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October 27, 2021

Proposed expansion of marina in Rockland draws mixed reviews

boats on docks Courtesy / Yachting Solutions An expansion of docking infrastructure is proposed at Safe Harbor Rockland, which bought the marina from Yachting Solutions last December.
By Laurie Schreiber

A proposal to expand a commercial marina located along the southern hook of Rockland Harbor is drawing mixed reviews from local residents. 

Safe Harbor Marina Rockland LLC, which owns the Safe Harbor Rockland marina at 60 Ocean St., made several proposals that would require dredging part of the harbor. 

It proposes to enlarge the existing float system by adding additional “finger” piers, strings of floats and a “wave attenuator” — a floating breakwater that dampens wave impact. The project would entail dredging about 138,000 square feet of bottom sediment from an area near the marina to accommodate boats that would tie up to the additional structures.

The Rockland City Council recently held a special meeting to take public input on the company’s application, submitted to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry’s Bureau of Parks & Lands. The proposal requires a lease or easement, which can be granted by the bureau only if certain conditions are met, such as lack of interference with customary public access and rights, such as fishing, recreation and navigation.

Opponents of the project said the installation of more floats and piers would displace moorings held by other harbor users, impede navigation and affect the viewshed and the ecosystem.

Others viewed the project as a positive opportunity, arguing that it benefit harbor users and businesses on land.  

Infrastructure grant

Safe Harbor Rockland is one of about 100 locations in 22 states that are part of Safe Harbor Marinas, which is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is the largest owner and operator of marinas in the world, according to its website.

The company bought the Rockland-based marina, formerly known as Yachting Solutions Boat Basin, in December 2020. The marina was designed to provide transient and seasonal dockage in a protected basin for boats up to 250 feet, with amenities such as pump-out, internet and laundry, according to its website.

The marina is a short walk to Rockland’s downtown.

“It’s become quite popular, as Rockland has, over the past dozen years,” said Bill Morong, CEO of Yachting Solutions, a Rockport yacht restoration and service business that operated the Rockland marina for about a dozen years on land leased from local businessman Stuart Smith. 

The Safe Harbor proposal stems from a previous one put forward by Yachting Solutions in 2017, when the latter was awarded $1,046,760 through the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s boating infrastructure grant program to expand docking space and serve more vessels traveling along the Maine coast. A required match of $737,941 brought the total to $1,784,701. The project included a partnership with the Maine Department of Transportation to provide 2,200 linear feet of new dockage at the facility, for transient vessels, along with electrical and fueling infrastructure upgrades and the conversion of an existing gazebo into a transient boater's lounge.

The boating infrastructure grant program is funded through taxes and fees on motorboat fuel and related equipment, and administered by the National Park Service.

“The whole purpose is to create additional transient public access boating infrastructure,” Morong told Mainebiz.

Lengthy process

An extensive permitting process and the pandemic slowed the implementation of the project while the marina was under his ownership, he said.

Morong is now acting as a Safe Harbor Rockland representative as the project winds its way through permitting agencies. That includes U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Maine Department of Environmental Protection and other federal and state agencies.

“It’s a very lengthy process,” he said. “Everything needs to be in lockstep with each other.”

In 2017, total investment in the expansion was expected to be a little over $3 million. A new estimate hasn’t yet been worked out. 

“We’re in the process now of designing the bids,” he said.

Additional financing will be covered through a cash investment by Safe Harbor, he said.

Two design and engineering contractors are working on the project — Applied Technology & Management Inc. in Charleston, S.C., and Landmark Corporation Surveyors & Engineers in Rockport.

The goal is to complete the expansion within a year or so, he said.

A second phase of expansion, with additional dredging, is contemplated at some point down the road, he said.

Michael Sabatini, a civil engineer with Landmark, told the council at its recent special meeting that the project has been modified somewhat to accommodate concerns raised by the public. That included a redesign of the expansion’s layout to reduce impacts on the viewshed. 

Pro and con

One resident who opposed the project said it represented an incremental change that would affect people who have held moorings in the area for decades.

“It’s a damned parking lot for boats,” said another resident. 

Others said the dredging process would destroy marine habitat.

Others were more positive.

“I see this project as an opportunity to sort of move the usage of Rockland Harbor into a new era,” said one resident. “The plans that have been put forward through the years have evolved in way that I feel like is beneficial both to the users of the harbor itself and the terrestrial users of the harbor.”

Morong said the new slips would be configured for flexibility, with an eye toward accommodating boats of all sizes.

That’s expected to include “megayachts” — large, luxury vessels that can be hundreds of feet long.

“The point is to create boating access for boats coming into Rockland Harbor that need additional facilities,” he said. “We’re not intending to limit public access, but to improve public access.”

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3 Comments

Anonymous
October 27, 2021

I for one along with many of my friends are in favor of the expansion , it’s exciting to see the Harbor beginning to be developed into what many have wanted for years. Safe Harbor along with Bill Morong will do a fine job expanding our Harbor so many more will be able to enjoy coming to Rockland by boat, and enjoy all that this Great City has to offer… We wish them well with much success..
Kindest Regards,
James C Leach

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