FORT MADISON – The red tape of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been sliced through and the Fort Madison Marina project is full speed ahead.
A permit was held up after FEMA officials told the city the wrong permit had been applied for and another $6,000 fee would be required before they would start the clock on a 90-day window for a certificate to allow flood insurance for the hospitality center.
That certificate was received by the city about three weeks ago, and now work has begun on the foundation of the center that will house a restaurant, convenience store, restrooms and showers.
“The major setback for the project was FEMA,” said Michael Mohrfeld, president of Mohrfeld Electric, the general contractor on the project.
“They are so big and disjointed. To get flood insurance you have to get a certificate to indicate the building is above the floodplain. We filed paperwork in June of 2022 and it’s supposed to be a 90-day process. When we got to the 90th day they said we filled out the wrong paperwork and wanted $6,000 more for the right application.
“Three weeks ago we got that certificate. It’s one of the most frustrating things I’ve been a part of. We even got (U.S. Rep) Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ office involved.”
But Mohrfeld said the extra time allowed the marina committee to retool and redesign some things due to increased costs. The construction costs have increased steadily, but the group is still trying to build the project within the initial budget of about $15 million.
“We used that time to make some modifications. So we were able to take advantage of the added time before we could break ground on the building,” Mohrfeld said.
He said vertical construction of the building could begin in the fall.
Crews broke ground this week putting in concrete footings and starting with some of the bases for the concrete walls. He said concrete work will continue through the end of August.
“Our construction goal for completion is February and or March and then open directly after that,” Mohrfeld said.
“Honestly the goal was to start foundations last fall, which would have put us into opening in the peak season and that might have been a little painful, but this allows the project to grow a bit beforehand.”
Fort Madison Mayor Matt Mohrfeld said laying down asphalt on the east side around from the ramp is next on the schedule and striping the roadway. But the asphalt work will stop there until the concrete work is done so no heavy trucks damage the asphalt.
“That’ll be a game changer,” the mayor said about the asphalt work. “We’ve done the final layout for the rest of the parking, but that building has to be built first. We won’t bring heavy equipment across that asphalt.
The mayor said the next wave of work will include grating the former park and reseeding that, while getting preparations underway for replacing the shelterhouse and the playground. Mohrfeld said even the playground is being designed to be a part of the destination theme.
“It’s our goal to build that nice enough to be a destination playground. But that’s not been finalized. We haven’t broken step with the quality model and everything there is geared toward a destination location,” Mohrfeld said.
Final walk throughs have been done on the covered docks, and gangways are being set up to the walkways from the docks. Jet ski docks were being installed on the east end of the marina Thursday and the mayor said the courtesy dock near the hospitality center is also in the works.
Michael Mohrfeld said the restaurant will be owned by a group of investors and will be a private enterprise. He said he’s hoping to have some announcements about operations in the next month or two.
He said the big news is that the building is starting and that’s what the community is looking at.
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