By Carol McCracken  (Post # 551)

An informational meeting has been scheduled between pier owners and lobstermen to try to iron out differences between them  – the meeting is set for Friday afternoon,  August 20 at DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant & Marina,  Commercial Street.  The meeting is private.  When MHN.com asked Steve DeMillo if it could attend, DiMillo responded:  “The doors will be locked tight!”

DiMillo is one of the three representatives of a consortuim of pier owners who has petitioned the city to relax the marine rules that control the waterfront in order to allow more flexibility in rental practices.   The other two reps are Charlie Poole and Dick Ingalls.  Pier owners say they need more flexibility in order to keep up with increased costs in maintenance of the docks. 

Last month 70 lobstermen signed a handwritten petition objecting to the pier owners efforts to relax some of the zoning restrictions through a text amendment to the ordinance.  At the CDC meeting on August 11, about a dozen lobstermen attended and  expressed their concern that a relaxation of the ordinance that could allow more “recreational” boats could eventually displace fishing boats from the piers on Commercial Street.  The following day, the pier owners withdrew that portion of their text amendent proposal for the ordinance.

At the same August 11th CDC meeting, councilor John Anton requested more information from the city’s planning staff which in effect stalled the matter in the Community Development Committee; the new information sought by Anton will be taken up at its August 25th meeting.  Thus,  the consideration of the matter was scrapped from the August 16th city council meeting which had been scheduled to vote on it.  The matter has been scheduled for a council meeting on September 16th – almost two years from the date the pier owners began the process of requesting a relaxation of the city’s waterfront policy.

(There is no indication that lobster, in any form, will be served to the guests by the host DiMillo’s – famous for their lobster meals.)

For more information, please read post # 526, dated August 12th, herein.