Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-08-13 Harbor Committee Minutes City of Bangor Harbor Committee Minutes Meeting: Wednesday August 13, 2008 City Harbormaster’s Office Committee Members in Attendance: Daniel Cassidy; Robert Woods; Councilor Blanchette City Staff: Jerry Ledwith, Harbormaster; Jim Ring, City Engineer; Norman Heitmann, City Attorney Guests: Councilor Peter D’Erico; Councilor Geoffrey Gratwick; Frank Higgins – Brewer City Engineer; Linda Johns – City of Brewer Planning Director; John Frawley, Retired City Engineer I July Minutes: Accepted as distributed II Permitted use of the upper river. 1. The 1990 permit allowing recreational use of the river was reviewed. The most critical article is that stating : “This permit allows encroachments into inactive portions of the Penobcot River Federal Navigation Project. In the event that the areas involved are needed to support navigation activities in the authorized project, this permit shall become invalid…” i. The interpretation of this article is entirely by the Army Corp of Engineers ii. The navigational activity that now differs from the time this permit was issued is the presence of the American Cruise Line. 2. Photos and charts of other Maine ports used by the American Cruise Line were reviewed. These vessels function safely in limited spaces. i. This suggests that their safe operation may not require the full 450 foot wide channel of the Penobscot Navigational Project. ii. If this is the case, it would support a plan to use some of the space in the upper river to support recreational uses – if approved by the Army Corps. iii. It is in the interest of the community to support harbor use for both the American Cruise Line and recreational activities. 3. Courses of action possible are: i. Approach the Army Corps with a plan to simply modify the areas of recreational use to what can be considered “inactive portions”, and exclude them from areas “needed to support navigational activities” a. Simplest approach, least costly, would not require the same permitting effort that was required in 1990 ii. Develop an entirely new permit a. Costly, will entail more staff time, legal fees, may require a maritime law attorney. 4. How to proceed i. Any action would require approval of the Council of both the Cities of Brewer and Bangor. ii. An approach should be looked at by City Staff. Any action should occur jointly with City Councilors from both Bangor and Brewer. Perhaps a combined meeting would be appropriate. iii. Councilor Blanchette suggested determining what other ports have similar permits that may serve as precedents. iv. Preservation of Federal River Services such as winter icebreaking to decrease flooding risk is important to both city governments. This should not be affected by a permit which still keeps the full Federal Navigation Project intact. The 1990 permit has not adversely affected icebreaking. v. However the Army Corps is approached, all present feel it should be in a positive and cooperative fashion. vi. This committee will look to the Council as to how it can facilitate this process. Other agenda items were tabled until the next meeting