By Michael V. Hannigan
The Athens Municipal Water Authority (AMWA) is going back to square one in its search for someone to run the various components of the Lake Athens Marina.
The AMWA board convened Thursday morning for a special meeting that was scheduled to include discussion on a long-term lease with the Dallas-based company currently running the marina, Lake Star Marina Enterprises, but negotiations with the company broke down Wednesday night.
AMWA attorney Martin Bennett told the board that Lake Star opted to not move forward for financial reasons and will leave when its current lease is up in September.
The news was received happily by the audience, many of whom had come to voice their fear that the lease might lead to large scale development of the marina area. That fear was fed in part by Lake Star Marina Enterprises’ connection to Star Concessions, which owns and operates restaurants in both DFW International Airport and Dallas Love Field.
AMWA Board President Steve Sparkman addressed this particular concern with the audience at the end of the meeting.
He said, “I don’t remember a single time that I said, or this board said, that we were looking to do anything other than get a bait and tackle shop up and running with gasoline service; get a marina restaurant up and running as we had before; get this pavilion used for both civic uses and rental functions and as a main point for the RV park; get the RV park up and running again, and get somebody to utilize that dry storage.”
“All we ever wanted to have happen, and still want to have happen, is what you saw happen at the little bait and tackle shop. Now that’s going to be going away,” he said.
You can listen to more of Sparkman’s remarks below.