The bulldozers that last week knocked down the old dry storage boat facility at the Vero city marina to start the rehabilitation and upgrade plan in earnest have finally almost succeeded in making a believer of an old skeptic like Bruce Jackson. Jackson, known as “Captain Bruce,” has rented a slip at the city marina for at least 10 years to moor his Moonraker, a 40-foot luxury manta sailing catamaran available for Indian River Lagoon cruises. “For all of those 10 years or more, I’ve been hearing about plans to do something with the marina,” Jackson said. “But it never happened, or it never happened when they said it would happen or how they said it would happen. “They wrote a lot about it in the local papers,” Jackson said. “But after a while, I just stopped reading and following it. Because once you thought you had it figured out, the next day it was going to change again.” Last week, with the arrival of the Proctor Construction Co. bulldozers, things finally did start to happen at the marina on the eastern shore of the Indian River Lagoon just north of the Merrill P. Barber bridge. The city marina is actually split into two parts that surround the Vero Beach Yacht Club, a private club that has its own boat dock in the middle of the marina’s docks and has enjoyed friendly relations with its municipal neighbor. To the south of the Yacht Club – and just north of the dog park – is the city marina’s boat storage facility where the old building was knocked down and a new 180-foot boat barn will be constructed, along with two new docks to expand mooring space and meet increasing demand from residents and visitors. To the north of the Yacht Club are the marina’s existing five docks with a fueling facility, and an on-shore building that houses other amenities for boaters like showers and laundromats. The old boat barn was knocked down in one day last week, and after the debris will have been hauled away, construction on the new facility will start almost immediately as all relevant permits have already been granted. The entire marina rehabilitation project will take another eight to 10 months to complete. “We are hoping that the new boat barn will be ready to accept boats after this year’s hurricane season,” said an employee at the city marina. “Of course, it would be better to be able to offer them storage space before the hurricane season starts, but that early time frame probably isn’t realistic.” Employees and boaters alike seem to be genuinely excited that work has finally started on the project to ensure that Vero Beach can continue to be a favorite destination for boaters along Florida’s East Coast. Several employees took pictures of the bulldozers knocking down the old buildings, some even with drones, to memorialize the occasion. Adjacent to the new boat barn are the two new piers the marina has already built, but no slips have yet been offered to boaters there. “We won’t offer those slips for rent until after the dust has settled from the demolition of the old building and the construction of the new one,” the marina employee said. The project, which due to legal delays is now costing about $2 million more than the original price tag, also includes replacing the most northerly pier of the existing marina, which has badly deteriorated wooden planks. The original cost of $7.6 million has swelled to $9.6 million because of increased costs of labor and materials. The original master plan for the marina, adopted in 2019, called for financing with a combination of state grant money, $2 million in city finds and a low-cost loan. If the city cannot find other sources of additional grants, the size of the loan would presumably have to be increased. The start of the project was delayed for about two years while the city resolved legal issues raised by the Vero Beach Preservation Alliance, a NIMBY group of local residents who objected to the marina expansion saying it would cause disruptions for nearby homeowners. The group had sought to place a referendum on the Vero Beach ballot which would force the city council to seek voter approval for such plans. Shortly after a judge threw out the request for such a referendum, the citizens group stopped its efforts to hold up the project and was eventually disbanded. But in the meantime, costs have risen by $2 million. To make matters worse, as a sop to the opposition groups, the city had already agreed to reduce the size of its new boat barn from 210 to 180 feet, which will mean less future revenue for the city. The marina has been self-sufficient and contributed some money to the city coffers in all of its years of operation. The marina charges boats using its facilities by the size of the vessel measured in feet. According to the marina’s website, rates start at $2.50 per day per foot, or $2 per foot per day on a weekly basis. Monthly rentals are $18 per foot per month and for the whole season, the cost is $17 per month per foot. Cheaper rates are available for mooring spots at buoys across from the marina up against the shore of Fritz Island in the middle of the lagoon. Some boaters prefer the remote location because it’s quieter and safer; they can commute to shore in their dinghies – the marina has a separate dinghy dock for them. <em>Photos by Joshua Kodis</em> [gallery ids="217260,217261,217262,217263,217264"]