City talks how to keep popular Southport dock afloat

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC(WWAY) — The Board of Alderman is talking Wednesday night about Southport’s city dock that Hurricane Matthew damaged nearly two years ago. However, it is remembered as historic part of the town.

“We refer to it in Southport as the L dock, which was originally built for commercial fisherman, commercial vessels. Obviously it’s been torn down for a few years because of the storms,” resident Leon Messer said.

People who live in the area are concerned with the process of how the city will rebuild it. Some people just want the city to think of the residents first when it comes to this decision.

“I think it should be kept in the best interest of Southport, for the residents of Southport. A fair rate to rent a dock would be a great thing as long as the price doesn’t get driven up and it’s fair choice for people,” Messer said.

The suggestion that many were against was to change this public dock to a private-public joint partnership with the Southport Marina. Which is why the town held a public meeting, so they could go over the different options.

There were five different options shown at the meeting. Option one would replace the city dock with a news fixed one in the same location. Option two is the same as the first option except it would replace the current dock with a floating dock. The third option was from the Corps of Engineers and extends beyond the first section of the dock. Option four is a small dock with no slips extending a maximum of 1/4 of the water body distance. Lastly, option five creates a dock that is 800 feet long and potions are owned by the Southport Marina and the City. The dock would be managed by the marina.

“It was very interesting to hear the facts cause there were a lot of rumors going around and I would just love to see our docks just be repaired and have that camaraderie again,” neighbor Maria Swenson said.

The division of Coastal Management, the Corps of Engineers and Southport Marina were there to answer any questions that were lingering.

“I want us to build something and I’m sure the rest of the board wants to do that because we don’t want to be a harbor town without a harbor,” Southport Mayor J.V. Dove said.

There was no public comment, but many residents walked away hopeful of a good plan for the L dock.

“Enough people showed up to let the town know they were pretty serious about maintaining the integrity of it,” resident Joe Kirley said.