04/24/10 - All the parties in the Champlin’s Marina matter met for just under an hour at the Coastal Resources Management Council Wednesday to discuss scheduling and procedure for the state Supreme Court-mandated remand of the expansion application.

The marina’s application to expand by four acres — doubling its size in the Great Salt Pond — has been in play now for nearly seven years.

The state’s highest court asked the CRMC to expedite the matter, and a vote could come as soon as the end of June, according to Conservation Law Foundation attorney Jerry Elmer.

“There is some uncertainty about when the CRMC will re-vote on Champlin’s. However, if CRMC keeps to the schedule now contemplated, a vote could happen as early as June,” Elmer said.

CRMC legal counsel Brian Goldman said he planned to devote two full council meetings to introducing an alternative marina configuration plan — known as the Goulet Plan — into evidence. This would include providing those who helped assemble the plan — CRMC engineer Danni Goulet, CRMC Director Grover Fugate, Department of Environmental Management Water Quality Engineer Angelo Liberti, and Mike Elliot of the U.S. Army Corps — for cross-examination.

Goldman reserved the CRMC’s regular meetings on the second and fourth Tuesdays in May for the matter. Goldman would keep dates in June open, as well, in case they are needed.

Three of the eight current council members were not present for the original deliberations. They have been provided with the entire transcript of proceedings — thousands of pages — and are expected to have digested all of it before taking a vote.

Champlin’s attorney Robert Goldberg said he reserved the right to introduce his own witnesses, which R. Daniel Prentiss, lawyer for the town and island environmental groups, objected to. Prentiss said the Supreme Court decision did not allow for witnesses beyond the creators of the Goulet Plan.

Goldman said the question would be decided once the hearings began.

In February 2006, after two years and 23 hearings, the CRMC denied the marina’s expansion. Champlin’s appealed, and Superior Court Judge Netti Vogel granted the marina a three-acre expansion. She arrived at her ruling after dismissing the votes of three CRMC members — Chair Michael Tikoian, Vice Chair Paul Lemont and former councilor Gerald Zarrella — whom she said had engaged in improper communication and exhibited bias. She agreed that the so-called Goulet Plan, which was discussed but never officially entered into the record — was a troubling example of improper procedure.

Later, the state Supreme Court found fault with Vogel’s decision to allow quasi-judicial officers to be cross-examined, revealing their thought processes. It also did not agree that Lemont had exhibited bias.

The Supreme Court ordered the matter be sent back to CRMC to include the Goulet Plan and to allow for cross-examination of anyone who played a role in the creation of the plan. The court barred Chairman Tikoian from taking part in the new vote, however it allows Lemont to vote.