The Marion Marine Resources Commission’s next project is to review the existing moratorium on new commercial moorings and started the process on March 16 after discussing the moratorium’s history, hearing from Marion marine businesses, and ultimately forming a three-member subcommittee to study the topic comprehensively and present its findings to the commission for a recommendation.
Harbormaster Isaac Perry said he has received inquiries about the availability of commercial moorings in Marion waters and asked the commission to consider where it stands on the issue. Perry’s concern is for the “serious ramifications” to marine-based businesses affected by approval or denial of a commercial mooring transfer request.
MRC Chairman Vincent Malkoski said the moratorium was established after the early “wild, wild, west” days of harbor management in Marion when commercial moorings were deployed in high numbers, moved around, and rented out. The moratorium resulted once harbor management was “straightened out to bring everything in line,” said Malkowski.
Current regulations on the transfer of commercial moorings restrict transfers to marine-based businesses only, with no additional moorings permitted. Any commercial mooring transfer, other than that to an immediate family member, is converted to a recreational mooring. Recent applications for transfer requests, business’ renewed interest in adding commercial moorings, and long mooring waiting lists are driving the proverbial bus toward MRC consideration.
According to Perry, Marion has roughly 1,300 moorings in its waters, with just under 280 of those classified as commercial. Another 40 or so are classified as commercial, such as those moorings held by the Beverly Yacht Club, Tabor Academy, and the Kittansett Club.
The Kittansett Club has recently expressed a renewed interest in acquiring more commercial moorings, Perry said, and several Marion marine businesses are also exploring the possibility.
The waiting list for moorings in the inner harbor is as long as a 25-year wait, with other areas between one and three years or less time for those waiting lists.
MRC member Scott Cowell posed the question: How many boats do we want in our harbor? “Do we want to expand … or keep a moratorium on everything?”
Malkowski said he knows of no one who would claim that the inner harbor isn’t already full, and the MRC will look at the inner harbor as a part of the whole conversation. “But, honestly, I have a hard time seeing how we can do any expansion in the inner harbor,” said Malkoski. Moorings could be deployed to areas like Aucoot Cove, he suggested. Changes could entail lifting the moratorium while keeping with density limits in certain areas, reallocating existing vacant moorings, and creating a policy on how moorings would be assigned.
“Can we look purely at commercial moorings without looking at private moorings also?” asked MRC member Peter Borsari. Perhaps, said Malkoski, but with the issue of density, it has to be carefully studied. Still, it’s the “should or shouldn’t” question that will determine the results.
The commission allowed the representatives from three different Marion-based marine businesses to speak about what they hope to achieve in the long run, beginning with Dan Crete from Saltworks Marine. Crete said he recently bought 600 feet of waterfront in Hammett’s Cove, where he would like to add commercial moorings for logistical purposes and, perhaps, to rent to clients.
“It’s really difficult to have a boatyard in town and not very many places to keep boats that are in, even just in transition, coming in for haul-out,” said Crete. “It’s really a lot of juggling and keeping a lot of plates in the air …” He said sometimes the boats he services contribute to congestion at the town docks. “It would be hugely helpful,” he said, to have moorings for boats his company boards, and “tremendous” to have a handful of spaces to rent to existing customers. Two other boatyards have “a lot more than a handful” of such moorings, he said. “It would be nice to have a small dog in the fight, at least. … Right now, we don’t have much.”
Shawn Patten from A&J Boat Corporation said he, like Crete, is looking for convenience for boat drop-offs, pick-ups, and similar transient situations. “Often we can’t complete a job in time,” he said, with the short boating season and tides and other factors affecting each day. Rentals would also be a plus, he said. “We don’t have any revenue generating on the water,” said Patten. The marine industry is expensive, he added, “and any little income that you can use to subsidize will certainly help the businesses and grow the businesses in town.”
Gregg Nourjian from the Kittansett Club said they talked about installing a pier with a landing for years to accommodate transient guests who want to come play golf, eat, or spend the night. He would be looking for about a dozen moorings in the outer harbor northeast of the point.
The MRC’s subcommittee has its homework ahead of it, starting with looking to other communities on their own commercial-mooring policies and regulations. Whatever new process Marion adopts, if any, must be fair and equally mindful of the environment, said Malkoski.
“[The MRC] should do what we can to help existing businesses in town thrive,” said MRC member Toby Burr, who also owns Burr Brothers Boats. “Marion has a problem. It doesn’t have enough businesses … so the few that we have we should help out to the extent possible.”
Malkoski reminded everyone that no regulations would move forward before a public hearing and vote by the Board of Selectmen.
Cowell said this should be a collaborative effort between the MRC, the Harbormaster Department, residents, and businesses to determine “what’s best for everybody and what makes the most sense for the waters.”
“That is always our intent,” said Malkoski. “Even when we tell people ‘no,’ … we’re truly trying to do what’s best for the town.”
Marion waters is a “finite resource,” said Malkoski. “You can only do so many things in one area. … We have to make choices.” He continued, “We’re trying to re-divide the pieces of our finite pie and see what we can squeeze out of it.”
In other business, Perry said the department has issued 2021 invoices for inspections and will be working to “clean-up” the handful of aged and overdue inspections. He is also working to reconcile any past overdue excise taxes, something Perry said is a “renewed push” across several town departments. Mooring permit bills have also been issued recently.
The commission is expected to review a final draft of the updated aquaculture regulations before forwarding it to the Board of Selectmen for a public hearing and vote.
The next meeting of the Marion Marine Resources Commission will be held on Monday, April 19, at 7:00 pm.
Marion Marine Resources Commission
By Jean Perry