Posted on May 21, 2018
By Renee Spencer, stateportpilot.com
Residents are still sounding off about the City Dock.
One month after the Southport Board of Aldermen approved a letter of intent to explore a public-private partnership with Southport Marina Inc., residents say they feel the issue needs more thoughtful consideration.
Margaret Campbell, a resident of Brunswick Street, took issue with the speed at which the agreement was signed.
“These are issues that will directly affect the most important part of this community—our waterfront,” Campbell said at Thursday’s board of aldermen meeting.
Campbell referenced the claim that the agreement was not legally binding.
“There is no document that’s signed that doesn’t have ramifications,” she said.
She said the proposal would “change the Yacht Basin forever.”
“It certainly will affect the marsh, which is the jewel of Southport,” she said.
She said she saw almost no positives in the agreement and suggested that the board slow down and reconsider its options.
“This is our future,” she said. “Once we lose that Yacht Basin, we’ve lost old Southport.”
The Rev. Lowe Davis, also a resident of Brunswick Street that borders the Yacht Basin, was next to address the board. She too expressed concern about the agreement.
“It certainly is no surprise to you that there’s a tremendous amount of concern, uncertainty, suspicion, distrust and just lack of information about the status and the future of the dock in the Yacht Basin,” she said. “I implore you, on behalf of what seems like hundreds of people that have spoken to me over the last few weeks, to please have a public hearing—a special public hearing—to do a question-and-answer.”
Davis noted that citizens could find out the board’s vision for what the City Dock will become.
She said she has received “dozens of varying answers” from aldermen on the issue.
“Please don’t go further with this letter of intent until you have heard the concerns of the community and given yourselves—and us—the opportunity to know what road you’re taking,” she said.
Brian Stevens, a resident of Cades Cove, spoke as an advocate for the paddlecraft community.
He said he previously had conversation with some board members about constructing a paddlecraft facility in the Yacht Basin.
He said that if the city continued its partnership with Southport Marina and added boat traffic in that area, it would be akin to “riding a bicycle on the D.C. Beltway.”
“It’s just simply too dangerous,” he said.
Stevens said many of the magazines that cater to the city’s demographic depict people paddling canoes and kayaks down a waterway.
“We have such waterways here,” he said. “Let’s reconsider re-purposing the former wastewater treatment plant on West West Street, if we can’t put it in the Yacht Basin.”
After the presentations, alderman Todd Coring asked city manager Bruce Oakley to see about holding a public hearing on the City Dock. Coring noted that city officials had received a letter from an attorney on behalf of one of the restaurant owners in the Yacht Basin who expressed concern about the additional traffic the dock could bring if the city partnered with Southport Marina.
“I just want to make sure we are very transparent with what we’re doing,” Coring said.
According to Oakley, Land Management is finalizing the city’s CAMA and dredging permit applications.
“We hope to have them submitted very soon,” Oakley said. “Hopefully in the next week or so. I will be providing updates on the permit process and the potential agreement with Southport Marina as they develop.”
Source: stateportpilot.com
