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HARWICH ADOPTS NEW MOORING and HARBOR MANAGEMENT PLAN
On February 9th the Board of Selectmen in the Town of Harwich adopted a new thirty- seven page Harbor Management Plan by a 4-1 vote. The new plan takes away most of the privileges held by the two local boatyards for over seventy years. Formally Allen Harbor Marine controlled thirty-five moorings and Harwichport Boat Works controlled some ninety-three.
Under the newly adopted plan each boatyard gets four “special purpose moorings” for use for boat sales, repairs,, work boats etc that will not fall under a town-wide centralized waiting list. In addition they will receive, through attrition, an additional six moorings that can be assigned from a first come first served waiting list maintained by the boatyards but with the provision that anyone can only have one of those moorings for a period of one year. They must then apply for a town controlled mooring and be added to the list. The approximate waiting time in Harwich currently for a town owned mooring is fifteen years.
The Town doubled and in some cases tripled the annual mooring permit fee for residents and non- residents and instituted an annual mooring inspection requirement and fee. A launch/tender fee was established as well as significant changes in the boat transportation permit fees.
The Town created a new form of category called a mooring service agent. This is a “give us the best deal” application process. A mooring service agent will be assigned a mooring field in the town by selectmen after considering any and all applicants for the position which was crafted to put all the liability on the service agent without giving them any authority.
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