City of Pascagoula seeks state funds for marina

The City of Pascagoula wants to secure funding for a marina on Lowry Island as MDOT builds a new access road from Highway 90.

The Pascagoula City Council is seeking the help of the state legislature to secure the necessary funding.

The proposal puts a public marina right near River Park as the city is one of the few on the Coast without a public boat access made for widespread use.

The Restore Act came into play after the Deepwater Horizon spill, as 80 percent of those civil penalties go to protecting natural environments and bolstering the workforce. Community Relations Director Katarina Scott said, “So this would provide a lot more people to be able to house their boats, which is important because we have a large boating community here. And as we look into the future, Lowry Island is primed for future development. MDOT is in the process of creating an additional access point off Highway 90 that will make it much easier for the public to get to. So, the proposal for that marina is to fix the existing boat launches that are there, create the marina, and hopefully down the road that will attract more development to Lowry Island.”

At a projected price point of $9.4 million, those costs would cover everything from demolition of the old boat launches to erosion control.