Cocoa Beach halts marina project planning after feasibility study and public pushback

The Cocoa Beach City Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to close out a consultant contract and to halt further progress toward building a municipal marina after hearing a feasibility presentation and more than an hour of public comment.

Edgewater Group, the marina consultant, presented a study that identified two possible sites — the Country Club shoreline and the hospital peninsula — and said a phased marina could be “immediately cash flow positive.” Brock Petrack, civil engineer with Edgewater Group, told commissioners the firm’s modeling showed strong market demand and that, depending on phasing and location, a marina could generate significant net operating income over time.

The study, the consultants and staff said, examined regulatory inputs including pre-application meetings with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Brevard County’s manatee protection plan. Edgewater…