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Building Center Piling Field, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
This underutilized piling field is a direct result of lousy zoning that does not allow for any recreational boat dockage.
Under the proposal from the waterfront stakeholders, the owner of this site could build newly permitted dockage on this site if they would provide newly built fishing boat tie up spots on 25% of whatever could be created and 75% of anything newly created could be for recreational boat dockage. Right now zero of this space can be used for recreational boat dockage and it is a direct reason why the site sits fallow and underutilized.
If the property owner could create that 75% of newly created dockage for recreational slips in a site where he could never finance and make the project work financially based on 100% fishing boat dockage this site could be improved and pay more taxes to the city.
To simplify-
Whatever fishing boat dockage that exists does not get displaced as to protect the baseline of what we have for the fishing industry right now.
Whatever can be created new in unused waterfront space the property owner would need to provide 25% of that newly created dockage strictly for new commercial boat slips. The other 75% of the newly created dockage could be used for recreational boats.
The 75% of newly created recreational boat dockage would subsidize the 25% commercial boat non profitable dockage. Without allowing the recreational boat component then sites like this never get developed. How could it be if it wasn’t allowed a use that is profitable?
Good Morning Gloucester 