Anchors away: East breakwater anchoring banned; 72 hours for outer
basin

http://www.blockislandtimes.com/arti...t#blogcomments


By Peter Voskamp • Wednesday, May 28, 2008 11:58 AM EDT

The Harbors Department is pursuing two major changes to anchoring
practices in Old Harbor. One change will need the blessing of Town
Council, while the other is simply a function of enforcing the law
currently on the books.

Harbormaster Chris Willi said at Tuesday’s Harbors Committee meeting
that anchoring inside the east breakwater has been illegal for some
time, given the proximity of the anchored boats to the channel that
large ferries pass through dozens of times on a busy summer day.

“It’s a safety issue primarily,” he said.

By law, boats cannot anchor within 50 feet of a navigable channel, and
with the increased shoaling inside the breakwater, the distance
between the boats that anchor there on a busy summer weekend and the
channel has become unsafe, Willi said.

Willi said that signage will be in place and the town will police the
area. The U.S. Coast Guard has also been notified, he said.

“You better get a cannon on the bait dock,” quipped Harbors Vice Chair
Hermann “Bo” Gempp, commenting on the expected backlash from boaters
who have become accustomed to mooring their boats there.

But committee member Ed Northup commended Willi on the decision,
noting both the danger and the piles of trash left behind in the area
during the summer.

Meanwhile, the Town Council will vote June 2 on language drawn up by
the town’s solicitors to limit anchorage in the Old Harbor’s outer
basin (the area across the street from the National Hotel) to 72 hours
(or three days) in any seven-day period.

In recent years, according to Willi, mainland boaters have made a
practice throughout the summer of leaving their anchored pleasure
boats in the outer basin during the work week, while they travel back
and forth to the island weekends.

A 72-hour limit would provide for turnover as well as room for those
boats that will no longer be able to anchor on the east breakwater,
said Willi. It would also help ameliorate recurring derelict boat
issues in the area.

The moorings currently in the outer basin will be rearranged to make
room for more anchorage.

Committee member Gary Hall asked if business owners downtown might
frown on this change.

Willi pointed out that there is plenty of free anchorage open all
summer with no time limit in Great Salt Pond, and the department would
encourage boaters to utilize it, especially since there are more
services provided there.

Old Harbor project

The committee finally had specifications in hand from engineering firm
Pare, the pre-bid engineers, for the extensive renovation and repair
of Old Harbor’s inner basin.

A Harbors subcommittee was to meet with marine engineer Richard St.
Jean Thursday to discuss the next step. Ideally, construction would
begin October 1 and include a new south, west and bait dock,
electricity and plumbing inclusive. The scope of the bid would include
a new bulkhead, harbormaster’s shack, and shower and bathroom
facilities.

Pare did not think the town could get all of these things with the
$1.7 million bond voters agreed to in May 2007. Most committee
members, though, thought Pare’s prices were on the high end. At the
suggestion of member Ted Merritt, the group reiterated its intention
that all components voted for by the public be included in the
project.

Revenue/facilities debate

Willi reported that Town Council has asked that the department search
for new revenue streams. He has offered various ideas, such as buying
back the private moorings or renting them when they are not in use.
Other ideas include expanding the mooring fields in both New and Old
harbors.

What is frustrating, he said, is how much money the Harbors Department
brings in for the town (just under $500,000 last year), while its
capital needs remain underfunded.

Block Island is a premier tourism destination, he noted, yet the
facilities for visiting boaters are woeful. Hall admitted he’s
“embarrassed by the Old Harbor bathrooms.” But Gempp said the town’s
attitude is, “we’re not losing any customers.”

Willi reminded the group that the second and third phases of the Old
Harbor project, with their eventual revenue streams, must also come to
fruition or the first phase will become a burden upon taxpayers.

Miscellany

The department will have six employees on patrol this summer, and
there will be more of a Coast Guard presence around the island this
summer, said Willi, per the new commander in Point Judith.

Willi is working with Ray Boucher, superintendent of the Sewer
Commission, to install a temporary effluent off-loading portal for the
pumpout boat in Old Harbor. Currently, it is pumped out by a private
company at substantial expense.

Signs will be in place along the channel into Great Salt Pond this
summer to direct boaters where to land their inflateables and
dinghies.

Readers Comments

Former Old Harbor Boater wrote on May 28, 2008 6:29 PM:

" 1st it was limiting the number of boats rafting in the inner harbor
and now limiting anchoring in the outer harbor.

With the cost of marine fuel in the $5-$6 range, why make it even more
un-inviting for boaters to spend a few days on the island.

Enjoy the peace and quiet and ever increasing residential taxes as
fewer and fewer people visit and businesses fold... "



Long time Old Harbor visitor wrote on May 28, 2008 3:25 PM:

" I think this is ridiculous, first you limit the number of boats at
the dock, now in the outer basin? I understand the issue of derelict
boats and all but what about all the boaters that spend the week of
the 4th anchored in Old Harbor? Does the Island not want our business?
Are we going to be asked to cut our vacations short?