georgia ($4M), North Carolina ($26.6M), South Carolina ($8.5M), and Virginia ($5.3M). — R.A.