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Politics & Government

Harbor Committee to Look Closer at Dredging

The committee will also ask the town to enforce dog restrictions on the beaches.

The newly re-constituted Harbor Advisory Committee voted last week to hold off its support of the town's request for proposals to conduct a dredging study of Swampscott Harbor, so that Harbormaster Larry Bethel can check with the state to determine what parts of the harbor can legally be dredged.

Though the committee largely agrees that Swampscott Harbor needs dredging to reduce shoaling of sand in the mooring areas, there is also some confusion about whether or not the town would be allowed to dredge at all in areas where eel grass is growing.

Since eel grass grows throughout most of Swampscott Harbor during the summer months, several members questioned the wisdom and need of spending town funds on a dredging study, if the state is not going to allow the area to be dredged anyway.

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HAC Chairman Bill Hennessey asked Bethel to look into the matter and report back to him, and the commitee, as soon as possible.

The decision by the Harbor Advisory Committee to seek an opinion from Coastal Zone Management or the Department of Environmental Protection, followed a lengthy review of a draft RFP that was offered by HAC member Mickey Fistel, to allow the much talked about dredging project to get underway.

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The purpose of Fistel's draft RFP is to identify a professional engineer that could develop a dredging plan for Swampscott Harbor this summer or fall, at which point a separate bid process would take place to identify the contractor who would actually dredge the harbor either over the winter or next spring, before the boating season.

If Bethel is able to determine that dredging of the mooring field, especially in areas where some eel grass may have grown, will be allowed, then the advisory committee would endorse the RFP.

Following the discussion about the dredgng project, the HAC also discussed a plan to create guest moorings in the harbor for visitors and raised concerns about dog owners walking their dogs on Swampscott beaches during the summer months.

HAC and Swampscott Yacht Club member Robert Begin outlined a proposal to create a pool of up to 10 guest mooring spaces in the Swampscott harbor, with some being able to handle boats of up to 40-feet in length, to allow visitors to the town to spend the night in Swampscott harbor and visit local businesses.

However, Harbormaster Bethel said that he doesn't believe there is a real need for guest moorings, as visitors to the town harbor can call the Harbormaster's office and be placed on a vacant mooring in the harbor on a temporary basis already - as is done in many other seacoast towns, including Marblehead.

"I've been here for 30 years and if this was a good idea, it would've been done already," said Bethel, who then added that the town has limited space in which to place guest moorings, as well as limited resources to be able to manage the spaces.

No decision was made about potential guest moorings in the future, but the committee did suggest that they would attempt to better publicize the current practice, to encourage more overnight visitors to the harbor.

The committee also voted to ask Town Administrator Andrew Maylor to work with the Board of Health on a plan for enforcing the dog restrictions at town beaches, including Fisherman's Beach.

Hennessey noted that allowing dogs on the beach during the summer "sunbathing" months presents a real health hazard, especially for children who may accidentally wind up playing in the animal waste that is left behind by pet owners.

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