Boat Ramps and The Village of Fairport Harbour

There may soon be good news for tourism and foot traffic in the Village of Fairport Harbour (and The Fairport Harbour Port Authority), which has received a grant to fund important marina related projects. Well, technically The Lake County Ohio Port and Economic Development Authority accepted the grant on their behalf, but it still counts.

The grant which was given by the Cleveland Foundation is in the amount of $60,000 and will be used to begin the initial work to expand the current Fair Harbor Port Authority boat ramps. They will be turned into a full-service marina, as an addition to the land that is occupied by the Fairport Harbor Water Treatment Plant. This vision for redevelopment was originally laid out in the Landside Communities Plan.

The $60,000 grant will be used for multiple purposes. Half of the money will be used to create a study that will include market analysis and basic design for multiple transient marina facilities located at the Fairport Harbor Port Authority. Structures will be specially designed for transient boaters by featuring slips that accommodate larger boats.

These transient marina facilities would also feature pump-out stations and fuel docks. This marina would be intended to cater to traveling boatman in the area on short-stays as not to compete with other local marinas, like boaters who are not local to Lake County, according to the Lake County Port Authority. 

As for the other half of the grant money, it will be used to evaluate Fairport Harbor’s water treatment plant to see if the plan can be relocated or made smaller through the use of modern technology. 

Fairport Harbor Mayor, Tim Manross says in regards to these exciting projects that the Village of Fairport is excited to work with both the Fairport Harbor and Lake County Port Authorities. This grant proves that the Village of Fairport Harbour is serious about developing realistic and actionable projects that will drive revenue to the village. 

Since these funds are going to analysis, further implementation funds will be needed to continue this project and both the Village of Fairport Harbour as well as the Lake County Port Authority will work together to pursue those funds from relevant sources.