Harbor Committee – September 25, 2014

HARBOR COMMITTEE SEDGWICK MAINE SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

Members present: John Dunbar, Chair, Dennis DeSilvey, Secretary, Bill Sweetland, Tom Reilly, John Higgins, Alternate

Dwayne Ford, Deputy Harbormaster.

Excused: Victor Smith, Eric Sass Guest

John Dunbar, Bill Sweetland, and Dennis DeSilvey met at 1700 on 9/24 and marked the GPS points for the harbor line. Those points are:

N 44.17.734
W 68.37.310 for the inner harbor mark in front of Benjamin River Marine

N 44.17.592
W 68.37.702 for the outer mark in the deep portion of the channel

Mr. Sweetlend and Mr. Sass will plot those points on a chart of the harbor for the next meeting

There followed a discussion of dinghy size on the dock and it was agreed that we would uses the 12 foot length and 5 foot width as the ordinance definition. It was decided that the dinghy regulations would be presented at the town meeting as an amendment to the current ordinance. There was some discussion of whether to have a designated space for the commercial boats or add space to the present dock for such vessels. Mr. Dunbar suggested that we consider having assigned dinghy spaces and that was discussed by the committee. A final comment was that dinghy’s be required to be properly fendered.

There then followed a discussion of the process of enforcement of the harbor regulations. With the appointment of Duane Ford as Deputy Harbormaster there will be someone officially responsible for enforcement and universal application of the harbor regulations. There was some discussion of the traditions of the harbor and how those would impact enforcement. To begin we will be enforcing the registration and marking of all mooring balls and dinghy registration. Unmarked moorings will be pulled if the apparent owner cannot be located.

A letter will be sent to all currently registered mooring owners in the spring discussing these measures. An effort will also be done to identify those people who currently have “free” moorings and get them to pay for the mooring use.

There was a final discussion of how the dinghy ordinance will read and it will begin as follows:

Dinghy length 12 feet and width 5 feet
Dinghies must be properly fendered to prevent damage to other boats

The meeting was then adjourned. The next meeting will be Wednesday November 5, 2014