Working Waterfront Initiative
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Community Actions to Support Working Waterfronts
Comprehensive Planning
The
building boom of the late 1980s prompted many communities
to reconsider their future and determine how they could better
manage growth. Since then, dozens of Maine towns have embarked
on a comprehensive planning process that helps set a clear
direction for balanced future growth--so that change does
not diminish what residents most cherish about their community.
The comprehensive planning process gives community members
a chance to discuss issues and envision solutions. The Land
Use Planning staff at the State Planning Office can provide
useful guidance in this process, along with small technical
assistance grants. The recommendations compiled in a comprehensive
plan can help to enact land use regulations and zoning and
direct investments in ways that benefit the community's long-term
interests. A comprehensive plan may become the foundation
for a more specific plan guiding harbor use and management
[see waterfront planning].
Plans are not static documents, but can be revised and refined
over time to reflect changes in the community. In Camden,
for example, a committee recently reviewed the town's Harbor
and Waterways Ordinance to consider what improvements might
be made. The ordinance, first adopted in 1990, had not been
updated in the intervening years to address any changes in
community needs or shorefront uses. The new ordinance, adopted
by a two-thirds margin, addressed deficiencies in the mooring
process and helped to ensure that the town's remaining commercial
fishermen will have ready access to the town dock (and to
parking).
Waterfront Planning
Careful
planning can ensure that many different parties enjoy the
shorefront and local waters without conflict and without
degrading the place. The handbook, The Right Tack: Charting
Your Harbor's Future, which you can obtain free of charge from the Maine Coastal
Program, provides a comprehensive approach to drafting, revising
and implementing harbor ordinances and plans. Here are some
planning tips from The Right Tack and the 1988 State
handbook Coastal Management Techniques: A Handbook for
Local Officials:
- Learn from the experience of other communities. Talk
with staff at your Regional Planning Council (for complete
listing see http://www.maine.gov/spo/landuse/techassist/regcouncil.php)
and the State Planning Office Land
Use Team to find out which communities have faced challenges
similar to yours. The case studies on this web site may
provide some additional ideas.
- Survey those who use your harbor facilities: this may
be the best means of estimating future growth. Gather additional
data on past and current trends. This analysis is a critical
part of early planning, but be careful not to get mired
in this phase. Remember that your goal is not to produce
a report but to spark actions that will make your waterfront
more accessible and vital.
- Clearly define the challenges that your community is
facing in terms of its waterfront. Once there's agreement
on problems and opportunities, set objectives for what
you wish to accomplish (for example: increasing the number
of access points or keeping the established water-dependent
businesses along the shorefront).
- Include as many people as possible in the initial stages
of planning and goal-setting: getting input from diverse
harbor users will help ensure that the whole community
stands behind your final plan. Good ways to engage the
community include:
- selecting a diverse cross-section of representatives
to serve on the planning committee;
- conducting surveys to solicit opinions;
- conducting workshops and hearings to gain public
input;
- inviting frequent press and news coverage;
- holding public waterfront tours; and
- involving school children in the planning process.
- Design a strategy to address these objectives: identify
what work is needed, who will do it, and how it will be
funded. Acquaint yourself with your community's comprehensive
plan (if one has been completed) and with the State's Coastal
Policies so that your waterfront plan will conform
to those broader objectives. If possible, your waterfront
strategy should be incorporated into your community's comprehensive
plan.
- Try to recruit dedicated and knowledgeable volunteers
to help shepherd the process. Many communities find that
having a 5- or 6-member harbor committee (appointed by
selectmen to reflect the diversity of shorefront users)
helps lend momentum to waterfront planning efforts.
- Try to build consensus by clearly summarizing points
of agreement and disagreement and exploring alternate courses
of action. If the challenges you're facing extend beyond
town lines, consider working toward a regional solution.
- There are numerous ways to put new changes into practice--through
new ordinances, capital
improvements (built into the town budget), better management
of the waterfront, and private incentives. Weigh the pros
and cons of each option before settling on a course of
action. If views differ on which course to pursue, work
toward a compromise that will address the concerns of most
participants.
- Once your plan is clear, make sure that you have the
support of local officials and local citizens, and that
you have set a clear timetable with objectives that can
be achieved.
Your community will likely need to rely on a variety of funding
sources, including loans, municipal
tax increment financing, municipal
bonds, grants, donations, and local
taxes.
What's in a Waterfront
Ordinance?
Waterfront
ordinances specify how municipal waters and waterfront facilities
will be managed. By delineating what activities will occur
where, ordinances establish consistent rules and help to
minimize conflicts. They outline the powers and duties of
the harbormaster and the harbor committee, as well as the
appeals process for their decisions. Harbor or waterfront
ordinances can also be used to:
- establish boundaries and cite where certain regulations
apply (such as speed limits, dock rules, and abandonment
of vessel restrictions);
- provide for the number and placement of moorings, the
length of private docks, the length of vessels allowed
at docks, the tie-up times at public docks, the channel
setback requirements, and any fees;
- prohibit businesses that are not water-dependent from
certain areas;
- give priority to commercial water-dependent uses over
recreational uses;
- require that certain users provide and maintain waterfront
access;
- limit the height and size of structures that are not
marine-related;
- regulate dock and wharf construction; and
- establish standards for refueling, spill prevention,
and clean-up.
[credit: Coastal Management Techniques: A Handbook for
Local Officials (1988) Maine Department of Economic
and Community Development.]
Case Study: Zoning for
a Vital Waterfront
Case Study: Improving
Management at a Municipal Fish Pier
Protecting Water Access
Reliable
shore access is vital to all those who work in Maine's fisheries.
