Pinellas County has more than 56,000 registered boats. Miami-Dade County is the only county in the state with more boat registrations. There has never been an excess of marinas here, but even those have been decreasing as the land for condos was far more valuable than for marinas (at least a couple of years ago it was).
There's a Florida law that dates back to the 1800s which says that any dock projects on navigable waterways need permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. But -- because manatees are an endangered species, the Army Corps of Engineers can't approve the dock permits without the approval of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Permits were denied for seven new projects adding boat slips. Phase II of Nautico, developed by Frank Maggio, for 194 boat slips at the old Huber Marina site was among those denied. Travis Corp wanted 99 wet slips and 400 dry slips. The remaining five were very small projects.
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