Marina Dock Age

After three hearings and an appeal all the way to the Rhode Island Supreme Court, Champlin Marina’s plan to expand its operation and add another 140 slips is nearing a ruling that could finally decide the case, according to a July 25 Providence Business News report.

The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) could rule as early as October on whether Champlin Marina can acquire four additional acres of land and add 140 slips. It could also come up with a compromise plan or reject the expansion outright.

This is the second time that CRMC will hear the case. The CRMC initially rejected Champlin’s expansion plan in 2006, but Champlin Marina appealed the initial rejection to the Rhode Island Supreme Court, contending that the members of the CRMC did not act properly in dealing with the case. The court ruled that the eight-member body should again review the expansion plan and that Chairman Michael Tikolan should not participate in the case because of his actions in the initial case, including a discussion of the case outside the hearing room.

The CRMC has three new members since the first hearing was held. It has ordered lawyers from both sides to submit briefs on the case by August 30 but has provided little guidance on what these briefs should contain.

Opposition to the marina’s expansion on Block Island, which includes environmental groups and the town of New Shoreham, argue that the expansion would amount to taking public waters for private gain and harm the environment. The marina believes that it meets all the criteria for expanding, and environmental concerns are unfounded.

For the full report, click here.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has checked more than 21,000 boats for invasive zebra and quagga mussels since inspections began under emergency regulations in late May. Gov. Dave Freudenthal made those regulations permanent in July when he signed into law a new state aquatic invasive species management plan, according to a July 30 Star Tribune report.

Beth Bear, Game and Fish invasive species program coordinator, said most boaters are getting the message about the new regulations, which includes agency inspections of watercraft prior to launching in most of the state’s major lakes and reservoirs.

The state also requires boaters in Wyoming to purchase and display an aquatic invasive species decal before launching watercraft. All fees collected from the decal sales go to help fund inspection and education efforts. Bear estimated about 73 percent of registered boat owners have purchased the decal.

Wyoming lawmakers allocated $1.5 million in February to fund an effort to prevent mussels from getting into the state. Zebra and quagga mussels, which are about the size of a fingernail and will attach to anything underwater, have been found in Utah and Colorado. So far, Wyoming has fended off infestation.

Through inspections, the Fish and Game Department have decontaminated 13 boats suspected of harboring mussel species into Wyoming. These included three boats with actual mussels attached, which came from Nevada’s Lake Mead where mussels were found in 2007.

In June, the agency approved a final state management plan to deal with the threat of mussels. The plan outlines the prevention, dispersal, education and research efforts the state will use to combat the mussels.

Bear said Wyoming will continue to sample its waters as part of the program. “The goal is to find that larva stage and catch it as early as you possibly can before you start to see adults,” she said. “So we’re trying to get a good handle on what we might have out there with this monitoring.”

Bear also said through the state’s inspections, it is seeing a lot of boats that are clean, drained and dried. “We just been really pleased with the response from boaters,” she said.

Boating season is in full swing in California, yet nearly one-quarter of the slips at the recently renovated Sacramento city marina remain empty, according to a July 15 Sacramento Press report.

The lack of full occupancy at the marina is cause for concern these days, considering that it boasted a waiting list of nearly 300 just three years ago. Moreover, it is expected that a marina rate increase that took effect on July 15 will also prompt some boaters to shy away from the city marina.

Marina officials blame the depressed economy and a poorly timed renovation project as being the primary culprits for the marina’s downturn. Boaters, on the other hand, blame the renovation and the rate hike.

The city marina took shape about 50 years ago, originally hosting only 200 slips. About 26 years ago, the city council authorized an expansion of the basin harbor and the addition of 275 more slips.

In 2007, the city embarked on an $11 million renovation of the south basin’s original 200 wooden slips. Before construction started, the marina lost about 100 boaters. “We anticipated we’d fill the marina right back up again once the construction was completed,” said Bud Camper, marina manager. “But the economy kept getting in our way.”

The marina has not reached full capacity since the renovation project was completed. Although Sacramento Marina is not alone in seeing a low occupancy levels, the drop-off is alarming, especially since the city marina received permission from city council to implement rate increases to pay for the renovation and bring its rates in line with other urban areas.

The rate increase, coupled with the lower occupancies that most marinas in the area are facing, has prompted several boaters at the city marina to look elsewhere to moor their vessels.

Camper said that Sacramento Marina may lose boaters because of the rate increase, but in the end, the renovation and rate changes will pay off with a long-term successful marina.

For the second time this summer, the Missouri River has crested above flood stage in Omaha, Neb., leaving area marinas in limbo for the rest of the boating season, according to a July 26 KETV 7 report.

Heavy rains in northern Iowa and South Dakota, along with the release of water from a reservoir upstream is causing the overflow. As a result, about 300 boats are stuck in their slips at N.P. Dodge Park, and the public boat ramp is underwater.

The public marina in nearby Bellevue, Neb., has been closed most of the summer because of the flooding.

A legal fight that lasted more than 10 years involving the number of slips at Londontown Marina in London, Md., has finally been settled, and only two of the slips at the existing marina have to be removed, according to a July 26 report in The Capital.

