04/11/09 - The state Coastal Resources Management Council denied an application by Champlin’s Marina to conduct repair work at Trader Vic’s because the marina had not secured Town Council approval. But lawyers for the marina fired back in Superior Court, saying the agency was on shaky legal ground.
In a letter to the marina, CRMC Executive Director Grover Fugate says the agency is holding the application because of an ordinance passed by the Town Council in January. The ordinance requires the town’s signature on applications to the CRMC for any work involving the bottom of Great Salt Pond. Town officials say they can impose the demand because the town owns the land beneath the Great Salt Pond.
Lawyers for Champlin’s disagree. They say a 2003 Supreme Court ruling affirmed that the state controlled activity on the Great Salt Pond up to the high water mark and stopped short of explicitly granting the town control of the land beneath the pond. The marina’s lawyers have filed a motion in Superior Court to challenge the co-applicant requirement.
The ordinance came in direct response to a plan to expand Champlin’s Marina in the face of town opposition. The town is now appealing a court decision that allows the expansion to move forward.
First Warden Kim Gaffett and other town officials had publicly wondered whether the CRMC would honor the ordinance and reject applications without the town’s signature. Gaffett said Wednesday she was pleased that it appeared the agency would.
But the Town Council does plan to review an amendment to the ordinance that would exempt repairs — like the ones proposed at Trader Vic’s — from requiring Town Council permission. Instead, the town manager would sign off on those types of applications. Gaffett said it was never the council’s intention to hold up routine “in-kind” repairs.
Separately, the town’s solicitor is talking with the state Department of Environmental Management about changing that agency’s regulations. The new regulations would require town approval before the DEM grants the environmental approvals necessary to build in the Great Salt Pond. DEM Executive Director Michael Sullivan suggested the regulation change to the town.
Extra:
Read the ordinance (Proposed amendment is underlined.)
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The fact that a CRMC director is yielding state authority to the town on this just further proves Champlins claims of bias.
A simple message to the elected officials of the town of New Shoreham.... GROW UP! Passing retaliatory ordinances makes you look like spoiled children.
Here's what you should have said: if a dock, fixed structure, or floating structure in affixed or connected to the land, permanently or temporarily, from the mean high water line up, the Town can enforce all building codes. That includes any ordinances for construction, fire, safety, electrical, water, or whatever is deemed allowable under state and federal laws.
Gosh folks, it's been that way for 400 years now.
sam wells