The Des Moines waterfront is recognized by local residents and visitors alike as the crown jewel of the "waterland community."

Now plans, both modest and grand, are underway to bring new life to the waterfront and to attract more visitors to the city.

This vision for the future was unveiled by Destination Des Moines on March 27 at a meeting of the Southwest King County Chamber's Des Moines Business Committee.

Destination Des Moines was organized last year to promote local businesses and community development.

Acquiring a passenger ferry between the Des Moines Marina and downtown Seattle, staging a "Doors of Des Moines" event reminiscent of Seattle's "Candy Cane Lane" and finishing a scenic trail are major projects on Destination Des Moines' agenda.

Other community enhancements on the drawing boards include additional signage to direct people from Interstate 5 and International Boulevard to downtown Des Moines and local landmarks, and upgrading water lines to better serve major downtown development.

Several recreational special events are scheduled this year, noted Leslie Newman, president of Destination Des Moines.

One is an expanded version of the annual Christmas tree lighting event in December.

"In conjunction with the tree lighting, we're going to do an evening shop around Des Moines," Newman said. It will link activities that weekend with "Doors of Des Moines"-a drive-through tour with up to 20 residential and business doors decorated for the holiday season.

Residents can look forward to a pedestrian and bike trail that, in two years, will stretch from Des Moines Creek near the marina to SeaTac, said Patrice Thorell, Des Moines' parks and recreation director. The trail is expected to be a huge draw to the community, Thorell noted.

Looking farther into the future, Thorell said King County is leading a feasibility study, conducted by the Puget Sound Regional Council, on bringing a passenger-only ferry to Des Moines.

The study is made possible with state funding and also has support from the South Sound Passenger Ferry Only Coalition, a group uniting Des Moines, Tacoma and the Port of Tacoma, Gig Harbor, others destination points.

"We believe it would take a lot of pressure off of our highways and the need for having more and more lanes," Thorell said.

Another vision South King County Chamber of Commerce and Destination Des Moines have for the city is bringing more people downtown-and getting them to stop-with signs that guide them the marina, Beach Park, movie theater, beach, shops and the summer Farmers Market.

"The whole goal is, instead of cars zooming through downtown Des Moines, to stop and shop and walk and enjoy the downtown," Thorell said.

To accommodate a higher number of visitors, development in Des Moines is going to increase, Newman noted.

Major developers in the city of Des Moines, along with Water District 54 and King County Fire and Rescue, "are all working together to come up with a program and a plan to upgrade our water main and our water lines" to accommodate this growth, she added.

"These entities have all come together for the first time and are looking at how they're going to accomplish the upgrade."