Mayor says Marina coming along "nicely"

FORT MADISON – Fort Madison Mayor Matt Mohrfeld gave a brief update Tuesday night on the city’s ongoing marina project.
Plans for the self-proclaimed 5-star marina are moving forward, but there has been a hitch in the progress of the privately-funded hospitality center.
Mohrfeld said progress there is hung up in bureaucracy.
“The hospitality center is at a stalemate with FEMA on permitting,” Mohrfeld said. “It’s not through any fault of their own, but the bureaucratic slow down of touching water."
“That is coming along, and we will be getting a zoom update on that at the end of the week.”
Mohrfeld also clarified the road along the river has been replaced with a 10-foot recreational path along the river.
“The river road has been not put back into the plan and it has been supplanted with a wellness path. The concept there is that you don’t put cars in between attractions and people,” the mayor said.
“So people that are taking advantage of amenities in the park can use the path and access the river. However, the north road will be a two-lane road.”
He said the rest of the roughly $14 million marina project is coming along “nicely”.
Several sets of docks are currently installed and operational with boats already moored to the structures. Another dock, Dock B, is currently under construction. At Tuesday’s meeting, the board approved another $35,433 for jet-ski lifts that will go along the east marina wall.
Motorists that have come around the marina on Hwy. 61 or traveled down into the park have seen the ballard lights that adorn the wellness path built on top of the jetty wall.
Railings and dock gates are currently being installed and Mohrfeld said they serve to help brand the new project.
Concrete approaches have also been added to the newly poured boat ramp on the marina’s west side as are other improvements.
“The lighting is going up and if, you haven’t been by at night, the ballards are lit on the jetty. The pier has been poured with the wellness trail that comes all the way around to the boat ramp.
That’s a very attractive look and has nice symmetry at night as it reflects out of the pool.”
Mohrfeld added the bids for asphalt for the parking lot are coming in and that work should be delegated soon.