The legal battle pitted the marina against the Larrimore family, who has owned land in the area since the 1800s. The marina occupies a little cove on the South River near a spit of land called Larrimore Pointe, named after the family. Some members of the Larrimore family still live on the property and contend that over the years the marina has lengthened and widened its slips, encroaching on the nearby property and several slips had to be removed.

The case went before the county Board of Appeals in 2008. It issued a ruling that attorneys from both sides disagreed about what it meant. So the case was taken to Circuit County Court, where Judge Philip Caroom remanded the case back to the Board of Appeals and ordered the body to clarify its ruling.

While attorneys for the property owners believed that 12 slips had to be removed in the first ruling, the Board of Appeals ruling clarified its ruling earlier this year saying that only two slips had to be demolished.

A new state law that was proposed to go into effect on July 1, 2010, prohibiting the discharge of sewage from a vessel into certain coastal waters, has now been extended until April 1, 2011.

The new law will require marina owners to install pumpout facilities for sewage removal on their properties. Moreover, marina owners will be required to report any vessel that unlawfully discharges sewage into coastal waters, according to a June 30 WFMY News 2 report.

The law that went into effect also  requires boat owners and operators to keep a log of when they pumpout their sewage into a marina’s holding tank.

An electrical fire that started in the early hours of July 3 closed down one dock and temporarily cut off fuel supplies at St. Augustine Municipal Marina. About 50 boats were affected by the loss of power, according to an article in The St. Augustine Record.

Sam Adukiewicz, marina harbormaster, said an electric short in the wiring that runs along the north dock of the marina began to smoke around 4:30 a.m., and a marina employee called the St. Augustine fire department.

Three engines responded to the call and firefighters were able to cut the power and stop the smoke. No one was injured, and no boats were damaged as a result of the electrical problem.

Boats docked on the north side of the marina were running on generators all day July 3, but power was restored the following day. Boaters on the south dock of the marina were unaffected by the electrical problem.

Two women and a 12-year-old girl swimming near a houseboat at a Tennessee marina were treated for electrical shock and have been released from local hospitals, according to a July 7 Knoxville News Sentinel report.

The incident occurred on July 3 at International Harbor Marina on Fort Loudin Lake in Blount Co., Tenn., and the source of the electricity that shocked the three people remains unknown, according to local and state authorities.

Allen Ricks, a spokesman for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, said all three people were swimming behind a houseboat when they felt an electrical current. One of the women was able to swim away from the threat and did not require medical care. Two others in the water when the electricity struck were taken to hospitals in Maryville and Knoxville, treated and released.

High water from the Missouri River coupled with high winds from a June 20 thunderstorm tore docks away from their anchored poles and sent both docks and boats flying from their slips at Sandpiper Cove Marina in Omaha, Neb., according to local news reports.

Mick Brown, office manager at the marina, said the facility suffered extensive damage to its 14 piers as a result of the high winds and water. He noted that several docks were hundreds of feet from where they belonged, while others ended up on dry land.

“We’ve been working continuously to restore the piers at the marina and get the marina up and running,” Brown said. At press deadline, Brown reported that nine of the 13 piers, including the gas fuel dock, were up and running and the marina planned to have the rest in place by the end of the month.

“Our biggest issue right now is getting water and electricity to the docks,” Brown said. High water from the Missouri River is preventing the marina from running water and electrical lines to the piers. Moreover, half of the gangways leading to the piers are still underwater.

At press deadline, Brown said that the marina staff’s goal is to have the marina up and running by August 1.

Twin Dolphin Marina, a 225-slip marina located approximately seven miles east of the Gulf of Mexico along the Manatee River in Bradenton, Fla., is just one of several Florida marinas that are offering safe harbor to boat owners in the Gulf states and panhandle of Florida who are concerned that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could harm their vessels, according to a June 24 press release from the marina.

Twin Dolphin Marina has agreed to waive its long-term lease commitments and offer affected boaters month-to-month rates for dockage as long as the oil slick remains a threat to the Gulf shore.  “We are here to help our fellow boaters in these sensitive areas that have been affected by this unfortunate accident,” said Michael Shanley, the marina’s harbormaster.

The marina currently has room for up to 50 boats, including a couple of slips for boats up to 85 feet long. At press deadline, Shanley said the marina has received a few calls from boaters inquiring about rates and slip sizes.

When asked if boats would be decontaminated of any oil remnants prior to entering the marina’s slips, Shanley indicated they would. He added that the decontamination process is one that he has worked out with the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection.

In addition to Twin Dolphin, Loggerhead Club and Marina, which owns and operates 12 marinas throughout Florida, is opening its facilities to boaters seeking refuge from the oil spill. For example, Loggerhead Marina in Riviera Beach, a dry storage facility that can hold up to 300 boats, is offering to store boats in its facility without signing a long-term lease. Boaters can pay a deposit of $500 to guarantee themselves a slip at the marina’s dry storage facility for the next six months.

Two other examples of marinas offering space are Harborage Marina in St. Petersburg and Fort Myers Yacht Basin in Fort Myers. At press deadline, it was reported that the downtown Fort Myers Yacht Basin has stored four large boats for captains and boat owners who were anticipating the oil spill.

Harborage Marina has begun taking in boats and yachts up to 125 feet. “We had one owner send his 125-foot megayacht, 70-foot sport fisherman and 44-foot speedboat/tender here to get clear of the situation from the oil spill,” said Kirby Scheimann, marina manager.