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Marina will brighten blah area of Dunedin

By Times editorial
Published February 7, 2007

A new marina on the Dunedin Causeway will have two big positives for the public: It will bring boat slips that the boating community has been clamoring for, and it will help improve the appearance of an area that has long needed a sprucing up.

If Dunedin city commissioners get their way, the private marina also will improve public access to the waterfront.

A new Marker One Marina will be built at 343 Causeway Blvd. in Dunedin, known by many locals as the site of the former Jesse's Dockside restaurant. The marina project will increase the existing 175 dry slips to 339 and keep the number of wet slips at near 140. The redeveloped marina will have a supply store, a clubhouse for members, and a grill and bar.

The property owner is trying to be sensitive to the appearance that the large facility will have. The building drawings show a stepped-back building design that reduces the warehouselike appearance of boat storage facilities, and landscaping, too. The owner also intends to put some amenities like benches along the Pinellas Trail, which borders the marina property.

However, Dunedin commissioners are hoping for more. While they approved the marina's preliminary site plan unanimously, several also asked if the owner, Pinellas Marina, could provide more public access to the private property. Pinellas Marina isn't required to do so, but sounded open to the idea because of the potential benefit to the public.

The owner will meet with new Dunedin City Manager Rob DiSpirito soon to talk about some ideas for access. DiSpirito, although new to the area, sounded the right tone.

"My concern here is that people who were once able to afford a slip won't be able to afford one anymore," because slip prices in the new marina likely will be more expensive, he said. That concern has to be balanced with the property owner's rights and the fact that at least boaters will be able to use the waterfront property, rather than it being completely sealed off as it would be, for example, if a condominium were being built there.

Commissioners are right to seek every possible compromise that provides public access to waterfront land and views. Pinellas' waterfront lands are being redeveloped, often into private residential properties that nonresidents can't use at all.

One of the most important aspects of the project is that it will help to improve the dreary appearance of that portion of the Dunedin Causeway. Perhaps Marker One's revival will encourage other new, upscale development along the commercial portion of the causeway.

[Last modified February 6, 2007, 22:36:01]