Ideas floated for future of port of Yarmouth

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

A small group met last week to tackle a master plan for a large part of Yarmouth.

Seventeen people gathered to consider the future of the port of Yarmouth, which involved a discussion on everything from where cargo and fishing operations should be situated to whether condominiums and apartments have a place on Water Street.

The public input session was part of a process to develop a master plan for the port. As it was pointed out by Ralston MacDonnell, president of MacDonnell Group consultants, Yarmouth is known as an historic seaport, yet there is no master plan to direct where the port should be headed in future years.

And while similar discussions are happening at other ports, Yarmouth has an advantage over many ports because it is an international border crossing.

During the session Jeff Munroe, who recently retired from the City of Portland and is considered an authority in ports, pointed to some of the key aspects of this port, and some of the challenges. On the plus side, he noted, there are two port-owned deep water facilities, a federally owned facility, a five-acre town-owned area, deep water access to protected piers, a diverse mix of facility uses, potential infill areas, short access to deep water and an abundance of shallow berths. “You’re really in a good position,” he said.

But that isn’t to say there aren’t challenges, which includes dredging issues, indirect road connections, diversified governance, lack of capital improvement funds, no image or landmark that the public associates with, limited ship size capacity and aging infrastructure.

Still, despite the pros and the cons, there were opportunities identified that the port could tap into, such as roll-on, roll-off cargo, expanded ferry service, service capability for the growing oil and gas industry, expanded fishing and tourism, pocket cruises, mega yacht business, recreational boating and historical ship visits.

Another idea involved making the port a U.S. customs pre-clearance facility.

Whatever direction the port heads in, the public was told a goal of any master plan will be to maximize employment opportunities and ensure overall enjoyment of the port.

An exercise was held during the session in which the public was asked where they would position things within the port. The majority consensus was to have cargo and fishing operations in the south, recreation in the centre and residential uses in the north. There was also discussion of the opportunities presented at Bunker Island.

Aside from meeting with the public, the consultants met last week with elected officials, municipal planning staff and business operators. In a few months they hope to come back with a plan to present. “But the plan is not going to be absolutely cast in stone,” noted MacDonnell. “We’ll probably give fairly broad ideas on here are areas we’ve looked at for development. Some of it may be out there quite a ways, five, 10, 15 or 20 years.”

QUICK GLANCE

Ideas for the future of the port of Yarmouth were thrown out by the consultants, others have been generated at the local level and include such things as: •a retail fish market •expanded tourism connections •expanded residential capacity •recreation centre at Bunker Island •a public market facility •family usage of the port

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