A small cove in Rockland harbor has made waves between windjammers and state and private ferries. But an agreement allowing mixed use appears to have calmed the waters for now.
On Sept. 20, the Lermond’s Cove committee thrashed out a compromise that will allow for a rebuilt state ferry pier with enough room for Matinicus ferries and the SUNBEAM mission vessel. Schooner owners said they would shrink the space they plan to use by 20 feet, and the biggest vessel, the three-masted VICTORY CHIMES, will be moored away from ferries.
Another storm could be brewing. Building supply business owner Everett Spear of Rockland, who owns 200 feet of frontage on the cove, said he is preparing a response to the committee based on his rights to navigable water. Spear, who said he is considering a marina at his property, attended the Sept. 20 meeting and voiced concern about his waterfront.
Various people at the meeting tried out the docking plan, using miniature models set up on a table. The deal appears to end months of contention over how to make the historic cove serve competing interests.
“I don’t think it’s ideal, but we think it can work,” said Jim MacLeod, Maine State Ferry Service manager for Rockland. “We need to communicate well with each other,” he said. “We will be living with each other for a long time.”
The state Department of Transportation (DOT) is poised to rebuild the nearby state ferry pier, a $6 million project long in the planning stages and set to begin next spring. The owners of five Windjammers – including the 130-foot VICTORY CHIMES – want new, safe berths in Lermond’s Cove, bordered on one side by the city’s sewage treatment plant and on the opposite shore by a small marina. The cove offers protection from storms and access to downtown Rockland. Most of all, it offers these five schooners, which have shuffled from wharf to wharf, a permanent home. In the past, the Chimes itself was moored in the cove.
Matinicus residents, meanwhile, wanted to make sure they weren’t left out. They need adequate space for a couple of private ferries to dock at the state pier, since the state ferry provides minimal service to Maine’s outermost island community. The problem, islanders said, is that there may not be enough room in the cove between the state pier and the windjammers for boats serving Matinicus. Islanders have said they want to be treated fairly, and they want the state to restore a ferry ramp that can be raised and lowered. Such a ramp was removed years ago.
The pending DOT project is the second part of a ferry service upgrade in Rockland. Part one was construction of the massive new terminal on the pier. The ferry pier, with daily service to Vinalhaven and North Haven and much less frequent runs to Matinicus, is also home to Maine Marine Patrol.
Vance Bunker, a Matinicus lobsterman, said he wanted to make sure islanders don’t get the short end of the stick. He is concerned that unless schooners are berthed further from the state pier, ferries will be unable to maneuver to the dock. He said he can live with the schooners “if they give us room to get in there. I’m not there to harass them, just to protect (the access) there. I think that’s reasonable.”
Jim Kalloch of Rockland, who operates his 38-foot ferry JACKIE RENEE, said he shares Bunker’s concern about access. “If we can’t get to it, it’s absolutely useless to us,” he said.
The ferry service’s MacLeod is concerned about tight quarters if five windjammers are berthed in the cove. He foresees possible traffic jams as ferries, windjammers and the Sunbeam, an island mission service boat, compete for channel and docking space.
Kristina Williamson, who with husband, Paul, operates the 80-foot Alden schooner ELLIDA, said windjammer owners have been working on the berthing plan for a couple of years. Initially, they hoped to turn the vacant Bicknell Manufacturing building on the bank of Lermond’s Cove into a maritime museum with the schooners beside it. That plan fell through.
Williamson emphasized that she wants to work cooperatively with other parties, and she isn’t sure why newspaper accounts suggested earlier negotiations were acrimonious. She said schooner owners are willing to narrow their docks to allow an additional 10 feet for Matinicus boats. “We’re just trying to make it all work,” she said. “DOT made a promise to the people of Matinicus (for ferry access). We are willing to adjust our project to keep that promise,” said Annie Mahle, who with husband John Finger owns the schooner J&E RIGGIN. “We’re trying to figure out how to be good neighbors,” she said, adding that windjammers and island communities have things in common. “Both of our interests are emblematic of what Maine represents.” Ed Glaser, Rockland’s harbormaster and a former windjammer captain himself, said he believes schooners can be centrally located in the cove, as schooners have done in the past, and there will still be room for private Matinicus ferries and the 74-foot Sunbeam to dock. If things get too tight, he is happy to offer vessels space at the city-owned fish pier, middle pier or public landing. “We’re happy to accommodate.” Glaser suggested parking cars for the vessels could be more of a problem than docking vessels in Lermond’s Cove. But “it is a tight spot, no doubt about it.”
Captain David Allen of the SUNBEAM agreed. He said the Department of Marine Resources may be docking a new 60-foot vessel there, in addition to its existing 40-foot boat. There would have been just 50 feet of space between the VICTORY CHIMES and the rebuilt state pier, but with the CHIMES moved, and an additional 20 feet, there should now be 80 feet of clearance.
Allen is sympathetic to Matinicus islanders, who used to have regular ferry service and their own ramp when the privately run MARY A. ferried people and freight between Rockland and Matinicus. The ramp, installed in the 1950s, was removed some 20 years ago. DOT officials have promised to replace it.
The current ferry service policy is to take a ferry off another run and send it to Matinicus once a month, with extra runs during the summer. The SUNBEAM makes bi-weekly visits to Matinicus, Frenchboro, Swan’s Island and Isle au Haut, bringing a minister and nurse to those communities. Allen said he will gladly take people and goods along when he can help out.
The Island Institute, which publishes this newspaper, has been monitoring the Lermond’s Cove project because it involves an island community, and the coastal marine economy. Ben Neal, who heads the institute’s marine programs, said “We support the working waterfront and we support the need for Matinicus to have mainland access.” He hoped the DOT would be willing to work with various the parties to meet their needs.
The project involves the federal government with respect to decommissioning a federal channel, and because it includes plans to dredge the cove.