Pram Lottery Results Friday

The winners of this lottery won't be set for life,but they'll be set for summer with a place to park their pram or kayak.

The pram lottery is in its first year. One-hundred fourteen people are vying for coveted storage spots on the beach's racks and attached to blocks by eye hooks, said Gino Cresta, director of public work.

Right now there are 47  boat rack spots and 38 eye hooks. 

Some people will be left without a place to put their pram or kayak, he said.

"There is going to be a lot of unhappy people, the public works director said.

Milton Fistel of the Harbor Advisory Committee pulled names, written on slips of paper, from a shoe box Tuesday afternoon at the Department of Public Works garage.

Cresta was there, as was one spectator interested in the outcome.

The order in which the names were picked from the shoe box got noted.

The winning names will be based on the lottery's criteria and the order in which they came out of the box.

Those details are listed below.

Cresta expects to announce the lottery winners on Friday.

The lottery grew out of the Board of Selectmen's desire last year to create space for people to use Fisherman's Beach, Cresta said.

The beach was cluttered with prams and kayaks, limiting the space for people to walk or sit on a blanket, he said.

A pram, by the way, is a small boat, also known as a dinghy. Often people use them to row to a mooring where they keep a motorized or sail boat.

Courtesy of DPW:

Fisherman’s Beach Pram and Boat Storage

•  Configuration 
  •  38 rings for kayak and sailboats and prams  
  •  23 spots on existing pram rack
  •  24 spots on new pram rack

•  Criteria of eligibility for pram rack  
  •  $25 Fee
  •  Working fishermen and SYC prams are exempt 
  •  Prams, rowboats or inflatable
    •  10 feet or less
    •  200 pounds or less
    •  Height less than 3 feet
    •  Beam 5 feet or less
  •  Only one boat per rack space
  • Only one space per mooring and household address
  • No kayaks on pram racks (unless block rings are all occupied by kayaks)

• Criteria for beach block rings
  • Kayaks 14 feet or less2 kayaks per block ring
  • Small sailboats not designed to be moored
  • Prams that will not fit on racks
  • Only one space per mooring and household address 

• Priorities for available pram and ring spaces
  • 1st for Swampscott High School and Recreational dept sailing program.
  • Rings 1-8
  • 2nd  for Swampscott residents with an up to date paid mooring who were grandfathered paid pram rack users
  • 3rd  for  Swampscott residents with an up to date paid mooring 
  • 4th  for Swampscott residents without a mooring who were grandfathered paid pram rack users
  • 5th for Swampscott residents without a mooring
  • 6th for non-Swampscott residents with an up to date paid mooring who were grandfathered paid pram rack users
  • 7th  for  non-Swampscott residents with an up to date paid mooring
  • 8th  for non-Swampscott residents without a mooring who were grandfathered paid pram rack users
  • 9th for non-Swampscott residents without a mooring 

• Proposed storage configuration 
  • A minimum of 85 and a maximum of 123 spaces are available for prams/kayaks /small sailboats 
  • Available spaces will be determined by numbers of kayaks (two per ring) vs prams (one per ring)
  • Remaining applicants will be placed on waiting list

• Lottery Dates
  • Deadline to be eligible for lottery: 
  • Lottery drawing: May 2

• Pram/kayak storage allocation 
  • All grandfathered pram rack users with a pram will be placed on the existing pram rack.
    • Providing they meet priority criteria for 2011
    • Will be exempt  from lottery
  • All grandfathered pram rack users with a kayak will be placed on a block ring.  
    • Providing they meet priority criteria  for 2011
    • Will be exempt from lottery
  • Prams will be placed in the following manner
    • Existing pram rack 
    • New pram rack 
    • Block ring
  • Kayaks will be placed in the following manner
    • Block rings
    • New pram rack
    • Existing pram rack

• The pram/kayak lottery is for one boating season (May to October)
• All pram/kayaks/small boats need to be removed from the Fisherman’s Beach and the parking lot by November 1 of each year