MUNCY — The issue of the Muncy boat access area on the Susquehanna River is one step closer to being resolved, although for concerned citizens in attendance at the official announcement of state funding Thursday, it won’t be as quick as they would like.

John Arway, executive director of the state Fish and Boat Commission, was on hand for the official announcement at the Muncy Creek Township building along with state Rep. Garth Everett, R-Muncy, who was instrumental in securing the $250,000 from the state towards the total estimated cost of the project of $525,000. State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, was also involved with obtaining the funding.

“Now that we have the funding commitment, we’ll be able to come up with an alternative location that will function better than the one we have. That way we won’t have the long-term operation maintenance problem like the area we have now,” Arway said. “The idea is for the engineers to find a site and then we’ll have the funding to develop the site into a new access for anglers and boaters.”

The boat launch was closed in 2016 due to a sandbar, which had formed near the river at the mouth of Muncy Creek.

The access road to the launch runs off Route 405 just before the bridge and is a popular location for kayakers and fishermen.

The site also is used by local fire companies to fill their tankers, which they still are permitted to do with a key access to the area.

Arway indicated that tentative sites have been pinpointed, but that nothing definite has been chosen.

“We just need to narrow them down, put together an agreement with the property owner and get a land purchase. Now that we have the funding to do that it will make it a lot easier,” he said.

According to Everett, the governor released the money from funds budgeted for capital projects such as the boat launch. The total amount of the project is dependent on the property chosen for the new site, Arway said.

“You can’t really move forward until you have the money,” Arway noted.

Everett said they have looked at different sites and engineers from the Fish and Boat commission have been visiting those sites.

“We just can’t say what site it’s going to be,” Everett said. “We haven’t made a deal with the property owner.”

“We’ve had plenty of time to do the background homework on it. We just couldn’t move forward without the funding,” Arway said.

Also speaking at the meeting was a member of the “Rebuilding the Muncy Boat Launch” group, Chad Gray.

“Little voices can get big wheels turning,” Gray said of the concerned public who has been behind the push to resolve the issue.

“We want to keep those big wheels turning,” he continued. I’d love to see it done in a year, but we all know government doesn’t work that fast.”

When asked if the time frame could be shortened, Arway said, “The Department of General Services has different contracting procedures in place so they have certain amounts of time.

They’re dealing with thousands of projects at a time and this is one of many but they’ll put it on their timeline and they have certain timelines that they have to adhere to move the project forward.”

The project is expected to take a couple of years to complete, according to Arway.