St. Pete opening docks to visiting boats

Visitors already come by road and by plane -- and now even more will have a chance to visit St. Petersburg by sea.

City officials received a $632,000 federal grant to fund an additional 25 dedicated visitor docking spaces on the water. The boat dock is one of 39 projects selected to receive funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Boating Infrastructure Grant program, which awarded $14 million in 31 states.

“Our waterfront is very popular, but the downtown marina is not set up for day docking by visiting boats,” St. Petersburg Marina and Port Manager Walter Miller says in a release. “We've heard from many boaters who want to visit downtown by boat to shop or grab a bite to eat, but can't find space to dock.”

St. Pete isn't the only Florida city using money for transient docks. Pensacola and Fort Pierce have similar plans to use the grant, which is funded by taxes on gasoline and some fishing and boating equipment.

No timeline was set on when construction on the new dock would begin, or when it would open.