Coastal development has closed off many traditional access
points, but communities are working hard to improve those
that remain and to create new ones. "There aren't any
one-size-fits-all tools available," explains Elizabeth
Sheehan of Coastal Enterprises, Inc., "but there are
a wealth of creative approaches that communities are trying--which
may become models in the months and years ahead." The
toolbox includes outright purchase of shorefront lands as
well as securing easements that provide permanent guaranteed
access for working fishermen. Communities can also reclaim
traditional rights of way to the shore, gaining help from
the Maine Coastal Program through the Right-of-Way Discovery Grant Program.
Case Study: Protecting
a Working Dock with a Conservation Easement
Case Study: Securing
Community Shore Access by Eminent Domain
Case Study: Purchasing a Town Landing
Supporting Water-Dependent
Businesses
For
working waterfronts to remain vital, water-dependent businesses
need to thrive. Many operations reliant on marine resources
cannot readily pass increased costs on to consumers--so they
are more vulnerable to escalating property taxes and other
rising expenses. Support for these businesses can come from
the private sector (in the form of commercial loans, leases,
and new markets) as well as from public and nonprofit sectors
(in the form of low-interest loans, guarantee funds, and
technical assistance).
Maine Working
Waterfront Coalition
In 2003, concerned individuals and organizational representatives
formed a coalition to help marine-related industries keep
a strong foothold along Maine's coast. The statewide Maine
Working Waterfront Coalition supports strong planning at
the community level, encourages investment in Maine's private
and public piers, and advocates for innovate policies and
partnerships that preserve and enhance the region's working
waterfronts.
Already the Coalition has grown from 11 to 91 members. Coalition
members meet monthly to discuss policy issues, creating a "toolbox" of
strategies for working waterfront protection (including such
options as current use taxation, the circuit breaker program,
purchase of development rights, public investment, private
investment, strong local policies and planning ordinances).
The Coalition recently commissioned an economic study [link
when available] of how working waterfronts contribute to
Maine's economy. To learn more about the Coalition's work,
please contact Matt Nixon at the Maine Coastal Program, or Elizabeth
Sheehan or Hugh Cowperthwaite at
Coastal Enterprises, Inc.
Representative Coalition
Members
Associated Fisheries of Maine
Coastal Enterprises,
Inc.
Coastal Conservation
Association
Downeast Lobstermen's
Association
Island Institute
Northwest
Atlantic Marine Alliance
Maine Aquaculture Association
Maine Department
of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife
Maine Fishermen's Wives Association
Maine Department of
Marine Resources
Maine
Lobstermen's Association
Maine Marine Trades Association
Maine Sea Grant
Program
Maine
Coastal Program
Northend Lobster Cooperative
Sunrise County Economic
Council
Working Waterfront
newspaper
Maine Working Waterfront Loan
Fund
Coastal Enterprises, Inc., a nonprofit economic development
organization, manages a Working
Waterfront Loan Fund that provides low-cost financing
for dredging, pier maintenance, repairs and environmental
upgrades. The fund offers loans to private pier and wharf
operations that provide marine services and to commercial
fishing, aquaculture, boat repair and boatbuilding operations.
Some loans are even made for acquiring real estate or access
rights.
The Working Waterfront Loan Fund promotes economic development
in coastal communities by offering low-interest loans to
fishing and marine-related businesses; forging strategic
partnerships with local banks to stimulate waterfront investments;
providing interim financing to acquire development rights;
and offering direct technical assistance. Loans are made
at fixed, below-market rates for 5- to 15-year terms in amounts
ranging from $10,000 and $200,000. For more information,
contact Elizabeth Sheehan at 207-772-5356.
Case study: Support for
a Lobsterman's Co-op
Finance Authority of Maine (FAME)
FAME is an independent
state agency that offers innovative financial solutions to
help Maine citizens pursue business and educational opportunities.
Contact FAME at info@famemaine.com or
by calling 1-800-228-3734 or 207-623-3263.
Tax Increment Financing
Tax Increment
Financing (TIF) is a local economic development tool
that allows a municipality to use all (or a portion of
) new property taxes (the "increment") from an
investment project to assist in project financing within
a designated district (such as a working waterfront zone).
This financing may involve directly reimbursing the investing
business or retiring project-related bonds issued by the
municipality.
A municipality can designate a TIF district (lasting up
to 30 years) by a majority vote, following a public notice
and hearing. The TIF is implemented through a binding "Credit
Enhancement Agreement" between the municipality and
the investing business. For example, a fish processor might
propose to invest 4 million dollars to construct a facility
on land valued at $200,000. If the town's property tax mil
rate is $25 per $1,000 of valuation, then the land's post-investment
property tax obligation will be $105,000 per year ($100,000
of which is new "increment" available for TIF-related
development, and $5,000 of which is the prior tax obligation
not available for TIF-related development ). The Credit Enhancement
Agreement made between the town and the business might capture
50 percent of the project's tax increment for direct reimbursement,
yielding the business $50,000 each year for a decade (assuming
a 10-year TIF District with unchanged conditions).
Municipalities also can float a bond (for up to 20 years)
to cover a portion of project costs. In this example, the
town might choose to support the project with a $150,000
10-year general obligation bond. The town could capture an
additional 20 percent of the project's tax increment to meet
the annual debt service of $20,000 on the bond. The remaining
30 percent of the project's tax increment ($30,000/year)
could be deposited in the town's general fund.
More information on TIFs in Maine is available in a report
completed by the Center for Economic Policy, available from CEP by calling (207)622-7381.
[Thanks to Elizabeth Butler, Esq., of Pierce Atwood, for
assistance with this section.]
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