Monday, June 16, 2008
By KATHERINE SAYREStaff Reporter
The town of Dauphin Island will open a new public beach on the west end Saturday, as part of efforts by local leaders to attract more tourists to the barrier island.
Local officials boast of a list of amenities to be available at the new beach: lifeguards, food vendors, watercraft rentals and sand castle contests, among others.
The price tag for a day of parking at the beach: $20.
The west end beach was proposed last year as part of a town
effort to revive the local economy, led by an economic development consultant. The town paid $1.75 million to buy part of the beach property and leased another parcel. The new public beach will stretch 400 feet east to west, beyond the west end of Bienville Boulevard.
"I think it's going to be a nice attraction that Dauphin Island will have to offer people in south Alabama and even beyond," said Mayor Jeff Collier. "We rely heavily on tourism. ... It changes, to some extent, the dynamic, the makeup of the west end, because currently it's primarily privately owned property."
Much of the beach on the developed western end is owned by the Dauphin Island Property Owners Association, a private group of landowners. The association voted last year to make its beach open to the public. Two landowners filed a lawsuit to keep the beach private, however, and the case is scheduled for trial in September.
The Dauphin Island Park and Beach Board, a separate entity that operates Fort Gaines, also manages a public beach on the island, near the island's elementary school, about four miles east of the town's new beach. Parking is free, but no lifeguards are stationed there.
At the town's beach, food, beach gear, and other supplies will be sold and rented from bamboo huts to be installed at the site, town officials said.
The beach will also have a cooling tent with mist sprays and restrooms in a trailer. It will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
"It's real convenient for families," said Liberty Duke, the town's economic development consultant. "It's a safer beach."
Town officials have said the goal was to use portable buildings, such as the bamboo huts, which would allow the beach to be easily cleared for a hurricane or tropical storm.
The land was purchased from West Dauphin LLC — including partner Riley Boykin Smith, former head of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources — which owns most of the undeveloped west end of the island.
The town purchased 200 feet east to west of beachfront land and leased another 200 feet east to west, under the land deal. Officials said the town will pay up to $10,000 each year for the leased land.
The sellers also donated another 1,000 feet of Gulf-front, just west of a mile-wide breach in Dauphin Island carved by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
As part of the public beach proposal last year, Duke described developing this western parcel as a concert venue, and tourists could be ferried by boat across the breach for special events. Town officials said that plan is still being considered.
Collier said in a car full of people, the $20 parking fee amounts to $4 or $5 per person.
"Maybe it will get people to be creative and carpool and ride together," Collier said.