Rising property values and skyrocketing taxes are putting the squeeze on traditional water dependent uses in Maine’s coastal towns. Maine’s fishing industry is feeling the pinch; about 75 percent of Maine’s waterfront access for fishermen is private, and 40 percent is through residential waterfront property. Escalating taxes on these properties are pricing many fishermen off the coast.
A legislative task force authorized the Maine State Planning Office (SPO) to quantify the problem of waterfront access and make recommendations. The Planning Office assigned the task to Wiscasset-based nonprofit community development corporation Coastal Enterprises, Inc., which issued a final report in December. Entitled “Preserving Coastal Access,” the report assessed waterfront access for fishermen in 25 coastal communities from Kittery to Eastport, including cities like Portland and Bath, and small harbors like Freeport and Bremen. It used two previous studies of Maine ports conducted by the Maine Departments of Transportation (1985) and Marine Resources (1998) as baseline data, but as the report states, no one to date had quantified the data strictly for fishing access.
After conducting surveys in each town and interviewing key local harbor constituencies such as harbormasters, selectmen and town managers, the report offers a realistic snapshot of the status of Maine’s working waterfront in 25 towns:
* In 2002 the total boat access for the 25 towns was 11,462 berths, moorings, slips, and tie-ups
* 42 percent of that is used by commercial boats, 58 percent by recreational boats.
* In 15 out of the 25 towns, recreational boats used greater than half the access.
* In 10 out of the 25, commercial boats used greater than half of the access.
The report also identified ominous problems already obvious to many who pay attention to the issue. These include:
* Intense real estate pressure for converting waterfront to non-water dependent uses
* High waterfront property values lead to higher taxes; towns and individual fishermen can’t afford inflated prices
* The result is an increase in pressure on public waterfront facilities, which comprise 25 percent of Maine’s overall waterfront access
* Public wharves have to balance commercial uses with increasing pressure from recreational uses
In ports where commercial fishing is a priority among local officials, or which have strong local ordinances, the incentive already exists to protect what working waterfront they have. These communities tend to have a significant number of residents that are commercial fishermen, and chances are they have a dedicated pier for commercial use as well.
About two-thirds of the 25 towns included in the survey indicated that waterfront access is a current problem. Most indicate that they are doing something about it, or are planning to, but strategies vary with each town’s situation. Most of the towns recognize that property tax relief will be a key strategy for preserving access. But other strategies stood out, especially the need for financing. For example, a land acquisition fund that can help private fishermen as well as towns, or a bridge loan program that would enable towns and private pier owners quick access to financing when waterfront properties go on the market.
Planning assistance came in a strong second as a tool for helping towns preserve access. Planning assistance can direct towns in ways to purchase access rights, develop strong ordinances, write successful grant proposals, create local incentives to provide access, and direct non-water dependent development inland.
It won’t come as a surprise that the most intense pressures from three factors – development, property taxes and competition from recreational uses – are in southern and midcoast Maine. Perhaps it is not coincidental that the majority of towns that have recently purchased land for waterfront access are Downeast, where such property is more affordable. Stonington, Swan’s Island, Winter Harbor, Jonesport and Machiasport are listed as having secured waterfront land.
An interesting insight into the direction towns perceive their waterfronts going came out of questions in the survey that dealt with future threats to commercial fishing access. Taxes, competition from recreation and tourism, and development pressure, respectively the top three threats to waterfront access today, still came out on top as perceived future threats, but the order switched: towns predicted that development pressures and recreational/tourism competition would supercede taxes as future threats to access.
Residents of the 25 towns and other harbor watchers interested in checking out the report, can find it at their town offices or on line at the Maine Coastal Program’s website
There is a great likelihood that preserving Maine’s working waterfronts will be put to the voters again. Connors had on his desk a copy of LD 38, “A resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Maine to protect the commercial fishing industry.”
The reintroduction of a current use taxation proposal, sponsored by Rep. Bill Brennan of Cumberland, is an indication that preserving waterfront land and structures used primarily for commercial fishing is an idea with staying power. Brennan and the many representatives from coastal communities that are co-sponsoring the measure will be armed with more than anecdote: in this report they have a trove of factual supporting data to make their case to the Maine people that the working waterfronts are worth the investment.