HomeMy WebLinkAboutHSAB - Oct. 18 2011Nantucket Harbor & Shellfish Advisory Board
Minutes of Meeting held Oct. 18, 2011
Approved:
Conference Room, 2 Fairgrounds Road
Call to Order at 4:34 p.m.
Members Present: Dr. Peter Boyce, Peter B. Brace,
Michael Glowacki, Wendy McCrae and Bill Blount
Members Absent: Doug Smith, Bob Rank
Marine Dept: Dave Fronzuto and Tara Riley
BOS: Whitey Willauer
Others: Matt Herr
Approval of Agenda:
Unanimously approved.
Approval of Minutes:
Unanimously approved.
Chairman’s Report:
Dr. Boyce reported that he spoke with Allen Reinhard
who said the Land Bank is working on permitting the
Petrel Landing dinghy dock and commercial pier. Mr.
Fronzuto said this wasn’t true because the Land Bank has
to go to the Conservation Commission. Dr. Boyce said he
got the feeling that the Land Bank would want to manage
this dinghy dock and pier.
Mr. Fronzuto suggested recommending to the Land Bank
that they make the dinghy dock selection process a part
of the town pier lottery system. Mr. Fronzuto noted that
HSAB’s recommendation to the Board of Selectmen
carries a lot of weight and that it should move forward to
get this project started. Mr. Brace stated that Dr. Boyce
should speak with Land Bank Executive Director Eric
Savetsky. Dr. Boyce said he clearly got the feeling that
the Land Bank did not want any other entity messing with
its property. Mr. Fronzuto said that every year, it’s a
challenge to get the Land Bank to let commercial
scallopers use Petrel Landing to offload their scallops. He
added this landing would save fishermen a great deal of
time and effort because they wouldn’t have to haul all
their gear, catch, ice and fuel down the 870-foot town
pier to their boats. He said they might also be able to
buy fuel at this location.
Mr. Brace suggested that it might make some sense to
get this issue on the next Land Bank Commission agenda.
Mr. Fronzuto agreed and this project is great
opportunity to create more public access to the
waterfront in general and for commercial fishermen. It
would add an 80-100-foot dinghy dock and dilute the
congestion at the town’s only existing dinghy dock on the
north side of the town pier.
Mr. Willauer suggested that HSAB get on the Land Bank
Commission’s next agenda to discuss this issue. Mr. Brace
said that the Land Bank needs to hear all of this directly
from HSAB. Mr. Fronzuto said that there is not other
location in the harbors to build a “suitable” offloading
site for commercial fishermen.
Ms McCrae made a motion that the board attempt to get
on the Land Bank’s next agenda to get this project
rolling. Mr. Braced seconded. The vote was unanimously in
favor of Ms. McCrae’s motion.
Mr. Glowacki offered that the HSAB stress the urgency
of this project to the selectmen instead of the Land
Bank Commission. Mr. Willauer said he could get it on the
selectmen’s agenda and Mr. Fronzuto said this sounded
like a good idea. Ms. McCrae made a motion to request
that the BOS put the Petrel Landing dinghy
dock/commercial pier proposal on their next agenda. Mr.
Glowacki seconded Ms. McCrae’s motion and the board
voted unanimously in favor of this motion. Dr. Boyce said
he would meet with Mr. Savetsky to let him know that
HSAB would be going to the BOS on this issue.
Mr. Fronzuto said he could probably get funding for the
project from the Seaport Advisory Council and that the
Marine & Coastal Resources Department could manage it.
Mr. Willauer said he would get this issue on the BOS
agenda for Oct. 26.
Nantucket Biodiversity Conference
Dr. Boyce announced this conference that happens on
Nov. 5, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Coffin School at 4 Winter
St. and said there would be two papers on the harbor
presented at the conference. Dr. Boyce reported on the
Living on the Edge conference held on early October,
saying that it’s focus was on how manage multiple uses on
waterfronts in harbors. Mr. Fronzuto said this
conference’s theme underscored the fact that the town
has done everything it could to serve its recreational
boaters and almost nothing to help the island’s
commercial fishermen, pointing to New Bedford and
Gloucester, Mass. where both those ports put the
emphasis on commercial fishing. He added that the main
limiting factor on Nantucket is available waterfront land
and stressed the importance of Petrel Landing. Dr. Boyce
added that a speaker from Rhode Island told participants
that his state has water zoning to manage the various
uses on waterfronts and that inland of the water zones,
the land zoning cannot supercede the water zoning.
Dr. Boyce noted that Planning Director Andrew Vorce
didn’t attend the conference. Mr. Fronzuto said the
members of his department were comped by ReMain
Nantucket for their registration fees and that it
would’ve been good to have Mr. Vorce at this conference.
Dr. Boyce agreed.
Dr. Boyce announced that Mr. Rank would be having
bypass surgery in Boston and that Roger Stolte was
organizing a benefit for Mr. Rank and his wife at Kitty
Murtagh’s on Oct. 28. Mr. Brace asked if HSAB could
help Mr. Rank financially.
