Over the past 10 years, the number of boats docked at the Braddock Bay Marina has dwindled from a high of more than 300 to fewer than 20.
The primary problem: Ever since a spit of land washed out of the bay mouth back in the early 1970s, silt and sand carried in by waves from Lake Ontario clogs up the navigation channel. Right now, that channel is less than 2 feet deep. Cleaning it out annually has proven expensive and mostly futile.
"In order to get out on the lake, you've got to go full throttle, or you're going to bottom out," said boater Paul Risio, one of the few hearty souls remaining at the town-owned Braddock Bay Marina on East Manitou Road. "You'll just get stuck."
But a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project is bringing some big changes to the bay mouth — contractors begin next week building a barrier beach that will help keep excessive silt and sand in check — and clearing the way for what the town hopes will be a resurgence of the bay as a destination for recreational boating.
"We're on one of the Great Lakes and the remarkable thing about Greece is that there is very little space for the 97,000-plus residents here to access the water," said Town Supervisor Bill Reilich. "So when the Army Corps came in and made their commitment we knew we had to invest in our marina."
To that end, the town is negotiating a contract with the Daniele Family of Companies to not only run, but to refurbish the marina with all new docks, electrical systems, plumbing, fueling station and even a small restaurant.
"It's going to be among the nicest marinas on Lake Ontario," said Reilich.
Westpoint Marina
The Daniele Family of Companies proposal to run the town's marina was one of just two proposals submitted back in May. The other was sent in by Steve Gibbs, who had run the Braddock Bay Marina since 1996. He and the town engaged in a protracted argument over whose responsibility it was to dredge the channel, with the town taking on the task until 1999 when grant funding ran out, then refusing to do any additional work.
Gibbs tried to dredge the channel on his own, but his attempts were in vain. The silt kept coming back and over time, boaters fled the marina. Meanwhile, without revenue coming in, the structures there fell into disrepair. Now, the marina's three docks look like something out of a Dr. Seuss illustration: all hills and valleys, with twists and turns and missing boards. Reilich said the town dismissed Gibbs earlier this year for not meeting his contractual obligations to make annual improvements, but didn't bar him from making a new proposal.
One entire dock at the marina is gated off, closed with orange barrels and a padlocked gate
"Some kids went walking out on that one a couple of weeks ago," said Risio, pointing toward the closed walkway. "And it just started to sink on them."
Reilich, also Chairman of the Monroe County Republican Committee, said he separated himself from selection of a new marina operator to avoid the appearance of favoritism. Anthony Daniele, a Republican and president of the Monroe County Legislature, is co-owner of the Daniele Family of Companies.
The company has proposed a $1.7 million renovation of the marina that will begin in 2017 with the construction of 100 new docks. As occupancy increases, additional docks would be replaced. There's also plans for a small convenience store as well as a restaurant that would offer options like hamburgers and hot dogs. Details of a 25-year operating contract are still being hammered out, but the town would get at least 15 percent of annual revenues, plus 5 percent of fuel sales.
The marina would be renamed Westpoint Marina to align with the Daniele family's upscale Southpoint Marina on Empire Boulevard. That facility includes a 150-seat restaurant overlooking Irondequoit Bay, a private pool for members and a clubhouse with full-service bathrooms, showers and recreational areas.
Ecosystem restoration
The aim of the ongoing $8 million Army Corps of Engineers project isn't to restore the bay for boating, but rather to restore fish and wildlife habitats to an ecologically important section of Lake Ontario.
Over the winter months, crews excavated channels and holes into the existing marshes and treated acres of invasive non-native cattails with herbicides in an effort to boost native species and add diversity to the wetland habitat.
The bay is part of the Braddock Bay Fish and Wildlife Management Area, a 6-mile-long complex along Lake Ontario that also includes Buck, Long and Cranberry Ponds as well as Rose Marsh. It is an environmentally sensitive waterfowl nesting, resting and feeding habitat and is the Atlantic flyway for migrating species. More than 100,000 various species of raptors migrate through the park annually.
The marina is on a piece of the 375-acre former Braddock Bay State Park, for which the town paid $1 in 1979 to secure a 100-year lease. The town subleases the marina.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer was a driving force behind securing money for the restoration project from the Environmental Protection Agency.
"After decades of decline, I’m glad to report the multi-million dollar federal investment to restore Braddock Bay back to the region’s premier wildlife conservation and recreational destination is in full swing," he said in an emailed statement when the first phase of work was completed in April. "Since last August when I announced our successful push to convince the EPA to greenlight and fund this project, work crews have created new wetland habitats. Soon they will begin dredging to reconstruct the barrier beach that will not only protect the wetlands but enhance boating and recreation in Braddock Bay and rejuvenate the entire area."
Beginning next week, crews will dig out a navigation channel that will be about 200 feet wide and at least 8 feet deep. Sand from the excavation will be used to build a barrier beach that includes 1,675-foot continuous rubble mound breakwater, two 180-foot rubble mound groins, a three-acre headland beach and two 150-foot headland rubble mound breakwaters.
"They have to make it safe for boaters," said Nick Mustang, who on a recent afternoon went out in the bay with his personal watercraft. The navigation channel isn't clearly marked, he said, and in some spots the water was so shallow, that old concrete piers from the long-defunct railroad that ran along the lake were less than 2 feet below the water's surface. "If you didn't know they were there, you'd just hit them."
If all goes according to the proposal, all renovations would be complete by 2022, with the first phase of construction completed by May 2017.
That's something Risio is looking forward to.
"You know, it was like 10 years ago that this place was hopping and there was a two-year wait list to get a slip," he said. "Then they just stopped taking care of the channel. I've been waiting for this to come back for years."
MCDERMOT@Gannett.com
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