LYNN — After decades of storm damage, the city-run Seaport Landing Marina is again seeking aid — this time to rebuild its aging small-boat dock.

According to James Marsh, community development director, in 1983, “the city decided to take it over to go into the marina business, and Community Development has run it since then.” Ten to 15 years after the marina was acquired by the city, “it started to deteriorate, and we’ve been putting it back together, patching it, and fixing it, and band-aiding it for years; every year it’s something.”

He said the location of the marina, coupled with the conditions of the climate, has impacted the deterioration.

A 1991 storm badly damaged the marina and, in 2013, a blizzard left the marina “really beat up,” so much so that it triggered a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) major disaster declaration.

Lynn secured FEMA funds to rebuild parts of the Seaport marina, but delays meant new storm damage had piled up before repairs even began. The larger boat section of the marina was repaired using these funds.

To protect the harbor from weather, Marsh said a “breakwater” structure would be a game-changer for the entire harbor.

The marina sits in an exposed, U-shaped harbor with a roughly 12‑mile “fetch,” which creates a storm surge, Marsh said.

A fetch is the area in which ocean waves are generated by the wind, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

However, the city has discussed this many times with the Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Office of Coastal Zone Management, Marsh said.

Mayor Jared C. Nicholson said, “We continue to work on making necessary improvements to Seaport Landing Marina in collaboration with state and federal agencies. We are hopeful of obtaining additional grant funding that will support those efforts. The larger question of who should own and operate the marina deserves serious consideration, which is also ongoing.”

Marsh said, “The answer has revolved around environmental concerns to the natural habitats in the harbor and the effect that putting a breakwater, for example, out in the harbor would have on the way in which the sand and silt flushes. The concern is the effect a structure would have on the dynamics of the harbor and shorelines. You can see firsthand what has happened to the Nahant Causeway.

“If I could snap my fingers and wave a magic wand, I’d put a breakwater out there, dredge the harbor, and [Lynn Harbor] would become the next Marblehead Harbor,” he added.

The smaller boat section, reserved for boats 19 feet and under, has not been updated since the 1970s and will be updated using future grant money. The marina features a gas and diesel filling station, which was repaired during the marina’s most recent off-season, Marsh said. There are also bathroom facilities on-site.

Other amenities include electrical services on the designated larger boat dock and running water. Revenue for the Seaport Landing Marina is entirely generated by slip rentals at $128 per foot for the season. The Community Development Department offers a discount of $118 per foot if boaters pay in full before a specified deadline. Slips are individual spaces to dock a boat in the marina.

Unlike the Lynn and Volunteer Yacht Clubs, located next to the Seaport Landing Marina, the facility does not feature an “upland” restaurant, bar, or function space to generate revenue, Marsh said.

Built by private citizen Irvin Nebelkopf in the late ’70s, the marina is made up of two docking facilities, one for boats approximately 19 feet and under and another for boats larger, Marsh said.