The Mobile City Council authorized the purchase of about six acres of land south of Halls Mill Creek on Tuesday, using funds from the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA). The land will become a public access boat launch to Halls Mill Creek and Dog River.

“If we want to see improvements to our waterways, we’ve got to get more attention to it, and we’ve got to get more people out on the water, demanding higher, better-quality water,” Mobile City Councilmember Ben Reynolds, who championed the project, said. “Mobile being a city of many water access points, we should put a little more emphasis on one of our bigger rivers, which is Dog River.”

The land, once a shipyard, and still located on Shipyard Road, is in a lagoon setting, which makes it ideal for a boat launch, Reynolds says. The hope is to bring access to the water for the Cypress Shores, Todd Acres and other neighborhoods on the south side of the city, where getting to the river isn’t easy.

“On the south side of Halls Mill Creek, and to the west side of Dog River, there is no public access points [to the water],” Reynolds said. “My hope is that it will be sort of a hub for folks, where people can hang out, and we can see growth and expansion and neighborhood involvement, wider than the boat launch.”

There’s no timeline yet for when the boat launch will be completed, Reynolds said, noting that there are several improvements that need to be made to the site before it is ready, including paving the road. The next steps, he says, are to hold community meetings to ascertain the need, then work with designers for what the site could look like.