Harbor News

The Dartmouth Waterways Management Commission held a public hearing on December 18, 2007  regarding the 2008 rates for all waterways and mooring related fees payable to the Waterways Enterprise Fund.  A new rate schedule was adopted for boat-based waterways user fees.  Starting in 2008, Residents will pay $2.60 per foot and Non-Residents will pay $6.20 per foot based upon the actual length overall for vessels subject to Dartmouth waterways use fees.  Recreational mooring permits will require a $30 annual fee, while commercial mooring permits will be assessed a $60 annual fee.
Town Dinghy rack spaces will cost $40 for the 2008 boating season.  Renewal forms will be mailed to the last address provided by the end of February, 2008.  All payments are due by March 31st of 2008.  Happy Holidays.

Concordia, Inc. with a principal place of business at 300 Gulf Road, Dartmouth, MA has made application to the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for the necessary federal permits to retain and maintain 167 existing commercial (rental) moorings in the public waters of Apponagansett Bay (Padanaram Harbor), Dartmouth, MA. Such commercial permits are required for the seasonal rental of moorings by regulation.
The US Army Corps of Engineers is seeking comments regarding the proposed permits. Written comments are to be filed with the Corps before October 26, 2007. Comments from individuals or entities are used to determine the need for a public hearing and also to determine the overall public interest of the proposed activity. If there is no valid request for a public hearing, the Corps will not consider such a hearing in this process. Submitted written comments will nonetheless be considered with or without a public hearing.
Statistically there are 1,194 mooring sites permitted in all areas of Dartmouth waters. In the outer Padanaram Harbor, south of the Padanaram Bridge, (the area where all 167 Concordia, Inc. moorings exist and are sought to be permitted) there are 586 permitted mooring sites total. Of these 586 outer harbor mooring sites, 409 sites are permitted annually for individual (non-rental) use.
Please use the following link to view the Army Corps public notice, File Number NAE2004-1077, as posted 25 September 2007 on their website:
http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/reg/pubnot2.asp
You may also directly download the PDF version of this Public Notice from this site:
http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/reg/1954_001.pdf

Dear Mooring Gear Owners,

The Dartmouth Harbormaster Office has received your mooring permit relinquishment forms, and your requests to attempt to sell your mooring gear to the next-assigned permit holder for your former site.  This message is to inform you of circumstances in Padanaram Harbor that have delayed to assignment of available mooring sites.  In early 2006, the Harbormaster was notified by the US Coast Guard (Group Woods Hole - Sector SE New England) Aid to Navigation Team Chief that there were "mooring balls" within the federally-designated navigation channel.  At about this same time, the two red nuns (10 & 12) were moved and repositioned by the USCG significantly toward the west.  The USCG intended to force the removal of all mooring gear and attached vessels if the Town did not act.

I asked the USCG ATN Chief to specify, in writing, where the federal channel began, where it ended, and what the width was determined to be.  None of these specifics could be determined from public information available.   He agreed to research and provide those answers before any further action would be taken.  Apparently the coordinates delineating the extent of our federal channel could not readily be found by federal authorities either, so discussions began again in May of 2007 with staff at the Woods Hole ATN station and superiors at MSO Providence.  The USCG sought to set the Padanaram Channel at 75 yards width (225').  For comparison, 225 feet wide is approximately the average width of the Cape Cod Canal.  After further negotiations, it was agreed that the federal authorities could live with a 50 yard wide (150') channel for most of our little harbor, narrowing out of necessity at the Padanaram Bridge.   This was the narrowest channel they would accept.  The location of both red nun buoys, as well as the addition of a new green can #13 opposite the South wharf was also negotiated with the USCG to achieve the maximum channel depth existing in the harbor, while maintaining as practical an approach as possible.  Later in the 2007 boating season, the USCG ATN team again visited Padanaram, and moved those government buoys into what is now believed to be their final positions.  

Although we have not yet received the final written coordinates for the channel in writing from USCG, after two years of meetings, negotiations and adjustments, I believe we finally have an understanding and agreement as to the extent of the federal channel in Padanaram Harbor. Obviously, federally-designated navigation channels take priority over local regulation and mooring placements.  No mooring may interfere or impede navigation in any way. The net result to the Dartmouth boating community appears to be a loss of approximately 26 mooring sites due to the "new" federal channel.   That loss hurts, especially in  the face of nearly 300 candidates awaiting mooring permits.  We need to gain sites, not lose ground on the overall access issue. 

Discussions at public meetings with the Dartmouth Waterways Commission led to the reasonable conclusion that people with individual mooring permits being "displaced" by virtue of relocation of the channel should be accommodated elsewhere.  These individuals with valid mooring permits will be offered available sites ahead of anyone on the mooring waiting list to avoid the unfair situation of new permits being issued to the wait list candidates, while existing boaters are removed and forced to the end of the list through no fault or action on their part.  The Harbormaster Office will be identifying and notifying each mooring permit holder affected by the channel change this fall and winter.  We will attempt to match as closely as possible those sites available to those vessels displaced.  All of this "shuffling" is being done against the backdrop of an ever-increasing need to re-grid the entire harbor for more efficient allocation of spaces.  That enormous entire re-grid project is looming in the near future, when that project policy is set by the Dartmouth Waterways Management Commission.

This lengthy explanation is designed to explain what appears to be a lack of movement of available sites to the Dartmouth Mooring Waiting list.  It is not for want of action on the part of this office.  The "behind-the-scenes" activity to make boating safer and more accessible consumes a great amount of time and effort on out part.  While we are cognizant of the funds each mooring gear owner has invested in their tackle, our over-riding focus must be upon the safe, fair and equitable distribution of limited public space for moorings.  Each mooring gear owner maintains ownership of their personal property, which is the mooring gear.  It has been difficult to make clear the distinction between ownership of that mooring gear, and the inability to claim any property or ownership interest in the site which was formerly permitted for keeping of that gear.  We will make every effort to encourage the re-use or re-cycling of existing mooring gear, however under local, state and federal laws, the re-assignment of any mooring permit cannot be conditioned upon the purchase of existing gear.

As always, each mooring gear owner is free to have the mooring service provider of their choice remove their mooring tackle for future use, resale, scrap metal value, or to simply stop the costs of required seasonal servicing.  Many municipalities actually do require that immediately upon termination of a mooring permit, all personal (mooring) gear be removed to return the site to its natural state.  Those who have discontinued their mooring permit have the option of waiting out this winter season for assignments to either displaced permit holders or the waiting list, or having their gear removed instead of winter servicing.

Any specific inquiries regarding this message should be directed to the Harbormaster in writing only.