Community pool, park, gym creation among possible City of Marathon budget priorities

Community pool, park, gym creation among

possible City of Marathon budget priorities

But Harbor Drive purchase idea gets thumbs-down from public at meeting

BY TERRY SCHMIDA

The City of Marathon is considering moving ahead with more than $14 million in capital improvement projects over the next five years – but one idea seems to have hit a nerve with some voters.

At an Aug. 13 budget workshop held at the Marathon Fire Station, city staff ran down a “wish list” of projects, many of which have been under discussion in one form or another for years.

The list includes the building of a community swimming pool, establishing a community park or gymnasium, and the acquisition of Boot Key, among other ideas.

But it was the notion of purchasing waterfront property, adjacent to the Harbor Drive boat ramp, that rankled several members of the public, who spoke out against the idea.

Vice Mayor Mark Senmartin had floated the idea at the Aug. 11 City Council meeting, and brought it up again at the workshop.

Noting that he had heard that a second round of grants being made available by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council could be used to finance land purchases, Senmartin suggested that buying and refurbishing the land might be a way to alleviate some of the congestion issues in the area, which is located north of the Marathon Airport.

“I would like to see if we can maybe move [the land purchase] into a higher priority section, where we can go to the TDC and see if we could find out about getting some of this money to possibly turn that into a park, a boardwalk, a fishing pier, and someplace better for the boat trailers and boat people,” Senmartin said. “It lends itself to it.”

He then proposed having staffers explore the idea.

But during the public comment section of the meeting, several residents lined up to oppose the idea.

First up was former Mayor Dick Ramsay, who has filed his papers for a City Council run at the next election. He suggested that the Harbor Drive ramp, which has been been promoted to visitors by Internet bloggers, should be restricted to residents only.

Ramsay called the idea of using TDC money, which is earmarked to promote tourism “outrageous,” given the already busy nature of the area.

“We are ruining our residential neighborhoods allowing too much influx of tourism into those neighborhoods,” Ramsay said. “We need to stop talking about it. We need to do something about it . . . We’ve got to stop this inundation of people. We’ve got to stop the idea that this is the best ramp in town and we’ve got to protect our residents.”

Marathon must take steps to remain a “family-oriented community,” Ramsay said, to scattered applause.

Residents Tom Wright, Arnie Steinmetz, and John Hunt also opposed expanding facilities on Harbor Drive, with Steinmentz going so far as to suggest shutting the ramp down entirely.

The City Council then discussed purchasing the former Quay Restaurant property, located at 12650 Overseas Hwy.