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News/Events - Meeting Minutes

Waterways Commission Meeting
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Scituate Maritime Center, 119 Edward Foster Road
7:15 pm
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairperson John Murphy, Assistant Chairperson Bill Schmid, Keith Walo, Larry Niland, Dick Eckhouse, Mark Patterson, Peter Toppan, Mary McLaughlin. ALSO PRESENT: Bob McHugh, Brad White, Don Hourihan, Howie Kreutzberg Associate Members; Brian Curreri, Chuck Toohey, Kieli Storm Dooley, Jeff Rosen, Jamie Noonan, David Ball, Fran McMillen and Sean Hannon.

1) Meeting called to order at 7:20 pm by Chairperson John Murphy.

2) Approval of the Nov. 3, 2010 meeting minutes was tabled.

3) Harbormaster's Report – Mark Patterson
a) Assistant Harbormaster Ed Gibbons completed the second successful boater education course with over 30 new boaters certified.
b) Quahogs that were transferred from Taunton River seeded the Scituate flats successfully and the clam-flats are open as of Dec 1, 2010.
c) Santa will be arriving via Harbormaster Boat at the Town Pier on Saturday Dec 4, 2010 at 10:00 am.

The agenda was taken out of order to accommodate two presentations:

5) New Business
a) Ocean Campus Presentation - Jeff Rosen and Howie Kreutzberg. Mr. Rosen presented as the president and CEO of Marine and Environmental Education Alliance (MEEA, P.O. Box 416, Scituate, MA 02066, www.theoceancampus.org) which is a non-profit organization hoping to open a maritime based education center in Scituate. MEEA board of directors is made up of 8 volunteer members with the goal of bringing higher education to the South Shore. Students will train as technicians in marine and environmental science and engineering, water treatment and monitoring, alternative energy, marine archeology, boat building and maintenance, and computer and communications. There is a possibility of a limited alliance with other Massachusetts community colleges and universities, including Mass Maritime Academy and Massasoit Community College. Mr. Rosen requested a formal endorsement letter from the WWC with copies sent to the Town Administrator, the Board of Selectman and the Scituate Mariner. Mr. Niland made a MOTION to draft and submit a letter of endorsement to the Town Administrator and Board of Selectmen with a copy to the Scituate Mariner, the motion was SECONDED by Mr. Schmid, all voted in favor and the motion was approved unanimously.
b) Scituate Historical Society – Dave Ball
1) Moving the Boathouse and the Mossing Shed. Mr. Ball updated the WWC about the possibility of moving the Boathouse and the Mossing Shed away from the street, while still facing the same direction. The buildings have been restored, leveled and the floors jacked up and reinforced in order to use them for the sailing program. The Town was approved for a CPC grant in 2007 for this project and there is still approximately $40,000 available for the move. Mr. Ball said that while the WWC would need Building Inspector Neil Duggan's approval of the elevation and what sort of pilings used, he feels that Mr. Duggan will be flexible in consideration to the age and historical value of the buildings. Mr. Schmid brought up the question of location with regards to the use of the rest of the Marine Park. Mr. Curreri from Scituate Boatworks commented that there would be no net loss of space in the park so moving buildings would be no problem for Scituate Boatworks. Mr. Murphy suggested the move be coordinated with the upland park engineering project therefore a meeting should be scheduled with all parties invited, including the project engineer Mr. Tibbetts. Mr. Ball will be meeting with a contractor to get an idea of difficulty and cost. A meeting was set for Friday, Dec. 3 with Mr. Tibbetts, Mr. Ball, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Patterson and Mr. Duggan.
2) Mr. Ball also mentioned that there is now an 80-year-old mossing dory in storage at the mossing shed.
3) Mr. Ball also addressed the committee about reintroducing the practice of using the Coast Guard warning flag system as both a safety measure and a maritime tradition. Mr. Toppan brought up the question of who could fund this and Mr. Ball responded that he feels that the Scituate Coastal Coalition might help with funding and he will follow up on this idea with the WWC after speaking to them.

