A concept drawing of proposed expansion to the Bear Lake Marina.
GARDEN CITY – The Utah Legislature approved a $60 million expansion to the Bear Lake State Park Marina, adding 300 slips for boats to dock. Senator Chris Wilson of Logan sponsored the bill.
There were others that jumped on Wilson’s bandwagon to get the bill to pass, including former state legislator Rhonda Menlove and others in Rich County.
“Besides Rhonda Menlove, Garden City Mayor Leonhardt, Rep. Kera Birkland, Bill Cox (a Rich County Commissioner), Mark Smoot (also a Rich County Commissioner) and Jeff Rasmussen (a park ranger at the Utah Division of Emergency Management) were all there to help pass the bill,” Wilson said. “We were pleased when we got the allocation. It was a great team effort; we obviously proved there was a big demand for the project.”
The marina has been in high demand for quite a few years. The 300 new slips at the marina will meet current demand and add additional capacity for potential growth.
“Bear Lake is becoming a destination location for a lot of people,” he said. “I felt really good about getting that bill to pass,” Wilson said. “I has a good team effort and something they have bene working for a longtime.”
The expansion of the marina couldn’t come fast enough for Menlove. Her family experienced a capsized boat during one of those infamous Bear Lake storms last summer. It happened during the 24th of July weekend.
“Our son-in-law had a large ski boat out on the lake and he had our 11 grandchildren on the boat with three other adults. Everyone was wearing life jackets,” she said. “We watched a storm come in quickly. The waves got about 6 feet high, and water was so shallow where they were at.”
They started to get to the marina and eventually the waves got so high water got into the boat and compromised the engine. Then another wave pushed the boat over.
“They called us and told us they were sinking,” she said. “One of the boys called the State Park Marina and they sent a boat to rescue them.”
Menlove said she was surprised that they had all the children in the tube while the waves raged around them. They were able to get the kids inside the tube when the boat capsized.
“There were so many boats lined up out there trying to get into their spots to get off of the water it took them a while to get off of the lake,” she said. “Two other boats also capsized during that storm.”
Everyone that day was fortunate to get to shore safely, but sometimes things don’t work out so well. When those Bear Lake storms come though the boats can’t get off the lake quickly or safely enough.
“Chris did a good job putting the bill together,” Menlove said. “There was good coordination between both houses.”
The marina has 50 to 100 individuals on the park’s marina slip waiting list. The new marina should accommodate all the individuals on the waiting list and include an additional boating launch ramp.
“I’m going to also be on working on other Bear Lake and Bear River preservation,” Wilson said. “We have some great plans for the area, and I am pleased to be a small part of it.”
Construction cannot begin until permits from the Army Corp of Engineers are granted.
“We are hoping to get started this fall, but most likely next year,” Wilson said.
Having another safe harbor and boat ramp at Bear Lake will help with public safety concerns when storms come through the area.