ORANGE BEACH — A redo of the Boggy Point boat launch at the east end of Marina Road in Orange Beach most likely won't mean an expansion of the ramps or parking, but state officials say options will be considered during the design phase.

Marine Resources Division Director Kevin Anson said all options will be explored during the first refresh of the launch in 20 years. The state is using money from the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GoMESA), which distributes money from oil and natural gas leases in the Gulf to five states touching those waters.

The Boggy Point launch is receiving nearly $3 million for the reworking of the popular launch in an area hurting for more space for boater access. It's just one of several projects funded by GoMESA's $52 million in Alabama funding for this cycle. The City of Orange Beach is also set to receive $1.5 million for a clubhouse at the city's shooting range on Russian Road.

"We estimate generally we get around 20 to 25 years out of a ramp, you know, down in coastal Alabama because of storms and just the salt water and what it does to the infrastructure," Anson said. "It's time for a major renovation."

That time will be a while in coming.

"It's going to take us a few months to come up with some plans that we feel comfortable with to submit to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers," Anson said. "Then the permitting process is going to take approximately a year. And then once we get the permits, we'll go ahead with construction."

It'll most likely look a lot like what's there now as far as parking spaces and the number of ramps, but Anson said designers will look at several options to see how to best use the space available.

"We've investigated or will be investigating moving potentially the ramps," Anson said. "If we decide to stay there, we'll use that cofferdam type concept. Or, if we move it to the north or we move it to the south, that might change what that design looks like as far as the ramps. But to the south, we have a sandbar, so it's relatively shallow, so we'd have to consider dredging there periodically. And then if we move it to the north, we'd actually lose that row of parking that's on the north side of the boat ramp that we currently have and don't know if we'd get that back by reconfiguring elsewhere on the property. But we are looking at those things to try to maximize the utility of the property."

Land surrounding the boat launch is mostly wetlands or private property and making the launch area larger could raise even more permitting issues.

"Immediately to the north of the existing parking area, it's mostly wetland, so we would have to fill in wetlands," Anson said. "And even if we did, we just kind of did a quick sketch, and really the only parking we'd be able to accommodate there is single vehicles. Since it's a boating access place, that would not be conducive."

In the end, Anson said, the pavers in the current parking lot will be replaced with asphalt and new ramps will be coming to Boggy Point. Part of the problem is the swishing back and forth of the tide through Perdido Pass slowly working on the support of the underwater ramps.

"The pavers that are in the parking lot currently, they're starting to subside in some areas and crack as they subside," Anson said. "There's been some scouring underneath the ramps, and so we've had a piece of one of the ramps break off that we had to tend to because it was jutting up and people were hitting it with the engine."