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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-21-15Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. Community Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road Members present: Peter Brace, Ken Gullicksen, Dr. Peter Boyce, Bill Blount Members Absent: Michael Glowacki, Wendy McCrae, Andy Lowell Marine Dept: Sheila Lucey, Tara Riley Natural Resources Dept: Others: Matt Herr, Nantucket Police Chief Bill Pittman CALL TO ORDER APPROVAL OF AGENDA Unanimously approved APPROVAL OF MINUTES Unanimously approved CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Mr. Brace informed the board that the Board of Selectmen designated the HSAB as special municipal employees at its April 15, 2015 meeting. MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT: General harbors update — Sheila Lucey Ms. Lucey informed the board that the marine repair crew working on the town pier had demolished everything on the "floater ", 60% of the cross - bracing and the buckled sections of the fixed dock. The work barge is expected in the harbor early next week. She noted the seven - person crew would work on the floating slips pier first and hope to have it done by early June. On the slip lottery, the selectmen voted to roll over the lottery until next year and then move the lottery to October. She also informed the board that she's hired 50 lifeguards, enough for the season, that beach week training for head lifeguards starts on June 15 and the rest of the lifeguards on June 22. The town now has four ATVs; two for trash pick up, two for patrols. She added that she's hired the town pier staff and that she arranged for additional lifeguard housing at 39 Washington St. Ms. Lucey said the Marine Department is starting a junior lifeguard program for 14 and 15 -year -olds to try to hire more Nantucket lifeguards. NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT General report from Jeff Carlson and or Tara Riley Ms. Riley reported that the town opened Sesachacha Pond on April 13 and Hummock Pond on April 16, and that both ponds were both still open. She said the NRD had settled on a final design for the renovation of the marine lab at Brant Point, that they're getting ready to put out 73 spawn cages with scallops in them in Nantucket and Madaket harbors and that spat bags around the Head of the Harbor. Ms. Riley also said that water quality sampling in Nantucket Harbor would begin in May. Dr. Boyce asked Ms. Riley where she plans to put the spawning cages in the harbors. Ms. Riley said she'd be consulting fishermen for possible locations. Dr. Boyce suggested 5`h Bend. PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE DEPARTMENT / NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT OLD BUSINESS *Draft mooring /slip regulations — discussion and recommendations Mr. Blount expressed that he wanted to change 250.5.4.5 of the proposed regulations; transient dockage fees to a more affordable rate. Mr. Blount then recused himself and sat in the public seats. He then represented that under the proposed regulations, he'd end up paying $20,000 a year for dockage fees. He recommended making the transient dockage fee $1.50 per foot per night for non - Nantucket commercial vessels and then no more than $25 per foot annually for commercial vessels owned and operated by Nantucket residents. Mr. Brace reminded the board that it agreed to this recommendation at its April 7 meeting. Mr. Blount also asked that the word "fishing" be stricken from in front of "commercial vessel" so that all commercial vessels must pay this fee. Ms. Lucey indicated that the use of the term "commercial fishing vessel" is part of an effort to protect the local fishing industry, but she said she would ask at the April 22, 2015 meeting of the BOS if this recommendation would work. Mr. Gullicksen questioned whether the selectmen had the power to adopt the regulations. He recommended striking the definition of "gray water" from the regulations because it isn't used anywhere. He also added a definition for the word "moor" and changed its definition to clarify it. With these two changes, Mr. Gullicksen is attempting to make a distinction between moorings and docks. For 250.2.1, Mr. Gullicksen changed the word "vessels" to "vessel ", on 250.2.2, he reworked the wording for this item. On 250.2.7, he changed the word "vessels" to "vessel ". For 250.2.12, he struck all the new language and replaced it with "There shall be no Liveaboards at any Town Pier or Wharf', but he qualified this change and confirmed with Ms. Lucey that transient mariners could spend a few nights in their boats at the town pier, but the couldn't live in their boats at the town pier. Ms. Lucey explained that the purpose behind this item is to require liveaboard boat owners to get moorings instead of using anchors because most of them live in boats with no power that frequently end up washing ashore during storms and end up being abandoned. Also, there's no way to track anchored boats to get them to use town holding tank pump out services. Since moorings are registered with the Marine Dept., unlike anchoring, there is contact information on file. She added the town can't afford another Miss China incident Mr. Gullicksen said he changed this item along with 250.3.1 for "when you need a mooring permit" to limit the amount of time a vessel can anchor in the harbor to 30 days after which time a current mooring permit is required for a continued stay to prevent transient boat owners from permanently anchoring in the harbor. Ms. Lucey noted there's a regulation allowing boaters to anchor for up to two weeks in one spot in the harbors before they have to move to another anchoring spot. She added that although she liked Mr. Gullicksen's recommendation, she felt it didn't allow the town to level enforcement actions on these scofflaws. Essentially, Ms. Lucey wants to limit anchoring in Nantucket Harbor to two weeks, boats to be able to move under their own power and then get a mooring after that point. For item 250.3.1.1, Mr. Gullicksen rewrote and tightened up this section. For item 250.3.1.3, he replaced "the town" with "Nantucket watereways ". Mr. Gullicksen questioned the large increase in moorings weights in this item. Ms. Lucey explained that the mooring handlers say boats are getting bigger and Ms. Lucey noted that 47 boats dragged on their mooring during Hurricane Arthur in July 4t' weekend 2014 and all washed ashore. She added that the workgroup recommended the increase in mooring weights and that most likely, this will