05-15-2004, 12:05 PM
The main thing is permitting. It just about takes a miracle for the Army Corps of Engineers to permit something like a marina or even reconstruction of an existing one. In additon cost is another big factor. With the deep water you have on the east side of the lake it would take an incredible amount of fill to make the marina meet construction standards (slopes, fill quality, etc.) It would also require people to operate it, which the state will not provide, even though the state can show it would be profitable! When the old State Park marina was rebuilt in 1994 it literally took years of permitting to just "rebuild" it. Obtaining the correct rock to meet construction standards was difficult at that time since there just wasn't a good source of right rock that wouldn't break down over time. I agree the east side would be a great place, but permitting and costs are just too high. As far as the new vistor's center is concerned the old one was costing thousands of dollars to maintain. Leaky roofs, poor plumbing, etc. It "looked" good, but there were a lot of problems the public didn't see. In addition there was a need for additional parking and a better system for entrances and exits. Sometimes during the summer the wait was 3-4 hours just to launch or pick up your boat. A good chunk of the money used for the reconstruction this time came from the feds, so the parks got by relatively cheap on the latest construction. Hope this helps answer your questions.
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