Another step forward for Edgewater's new boat ramp

CASEY M

08 Oct 2026 • 3 min read

More room to launch a boat would be a welcome addition to Edgewater, especially if it means less time waiting for a ramp or finding trailer parking. The planned facility at 150 Legendary Way, north of Boston Whaler, moved another step forward October 6 when Volusia County approved a $2.5 million ECHO grant. The city’s posted proposed FY2027 capital plan lists the overall project at $9.4 million, with construction targeted for completion in June 2028. An opening date has not been confirmed.

The ECHO application describes up to four ramps with eight launch lanes, accessible floating docks, a fishing pier, restrooms, boat staging and wash-down areas, and approximately 85 vehicle and trailer parking spaces. Road improvements, utilities, lighting and landscaping are included. Some improvements could arrive in later phases depending on funding.

There’s also a police component. Edgewater already operates a marine unit, and the FIND application resolution includes a police boat docking facility at the new site. Council unanimously approved additional police boathouse design and engineering services on April 7, 2025, and a budget amendment allocated $45,000 from police impact fees for that design work. The ECHO application describes the planned marine law-enforcement facility as separately funded and excluded from its grant request.

The FIND resolution also includes a Flock camera system. Those plans appeared in the May 4 council documents, before Edgewater announced it would discontinue using Flock cameras and before Volusia’s October 6 moratorium on law-enforcement license-plate readers in county road rights-of-way. The ramp documents don’t specify the camera type or whether that proposal has since changed.

The posted proposed budget lists:

$2.5 million from ECHO.
$2.7 million from FIND.
$2.7 million in unspecified grant funding.
$1 million in recreation impact fees.
$500,000 in police impact fees.

Together, that’s $9.4 million. Impact fees are charges collected from new development to help pay for additional public facilities needed as the city grows. Those funds account for $1.5 million in this funding plan. The documents reviewed don’t itemize the specific use of the $500,000 police contribution or establish whether the earlier $45,000 design allocation is included.

ECHO is Volusia’s Environmental, Cultural, Historical and Outdoor Recreation program. FIND is the Florida Inland Navigation District, which previously awarded $137,100 for engineering and design in FY2024–25. Of the construction grants budgeted, only ECHO’s award could be verified through the online public records reviewed for this article. The other $5.4 million appears in the budget, but that alone doesn’t confirm an award.

ECHO requires a dollar-for-dollar match. The application lists $2.5 million in confirmed matching funds, but the posted copy doesn’t include the referenced documentation identifying those sources. An earlier FY2026 budget amendment allocated $200,000 from the general fund for “Boat Ramp – City Match.” That could account for part of the ECHO match, although the documents reviewed don’t explicitly connect the two.

Construction is targeted to begin in April 2027. Council approved $108,000 in environmental mitigation payments September 14 for four launch lanes; the accompanying report said permitting work would continue for the remaining four.

With City Hall’s planned relocation to city-owned land on West Indian River Boulevard, we hope any eventual sale of its current site leaves Kennedy Park’s ramp across Riverside Drive accessible. The same goes for Menard-May Park, known locally as Little Beach. More boating access should include keeping the places locals already use open.