Kirk seeks money for ferry

By Richard Gaines
Staff Writer

July 21, 2008 11:56 pm

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Mayor Carolyn Kirk said yesterday she would seek state funding for the engineering and permitting of a public pier and docks at Stage Fort Park designed to operate a seasonal ferry service to three points along the Inner Harbor.

A $50,000 study for the city that was delivered last month reported there were no legal, practical or natural impediments to the ferry service.

The study was funded by the state Seaport Advisory Council earlier this year.

Kirk said she would ask the same agency, which met in Gloucester last February, for $150,000 for the next steps. The service could be operating in the summer of 2010, the mayor said.

Startup and construction of the pier just south of the granite outcrop of the park was estimated to cost $3.3 million, but CLE Engineering of Marion projected the service could operate at a profit of more than $100,000 a year.

Kirk credited former Mayor John Bell with presenting her with the idea of adding a ferry service to the city's facilities. She characterized the ferry as a economic stimulus for the city. She said she believes the service would move visitors around the city — between Stage Fort and the landings projected in the study, Solomon Jacobs, Cripple Cove and Rocky Neck — on the water and take pressure off the crowded streets and roads.

"Foot, bike and boat" is the goal, she said in an interview.

CLE Engineering reported the parking lot at the park — with 268 spaces that are barely used even on weekends — would be adequate for the vehicles of ferry passengers, but additional spaces also could be made.

The consultant ran calculations for ferries of different capacities ranging from 30 up to 100. Kirk said her first choice was a vessel capable of carrying 100 passengers. But she said the "business plan was not really nailed down yet." She said she was thinking of contracting the ferry service to reduce start-up and capital costs.

CLE projected the service operating with one ferry from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and six trips a day.

"Each passage will be approximately one half hour from boarding to departure and seven to 15 minutes (in) travel from one destination to the next," the consultant wrote. "This ferry service will reduce the number of cars traveling into the downtown and surrounding areas, relieving traffic conditions and reducing the number of needed parking spaces (across the city)."

CLE also wrote that "the pier itself will also double as a public viewing and fishing pier, allowing tourists and residents to view the harbor in a panoramic and unique perspective along Stage Fort Park."

Although the precise location of the terminal pier would be decided in the engineering phase of the project, the feasibility study describes a 545-foot long, pile-supported structure projecting from the paths that meet just below the visitors' center.

Kirk said she envisioned the pier also having space for dinghy tie-ups and kayak racks.

After taking the idea from Bell, Kirk announced the goal of converting Stage Fort Park into a profit center for the city. She said the ferry service was consistent with the ideas presented by citizens during the week of meetings last month on the formation of a harbor plan.

"A major theme that emerged during the harbor 'listening posts' was to 'make the harbor a hub of community activity, and to provide access to, along and across the water,'" she said. "Looking at Stage Fort as an integral part of the harbor as a hub of community activity opens up all kinds of possibilities."

Richard Gaines can be reached at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com

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