Plan to make SHAB an appointed board is revived
BY PETER B. BRACE
Nearing the end of producing an updated harbors plan, the Harbor Advisory Committee, in finetuning the first draft of the plan, revived the idea of making SHAB an appointed board.

The committee is taking two meetings to refine the harbors plan produced by the Urban Harbors Institute of UMass Boston before presenting the plan to the Board of Selectmen on Nov. 8.

During its discussion of the Natural Resources component of the plan, the conversation drifted toward the need to have all harbor interests represented and with four out of the seven Shellfish & Harbor Advisory Board members commercial scallopers, the committee talked seriously about how it could make this work.

Most of the committee agreed that an appointed board of one Planning Board member, one from the Conservation Commission, one atlarge member, two scallopers and two members of the Marine Trades Association would work best. But Marine Superintendent Dave Fronzuto thought that three at-large members, two scallopers and two members of the Marine Trades Association would be a more diverse group.

"When you have five people who make their living from scallops, you don't get a fair shake here," said SHAB member Patty Stolte.

Nantucket Shellfish Association member Ron Shepherd said that the demands of harbor, shellfish and use issues have outgrown SHAB's capabilities. This new dynamic can make the meetings an exercise in constant catch-up on an ever-expanding list of goals and projects. Fronzuto agreed with this thinking.

"You need that level of expertise and you're right, I think we've outgrown what has worked for us for so long," he said.

Former Selectman Finn Murphy, at the end of August 2004, was the last town official to dredge up the idea of making SHAB an appointed board. The selectmen did author an article to make this change for the Oct. 19, 2004 Special Town Meeting but decided it needed more time to observe how the existing board functions before going for the change and tabled this article.

The article asked voters to decrease the number of SHAB members from seven to five and to give the selectmen the power to appoint a board of two members representing commercial fishing, two members representing marine trade interests, and one at-large member.

To make this change, the town would have to sponsor a Town Meeting article asking voters to approve a home rule petition that would be sent to the state legislature asking it make the change in the legislation that created SHAB in 1976. The Harbor Advisory Committee, however, was just discussing this possibility. Currently, there is no plan to make this change that would likely take at least two years to implement.

The committee also talked about how to handle petroleum product spills around the harbor and agreed to have UHI include recommendations in the plan that all docks, piers and wharves be equipped with boxes containing special oil/fuel absorbent pads and disposal information. Recommendations also included tighter coordination between the Marine & Coastal Resources and fire departments, and the Coast Guard in the event of a spill.

In the section on water quality, the committee added recommendations that a citizens' monitoring program be established and that a local television public service announcement be produced that would tell islanders and visitors alike what they can do to enhance water quality on in their daily lives.

The Harbor Advisory Committee's tweaking of its rough draft continues this afternoon at 4 p.m. at 2 Fairgrounds Road if the Special Town Meeting concluded by last night.

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