4) Old Business
a) Scituate Marine Park update
1) Scituate Boat Works update given by Mr. Curreri. New docks have arrived and all docks have been pulled out of the water with the exception of two sets and a gangway that they plan on leaving in unless severe weather requires otherwise. They are pulling out the last boat on Friday, which puts the total number of boats in the yard at over 130. This is 40+ more boats than last year with still room in the boatyard for more. They are happy with the process this fall. Also, Scituate Boatworks is now working with Sun Seekers Yacht Company as the pick up spot for newly built yachts. In addition, the plans for their building will be done by the Jan. WWC meeting and they are hoping to be under construction by June 2011.
2) Upland park engineering. Mr. Patterson expects to have final plans from Mr. Tibbetts by the end of the week (12/3/10). Copies of this will be distributed to the WWC board and unless an additional special meeting needs to be called, they should be able to vote on approval at the Jan. WWC meeting so the project can be awarded by March and beginning work by May 15, 2011. Mr. Curreri requested plenty of advance notice so he can move boats in an efficient manner.
3) SMP Improvements Mr. Murphy will speak to the DPW to see about filling the potholes in the boatyard.

b) Scituate Maritime Center
1) SMC winterization. Mr. Eckhouse updated that the SMC has been winterized, Chuck Toohey is handling the fixing of the heat, John Reidy will be rehanging the south door to avoid leaks and the light blocking blinds will be ordered as soon as more donations come in. The plaque design will be completed after the holidays and the alarm system will be installed soon.

c) Other business
1) Scituate sailing program. Jamie Noonan requested to be at the Friday meeting regarding the moving of the buildings
2) Harbor Management plan Mr. Murphy requested an endorsement of the plan. Mr. Eckhouse made a MOTION to endorse the Harbor Management plan as written, Mr. Schmid SECONDED the motion, all voted in favor and the motion passed unanimously.
3) Jericho ramp funding/planning Mark Patterson reported that the letter-writing campaign to try to attain funding from the State for this project seems to be successful. While there is not yet formal confirmation, it looks promising.
5) Future dredging/permitting Mr. Murphy updated about the Mill Wharf Marina dredging project scheduled for Feb. 2012. He suggested the Town utilize the existing permit for the Marine Park Marina basin to have maintenance dredging done. He also suggested we develop a plan to dredge and replace the existing moorings to the Cole Parkway Marina with pilings to ensure a more stable marina.
6) Central Ave/Dock Mr. Murphy updated that he and Mr. Patterson looked at the site where a resident would like to extend his dock closer to the channel. It appeared to them that since the other docks around him were both newer and longer, approval of this improvement wouldn't impede the channel. There was much discussion of setting clearer rules for future requests to ensure safety, fairness to the neighbors, and avoid erosion in the area. Mr. Patterson suggested that the WWC could comment to the Conservation Board about these concerns, create building parameters/barriers or insist on contributions from the residents towards erosion control. Mr. Toppan suggested this subject be tabled until the Jan. meeting in order to allow time for research and discussion.

4) New Business
c) NOAA – Harborwalk. NOAA will be meeting with the Town next week and Mr. Murphy will update the WWC when more is known about their plans.
d) Mooring rules & bylaws. Mr. Eckhouse suggested the formation of a subcommittee to review the rules and bylaws. A committee was formed including Mr. Eckhouse, Mr. Toppan, Mr. McMillen, Mr. Patterson, Mr. Schmid, and Mr. Walo. Mr. Walo questioned a conflict of interest, which Mr. Patterson suggested he check up on with the State ethics committee.
e) Other Business
i. Mr. Hourihan stated a concern about a specific channel marker being 20 feet off station. He stated that the Coast Guard is supposed to be taking care of it but maybe the WWC should follow up. Mr. Hourihan also brought up the possibility of near shore dumping on any future dredging projects.
ii. Sean Hannon from Hammerheads Concession truck spoke to the WWC about possibly taking his truck to the boat ramps in the summer in order to expand his business. Mr. Murphy mentioned that according to a recent survey, the boaters would welcome this and Mr. Hannon is welcome to use the ramp study information if needed.
iii. Next meeting: Jan. 5, 2011 at 7:15 at the SMC.

4) By unanimous vote, the meeting was adjourned at 9:25pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Kieli Storm
Jean Martin