Marine Department Report: 5:05 p.m.
Family scallop season report:
Mr. Fronzuto reported that recreational scallopers
harvested more then 750 bushels of scallops since Oct. 1.
Mr. Fronzuto reported that the usage fees that HSAB
recommended to the selectmen, which that board
subsequently approved, were recently reviewed by Town
Council and found to be completely valid and justifiable.
The fees become effective Jan. 1, 2012. Mr. Fronzuto
added that a couple of the boatyards were surprised that
the town initiated these fees and so he asked Town
Council whether he was required to notify them and the
answer was no because the selectmen have the authority
to set fees by holding public hearings, which are publicly
noticed in the newspaper for two weeks and down at the
town building. He said they got good support from both
yacht clubs and, good support from the boatyards once
they understood that the generated revenue goes back
into waterways infrastructure.
Plans in the works:
On that note, Mr. Fronzuto said he would soon be
bringing a proposal to HSAB for discussion and support
for a small dock in Polpis Harbor at the town landing with
a ramp and seasonal float. It would be on the right side
of this landing. Dr. Boyce asked if commercial scallopers
would be allowed to use this dock. Mr. Fronzuto said he’s
got five boats operating out of Polpis Harbor during the
scallop season. The dimensions would be a 60-foot ramp
from the beach to the dock, which would be 60 feet long
and have a 20-foot float off the end of it, Mr. Fronzuto
said.
Ms. McCrae said this is a great idea. Mr. Herr asked Mr.
Fronzuto if the float would remain in during the winter.
Mr. Fronzuto said he would try to leave it in, but might
have to pull it out because of the ice. He added that he
wants to put the dock in next winter because it’ll take
him a year to get permits for the project and that he
would use money gleaned from mooring fees to pay for it.
Dr. Boyce asked Mr. Fronzuto about his plans for
repairing the eastern finger piers at the Brant Point
boathouse. Mr. Fronzuto replied that the Marine
Department’s Community Preservation Committee grant
application was not considered by that committee
because town ownership of the building was up in the air
when the proposal was being considered. But he added
that the bill of sale for the building would be in the
correct format in time for next year’s CPC grant review
process. The Coast Guard lease of the land was extended
to 2033 recently.
Mr. Fronzuto stated that he’s attempting to make two
regulation changes. The first deals with the recreational
permit for people 60 and over. Fronzuto wants to insert
the word “resident” into the language so the law doesn’t
get abused by non-residents. Mr. Brace asked Mr.
Fronzuto how many of these permits he’s handed out and
Mr. Fronzuto said he thought around 200.
The second regulation Mr. Fronzuto wants to revise is
the bylaw governing the taking of shellfish within closed
areas of the harbors. Currently, there is no penalty for
doing this. He wants to add a sentence in the bylaw that
prohibits shellfishing in areas closed to shellfishing. This
change would require a town meeting article and the
previous one, a public hearing at a selectmen’s meeting.
He added that in the future, he and Tara Riley are going
to figure a way to better regulate pond fishing.
Ms. Riley reported that she is working on shutting down
the boathouse and getting the scallops under her care
ready for the winter and is working on organizing supplies
for the new algae system in 2012. Mr. Fronzuto
announced that the Land Council raised another $5,000
for Ms. Riley’s efforts. They got it from a boathouse
intern’s father. He added that Ms. Riley got another
donation, $100 from the Nantucket Garden Club.
Old Business:
Moorings in productive eelgrass beds
Mr. Fronzuto reported that the Cape & Islands Harbor
Masters Association applied to Coastal Zone Management
for a grant to look into alternative moorings. He added
that every harbor in this region is dealing with the same
mooring issues that Nantucket, so this grant would help
get them information on alternative mooring systems
New Business: 5:39pm
Meeting room
Dr. Boyce reported that Roads and Right of Way
Committee chairman Allen Reinhard wanted to know if
HSAB would minding meeting out in the garage at 2
Fairgrounds on alternating Tuesdays when that
committee’s meetings conflict with HSAB’s, which be
every other second Tuesday of the month.
Shellfish Management Plan
Matt Herr announced that the SMP committee would be
meeting on Oct. 19. He added that sometime after
Thanksgiving they’ll have a draft copy of the plan ready
for public consumption at meeting they’ve yet to schedule
at which they’ll take public comments. After that, they’ll
revise the plan and then produce the final draft. He
continued that the selectmen would have to adopt this
plan at a public hearing at one of their meetings. Mr.
Fronzuto recommended that the state’s Division of
Marine Fisheries be a co-adopter or at least put its
stamp of a approval on the plan to give it sharper teeth.
Mr. Brace reported that an online newspaper in Utah ran
article earlier in the month that a Las Vegas, Nev.
restaurant was offering Nantucket bay scallops on their
menu. Mr. Fronzuto said he would call the DMF, which will
investigate who is selling these scallops.
Adjournment: 5:49pm
Unanimously approved
Next Meetings:
Nov. 1 and 15, 2011
Respectfully submitted,
Peter B. Brace, Secretary