be enforced when each mooring's inspection happens so that if the mooring isn't heavy enough according to the revised regulations, its owner would have to replace it with a new one that meets this regulation based on the size of their boat. Mr. Herr suggested a change to the proposed mooring weight increase that would reduce mooring weight dependent on where in the harbor the mooring is and the size of the boat. Ms. Lucey noted that it already says in the language that these criteria are subject to the approval of the harbormaster. She added that the July 2014 hurricane proved that in Monomoy and off Hulbert Avenue, heavier moorings are needed. Mr. Herr also asked whether length of mooring chains was considered because he felt that since too many boats were being crammed into the mooring grid, if the chain lengths were too long, there could be boats crashing into each other. Ms. Lucey assured him there is a provision for Mr. Herr's concern in the proposed regulations. Mr. Gullicksen proposed that in section 250.3.1.4 the word "mooring" be capitalized and that the word "mooring" be removed from the phrase "mooring chain" wherever this phrase appeared in this section In section 250.1.3.5, he recommended that the proposed pennant length be half the length of its boat instead of eight feet long. Ms. Lucey agreed with Mr. Gullicksen's suggestion, but she added that the town was trying control boat owners who use pennants that are way longer than necessary. In section 250.3.1.6, Mr. Gullicksen proposed to increase the number of years between mooring inspections from two to three because the proposed increase in mooring weights means tougher, thicker and stronger mooring tackle would be used that could potentially last longer. Ms. Lucey said a shorter period prevents boat owners from having faulty mooring tackle in the water break on them and their boats washing ashore during storms. Ms. Lucey and the rest of the HSAB board present agreed with this proposed revision. Also in this section, Mr. Gullicksen capitalized the word "permit" in the phrase "mooring permit ". In section 250.3.1.9, Mr. Gullicksen added the words "removed or" in the second sentence between "must be" and "outfitted" and then added the words "prior to October 15" at the end of this sentence. In section 250.3.1.10, he asked for clarification on what is meant by "small buoy ", so he proposed deleting the word "small ". In section, 250.3.1.14, he removed the word "acquired" so this bullet item now reads: "A Nantucket based Mooring handler has the required equipment to properly install, remove, relocate and service Helix Moorings ". Mr. Gullicksen proposed to remove completely sections 250.3.1.17 and 250.3.1.18 because the above recommendation cover these. Mr. Gullicksen proposed to add a new section, section 250.3.2.2 that reads: "Mooring Permits shall be issued only for Vessels for which Mooring space is available" to clarify that boat owners can't get a mooring permit for an anchor. In section 250.3.2.3, Mr. Gullicksen submitted the following revision by adding the words in bold: "applications for a Mooring Permit in any Nantucket Waterway shall be submitted to the Town on the Mooring Permit Application form. All information requested on the form must be supplied or the application may be rejected." He then asked Ms. Lucey whether the town needs exceptions from these proposed regulations for rental moorings since the Army Corps of Engineers issues them to the town and then the town holds them. Ms. Lucey said she consult with Deputy Police Chief Charlie Gibson on this one. For section 250.3.2.4, Mr. Gullicksen clarified it by replacing the word "boat" with the word "vessel" in the second and third sentences, and adding "or renewal" after the word "application ", "Mooring Permit" after the word "a" and "to be" after the word "is" in the first sentence. For section 250.3.2.8, he added the word "Mooring" to the beginning of the first sentence and then removed the words "for the use of mooring spaces" from that sentence. Mr. Gullicksen proposed rearranging section 250.3.3.1. Ms. Lucey cautioned him that this section is a real touchy issue for realtors who are marketing waterfront property with moorings in front of it as a selling point. Mr. Gullicksen explained that his proposed change gives the harbormaster more discretion in dealing with private waterfront moorings. Mr. Gullicksen remarked in reference to the Fees section, that there needs to be a connection between the cost of the fee and the service it provides instead what the market bears. Mr. Pittman explained that the fees collected go into the Waterways Improvement Fund, which pays for all marine facilities maintenance and repairs. The WIF brings in roughly $320,000 to $340,000 annually. He added that maintenance of marine facilities, namely, the town pier, have put the WIF in the hole. Mr. Pittman said the reason for fee increases is to hopefully fund the marine facilities maintenance with the WIF in the black and at the same time, do a much - needed dredging of the Polpis Harbor channel and commit to a schedule of regular dredging with the hope selling the dredged sand to help compensate the WIF. Mr. Gullicksen asked if boat owners who trailer their boats are getting out of contributing to the WIF. Mr. Pittman added that in previous years, the WIF was used inappropriately for needs beyond the scope of this fund so that there was never enough money it to make the repairs needed or do the maintenance required for the town's marine facilities. The HSAB voted unanimously to have Mr. Brace write a letter to the selectmen outlining the HSAB's major revisions to Chapter 250 Harbors And Town Pier Regulations Town Of Nantucket. Dr. Boyce thanked Ms. Lucey for working with the HSAB on its revisions and he thanked Mr. Gullicksen for his diligence in going through the regulations. After the fact, Mr. Herr asked if there was a way to glean fees from boat owners who trailer their boats. Mr. Lucey said the workgroup voted against this idea. Mr. Gullicksen suggested the board might want to revisit this idea at a later date. Mr. Pittman said this would be extremely challenging to enforce. NEW BUSINESS No new business PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING ADJOURN Unanimously approved Future Meetings: April 21 and May 5 Respectfully Submitted, Peter B. Brace, Chairman *While reading these minutes, have on hand the Chapter 250 Harbors And Town Pier Regulations for the Town Of Nantucket as revised by HSAB member Ken Gullicksen on April 22, 2015 for complete proposed by the HSAB.