August 27, 2013 — Mayor Carolyn Kirk’s administration will support Cape Pond Ice owner Scott Memhard’s request to remove his Commercial Street property from the city’s Designated Port Area through the filing of special legislation in the Massachusetts Legislature.
“We should not turn our back on Mr. Memhard and the Cape Pond Ice Company,” Kirk wrote in a letter to state Sen. Bruce Tarr. “Therefore we must support his request for removal from the Gloucester Designated Port Area by legislative means as a most effective way to allow the company to physically restructure its organization, retain its core mission of providing ice to fishing vessels in a sustainable manner, and to attract additional market opportunity to its location for investment and long-term profitability.”
Tarr could not be reached Monday for comment.
Memhard, in an email, expressed his gratitude for the mayor’s support and spoke of the long process that remains. Meredith Fine, Memhard’s lawyer, reiterated her client’s gratitude for the manner in which Tarr, Kirk and the mayor’s staff listened to Memhard’s case at a meeting last week in Kirk’s office.
“I want to emphasize the unique position this property is in,” Fine said. “If you care about keeping the fishing industry alive, and you believe in the goals of the DPA, then you have to preserve the only independent ice house on the waterfront.”