Prince Edward County Council has taken a look into how the future is shaping up for the Picton Marina.
During Thursday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, councillors discussed a report on the current condition of the marina. Management of the marina was brought back in-house for the municipality for the 2025 season, making this the first year of the county handling the marina operations directly.
During 2025, the marina brought in $185,000 in revenue for the county. Operating costs for the marina were still slightly higher than revenue, at $192,000. Of those costs, $32,000 were associated with important repair work that has been completed.
Plans were presented to council to address some of the challenges discovered over the year. Those plans include setting up a computerized marina management system to reduce paperwork for staff and installing new radios for better communication with boaters. The marina is also looking at expanding on-site services such as operating a concession stand or kayak rentals.
User satisfaction is also up, and complaints down, since municipal staff began operating the marina directly.
A proposal was discussed for potentially expanding the number of slips available, as the marina had turned customers away at points due to having no slips available. The marina was approached by the owners of the neighbouring Water Lot 1, who proposed entering into an agreement for the marina to use and manage the slips on their docks. That parcel comes with a potential 67 additional slips.
The committee was pleased with the report, with multiple councillors expressing their support for the marina’s upcoming projects. Councillor Phil St-Jean said he was happy to see the marina operating smoothly.
“I do see a lot of potential revenue there,” said Councillor St-Jean. “I don’t see this requiring constant municipal levy to support it. I see that it can be a profit centre, and hoping that those profits will actually just be put into reserve for reinvestment into Picton Marina, as well as the other boat slips.”
The committee voted to approve discussions on the proposed partnership, and forwarded the matter to a future meeting of council.
