SUN BAY SOUTH - The Tampa Port Authority this week signaled its willingness to give more notice to civic groups when it considers approving marinas and other waterside development near their neighborhoods.

Whether the authority can reconsider or modify its 2005 approval of the New Port Tampa Bay Marina near West Shore and Gandy boulevards remains to be seen.

Opposition to the marina plans is mounting, with boaters saying the proposed docks in the former Imperial Yacht Basin are too big and too close to the Salty Sol Fleishman Boat Ramp on Gandy.

EcoGroup, the developer, wants to build 178 private slips, plus a public fuel dock and pump-out station. New Port Tampa Bay's marina and 1,200 condominiums are scheduled to open in late 2009.

Vicki Pollyea, a boater and south Tampa civic activist, said Salty Sol is probably the busiest boat ramp in Hillsborough County.

'Three years from now, when the condos and marina are built, people are going to say, 'How did they allow that to happen?'' Pollyea said.

The port authority has oversight of submerged land in the county. The agency has leased EcoGroup two underwater parcels and permitted 99 slips, acting environment director Bob Musser said.

But Don Gunn, EcoGroup's chief executive officer, said his company has approval for 258 slips: 159 at the Imperial site, plus 99 new slips. Gunn said he would seek to untangle the discrepancy over slip numbers with the port authority.

The marina plans are pending approval from the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, although EcoGroup already has built seawalls for the project.

At Tuesday's port authority meeting, Pollyea and her husband, fishing guide Archie Giannella, complained the marina was approved 'under the radar,' especially since no public notice sign was posted at Salty Sol.

'There was no significant effort to notify the public,' he said. 'There wouldn't have been enough room in here for all the people who would have showed up if this permit had been noticed properly.'

Musser said the permit request was advertised as required by law, with written notice given to property owners within 1,500 feet of the marina.

Al Steenson, president of the Gandy Civic Association, told the authority it also should contact neighborhood groups.

'Then it's put on our shoulders to get our residents involved,' Steenson said.

Mayor Pam Iorio, a member of the authority board, offered the city's database of neighborhood groups to the agency, and port director Richard Wainio agreed to explore changing the public notice process.

City and county officials have objected to the proposed marina expansion, citing concerns about congestion.

Gunn said EcoGroup will present its plans to the Marine Law Enforcement Citizens Advisory Committee on Aug. 13.

The committee also has objected to the project. Public boating access in Florida and Tampa Bay is disappearing, committee Chairman William Lannikitis wrote in a May 15 letter to county officials.

'The general boating public is being shut out, and the plan to increase the size of the submerged land for the New Port Marina will further impinge upon the recreational environment of our citizens,' he wrote.

Reporter Mark Holan can be reached at (813) 835-2102 or mholan@tampatrib.com.