Boaters in Baldwin County will have a much needed place to launch their boat next Memorial Day. Governor Kay Ivey and several state and local leaders were in Orange Beach June 16 for the groundbreaking of The Launch at ICW.
“Today is truly an asset to our coast and I am proud to have offered our support from the state level. Over the past several years we have committed more than $10 million in GOMESA funding for this boat launch project. That is on top of the county dollars that you all have put in. The GOMESA awards which we have given to Mobile, and Baldwin County are so important to this part of the state and I am glad to have this resource available to use to make projects like this a reality,” Ivey said.
The state and county have committed $17 million from GOMESA funds to this project: $10.1 million from state and $6.9 million from Baldwin County. Construction is ready to begin and weather permitting, construction will take approximately eight to 10 months. Officials says the goal is to have phase one of the project completed before Memorial Day 2022.
The 47-acre property has over 1,700 feet of water frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway just west of the toll bridge. The first phase of the project includes:
Future phases will include eight restrooms, walking trails, wooden bridges and fishing piers. The site includes areas for future development as well.
During Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon’s speech, he spoke about how vital this project is to Orange Beach.
“We are parking trucks and boat trailers at city hall because we have no place to park them, so this is a godsend Governor.” Kennon continues, “I do believe this is going to turn into a cornerstone property for a lot of future plans we have for connectivity from the south side of the canal to the north side. We have some wonderful plans for walking and biking trails and ecotourism and things of that nature. This is a keystone for that effort.”
The Intracoastal Waterway project is a long time coming. In May 2018, the county commission unanimously approved signing a letter of intent to push forward the plan to develop the 47-acre site. In November 2019, the boat launch project was one of 16 projects selected to receive GOMESA funds. In January 2020, local, county and state officials gathered at the site to officially kick off the project, but it ran into delays. In May 2021, the Baldwin County Commission approved a bid for $9.39 million from McElhenney Construction of Theodore.
