Salem Harbor Plan Implementation Committee
Meeting Notes
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
City Hall Annex (3rd Floor, 120 Washington Street)
7pm to 9pm
Committee Members Present:
Mimi Ballou Craig Burnham Claudia Chuber
Doug Haley Peg Harrington Annie Harris
Walter Power Patricia Trap Conrad Prosniewski
Malia Griffin Dolores Jordan
Salem City Staff:
Lynn Duncan, Director DPCD
Kathy Winn, Deputy Director DPCD
Frank Taormina, Harbor Coordinator
Consultants:
Greg Ketchen (Fort Point Associates)
John Simpson (Apex)
Other Attendees:
View attached sign-in sheet.
An agenda for the meeting is attached.
Frank Taormina made introductions and then turned the meeting over to the consultants to brief the committee about the Harbor Plan renewal process. The nomination and election of the Committee Chair and Vice Chair was postponed until the end of the meeting to allow time for some additional members to arrive.
Greg Ketchen reviewed the goals of this initiative, the schedule for the planned work, a review of accomplishments to date, and the next steps. He indicated that he and/or other members of the project team from Fort Point Associates and Apex would be very willing to meet with any committee members individually to capture their ideas and suggestions concerning the Salem Harbor Plan Update. He encouraged committee members to become involved in the process as their time and interest permitted and welcomed them to participate in the stakeholder interviews.
Several committee members asked that they be given an opportunity to review the list of stakeholders that would be interviewed so that they could suggest possible additions to the list. It was suggested that the Peabody Essex Museum be included. Mr. Ketchen said that for the next committee meeting he would have a complete list of stakeholders to be interviewed and share it with the committee.
Committee Member Griffin expressed her objection to the any inclusion in the 2007 updated Salem Harbor Plan that showed use of the old Northeast Petroleum portion of the Dominion Energy property for the new Salem Wharf Development. She indicated that the proposal in the 2000 Harbor Plan had never been agreed to by PG&E or Dominion and that they had not been approached by the City to discuss the future use of that portion of Dominion owned property. Committee Member Griffin stated that Dominion Energy continues to work with the City of Salem on use of their 10 Blaney Street property for the Salem Ferry Pier/Ferry Service and is willing to discuss that property for the future new Salem Wharf.
Committee Member Burnham said that there is no place within the Harbor Plan study area to load/offload marine construction materials or equipment. Committee Member Burnham stated that plans for the New Salem Wharf should include the ability to efficiently load and off load construction barges and other commercial vessels.
Other comments included:
· Explore opportunities with Warren Kayak to help activate the South River Watersheet.
· Need to identify new marine industrial business opportunities.
· Boat building business(es) and educational programs would be a good fit for the Salem waterfront.
· Future vision for the Salem Designated Port Area (DPA) should be looking out 15 to 20 years when energy production needs and operations will likely be changing. Will the fossil fuel power plant be operating in 2025 and beyond? The DPA should continue to be protected to allow it to efficiently support marine industrial
activities.
· Webb Street access to the proposed site for the new Salem Wharf is critical but problematic.
· Suggest that the harbor pilots be added to the list of planned stakeholder interviews.
The rest of the meeting was devoted to some clarifications of the project process and next steps.
The meeting concluded with a call for an election of a Committee Chair and Vice Chair. Members asked that this be postponed until the April 24, 2007 Committee Meeting.
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