Cliff Island residents voted Aug. 11 to approve the location of a barge-landing site.
In Casco Bay, Peaks is the only island community that is serviced by a car ferry. For the surrounding islands, transporting materials, equipment, and service vehicles requires the use of a barge. Landing a barge on an island, and transporting vehicles and equipment to and from the barge, typically requires a special site. The barge landings in Casco Bay range from a large, technically advanced wharf to a simple concrete ramp.
On Cliff Island, a privately owned beach has served as the barge-landing site. Although barge use on the island is light – typically no more than 20 barge landings per year – the beach began to erode from the heavy vehicle use. Consequently, the landowner requested that the island find an alternate site.
The City of Portland worked closely with island residents to find an ideal site for a barge landing. Engineers completed an island-wide study, highlighting several sites. As plans solidified, different ad-hoc groups were formed to allay residents’ concerns over the visual and physical impact of the ramp.
One group maintained that no resident would be happy with a barge landing adjacent to his property, and consequently neighborhood concerns could not constitute a legitimate reason for ruling out any particular site. This recommendation was difficult to accept in an island community where views are paramount, both for personal and financial reasons.
Cliff Islanders, however, accepted this stance and worked together to select the best site with the least impact. A committee studied the use of and restrictions on a site proposed for a barge landing, recommending reducing use of the barge landing and requiring all city vehicles to be stored away from the site. In the end, residents settled on a single site, known as Land Associates #2, located on the southeastern edge of the island. At the Cliff Island Association’s annual meeting on Aug. 11, residents voted 54-11 in favor of locating the barge landing at the site. Immediately following the vote, residents in attendance voted unanimously to accept the proposed uses and regulations.
“I am quite pleased with how well the community has worked together to resolve what could have been a very divisive issue,” said Cliff Island Association (CIA) president Steve Little. “Cliff Islanders have always worked together as a team and this is just another example of great teamwork.”
The site must be approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals for the City of Portland, the owners of the land for the site need to complete negotiations, and the facility itself needs to be built. Things are moving quickly, though, and residents anticipate final approval and construction soon. The barge landing could be fully functional by the summer of 2005.