GLOUCESTER, Mass. — July 15, 2014 — A federally recognized economic disaster and tight new constrictions on allowable groundfish landings have both dealt harsh new blows to Gloucester’s and other New England fishermen. And their economic impact has posed serious new threats for a variety of other waterfront businesses, including traditional Gloucester marine industrial stalwarts like Cape Pond Ice.
A lot has changed in and around the Gloucester waterfront since the city last submitted a formal Harbor Plan to the state.
A federally recognized economic disaster and tight new constrictions on allowable groundfish landings have both dealt harsh new blows to Gloucester’s and other New England fishermen. And their economic impact has posed serious new threats for a variety of other waterfront businesses, including traditional Gloucester marine industrial stalwarts like Cape Pond Ice.
To that end, city and state officials have recognized the need for regulatory changes. A study by the state’s Coastal Zone Management agency has reduced the scope of Gloucester’s Designated Port Area, granting more flexibility to properties on the East Gloucester side of the harbor. And the same study effectively called for and carried out reduction of the DPA’s mandated water-dependent use percentage from 50 to 25 percent.
All of those ideas, of course, hold immense potential for the kind of versatility that city officials and waterfront property owners need. And those doors are now open through a 2014 Gloucester Harbor Plan that has been rightfully backed by Gloucester’s Harbor Plan Committee and is now being sent to the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for its final approval.
At the core of the new harbor plan is one key word: flexibility. As Committee Chairman Rick Noonan noted, the plan had previously seen some very strict, limiting language. And that creates room for “additional interpretations that could allow us to consider more alternatives,” he said.