MECHANICSVILLE — Boaters who launch into the Wicomico River from Wicomico Shores Landing are getting a rebuilt public landing, and St. Mary’s County taxpayers are not being asked to match a dollar of it.
Reconstruction is underway at the county landing, the director of the Department of Recreation and Parks told the Recreation and Parks Advisory Board at its November meeting. He said the job is covered by a “100% grant, no matching funds,” written by a member of the department’s staff.
The money, he said, traces back to people who buy boats and to a share of the state gas tax. That describes Maryland’s Waterway Improvement Fund, which the Department of Natural Resources says is fed mainly by the one-time 5% excise tax paid when a boat is titled in the state, plus a small portion of gas tax revenue.
The department’s fiscal 2026 award list included $199,000 for “Wicomico Shores boating pier improvements,” part of $20 million distributed statewide that year. The director did not cite a dollar figure at the meeting.
Tides slowed the start
Getting started was not simple. The director said the contractor had a hard time bringing equipment in because extreme tides left the water unusually shallow. He showed board members a photo of the site to illustrate how far down a landing reconstruction reaches.
The county’s capital budget summary describes repairs at Wicomico Shores Landing and Forest Landing that replace railings, deck boards and hardware, with stainless steel hardware going in. The director did not give a completion date.
Wicomico Shores is the latest in a run of county boat ramps and landings rebuilt in recent years, he said, and state boating dollars have paid for much of that work. St. Mary’s projects on recent Waterway Improvement Fund lists include $1.25 million for public boating access at St. Inigoes Landing and $1 million for the marina at Point Lookout State Park. The Chronicle reported in July 2025 that St. Mary’s was in line for $1.249 million from the fund in fiscal 2026.
The landing has leaned on that fund for more than two decades. County commissioners’ minutes from January 2004 show the department planning a boat ramp replacement, dredging and shore erosion work there, with a $100,000 Waterway Improvement Fund request for fiscal 2005. Shore erosion repair alone was estimated at about $140,000 then.
Statewide, the fund has paid out more than $469.5 million since it was created in 1966, according to the governor’s office, which notes that the money can cover a project’s entire cost or serve as a match for federal dollars. Demand outruns supply: local governments asked for more than $45 million from the fund for fiscal 2027.
Elsewhere in the parks
The landing was one item in a broader update. The department’s parks division recently finished renovating the tennis and basketball courts at Fifth District Park, and the director said he hopes to add pickleball courts there. He cautioned that the park is almost fully built out and that parking gets tight on busy Saturdays.
Construction of the new St. Clement’s Island Museum is moving toward a Maryland Day target, which the director called a hard deadline, with staff working on exhibits while the building takes shape.
The county’s draft Land Preservation, Parks and Recreation Plan, the document that guides this kind of spending, goes to the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County on Nov. 17. The director said the draft is due to the Department of Natural Resources by the end of December and the county is on track to meet that date.
One advisory board member suggested inviting the Department of Natural Resources to a future meeting, pointing to the landing project as an example of how closely the two agencies work together.
