FAIRHOPE, Ala. - Mayor Tim Kant announced Monday that the Pier Street boat ramp that has served as headquarters for local oil spill response operations will reopen to the public soon. He also said 79 claims have been filed by city residents for damages caused by the BP oil spill.

“We’re moving operations up from Pier Street to Fly Creek so that we can open our boat launch,” Kant said at Monday’s City Council meeting. “We currently have 79 claims within the city limits that have been filed. So it has affected some of our residents.”

A memo issued Monday by the Public Works Department stated the boat ramp could reopen this week.

“We hope to be able to turn the entire Pier Street boat ramp area, including the parking area, back over to the public before the end of this week,” Eslava stated. “The city is working closely with Eastern Shore Marina on Fly Creek and BP to get these operations relocated to Eastern Shore Marine.”

That property on the north side of Fly Creek is owned by the city and leased to Eastern Shore Marine, according to city staff.

At times during recent months, the Pier Street ramp area has been completely cordoned off from the public, but more recently it has opened for limited hours. It is now open between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., according to Eslava’s memo, with parking available at the American Legion Post on South Mobile Street and at Alleman’s Restaurant across the street on Laurel Avenue.

One of the local businesses affected by both the BP oil spill and the closure of the Pier Street ramp is Bay Break convenience store located across the street on Scenic Highway 98.

While the closure of the boat launch has inconvenienced local boaters, it has been a serious blow to Bay Break owner Laura Grady, who reopened her historic corner store last December after a fire gutted the building a year earlier.

“I’m about to go out of business,” Grady said Tuesday morning. “I’m basically just keeping the doors open.”

The opening of the ramp for limited hours during the week has had little impact on her business, “because people have changed their routines,” she said. “They just don’t expect to use it and haven’t been going there.”

The traffic at the boat ramp, located across the street from Bay Break, is a major part of what keeps her business going, Grady said.

“Our busy months are almost over,” she said. “People just don't believe me when I tell them how hard it has been.”

A corner store has been at the Bay Break location since the 1930s, and some still call in “Monk Green’s,” as it was known at one time. Under Grady’s ownership, the eclectic store with a bait shop and resident shop cat has continued a tradition of being a popular gathering spot for Fairhope citizens.

After the fire in December 2008, the local community rallied around the shop and held two benefits and fundraisers to help reopen the store, which did not have insurance. It reopened almost a year to the day of the fire that threatened to shut it down forever.

“I’m hoping it does make a difference once they get the ramp reopened,” Grady said. “It can’t come soon enough for us.”