The four bright green tanks that appeared on the Commercial Street waterfront last week and the 1,900-pound pumpkin growing 50 miles away in Sharon are the results of one Fort business that has thrived in the waterfront neighborhood now the subject of a rezoning debate.
The tanks, a $500,000 investment, belong to Neptune's Harvest, the local company born from the fish processing industry and credited by competitive vegetable growers with helping create gigantic plants.
The Sharon pumpkin, which would be a world record if its estimated weight is confirmed on the scales later this month, has been reared on a diet of Neptune's Harvest, its owner said yesterday on national television.
"The business is expanding so much, we needed more storage capacity," said Ann Molloy, sales director of Neptune's Harvest. "We are doubling in size every year. Word of mouth that the product works, like from the grower of the giant pumpkin in Sharon, is what helps."
Neptune's Harvest was created in 1986 by Ocean Crest Seafood, a long-time Gloucester fish wholesaler as a way to diversify business while taking advantage of the roughly 70 percent of each fish, including head, bones and guts, that are discarded after being filleted.
In addition to using the unwanted remains of its local catch, Neptune's Harvest takes unwanted materials from fish processors around the region for mixture into a liquid brew with a combination of vitamins and amino acids favored by many organic growers.
From a small part of the Ocean Crest operation, Neptune's Harvest now accounts for more than half of the parent company's business, Molloy said, at a time when uncertain fish stocks and federal regulations threaten the traditional industry.
The new tanks will allow the business to expand, Molloy said, by boosting storage capacity from 30,000 gallons to 120,000 gallons.
But like many waterfront businesses, the creation of fish fertilizer does not always look, sound or smell pleasant for neighbors and as Neptune's Harvest expands, its leaders say a proposed rezoning of land on the other side of Commercial Street and the possible development of a hotel on the former Bird's Eye property might threaten the marine industrial zone.
"Do they really want to trade one side of the street for another?" Molloy said. "There are jobs being created down here already. We want to see it kept marine use."
Under the proposed rezoning, the harbor-side of Commercial Street would remain under the "marine industrial" designation, while land on the Pavilion Beach side of the neck would be designated "central business," the area within Fort Square "neighborhood business" and the wharves at the end of the point a "harbor zone," where recreational boating uses would be permitted.
The plan would bring the nearly 70 existing residences into conformity with zoning laws, while making a hotel possible in the central business section and recreational marine services possible in the harbor zone.
Along with many residents concerned that zoning changes and a hotel could alter the unique character of the neighborhood, many other businesses that have recently invested in Commercial Street see potential conflict from property values rising just across the street from the fish trade.
Vince Mortillaro of Mortillaro's Lobster Co. has dealt with resident complaints about early morning activity at his business on 65 Commercial St. for years and said he thinks that by allowing more residential and retail uses, it will increase the leverage of those displeased with the activities of a working waterfront.
"The only way this can go in, is if you have everything deeded so it says that they understand they will have to live with the noises and the smells," Mortillaro said.
He said he doesn't think plans to expand small business on the first floors of residential properties will work because of a lack of parking in the neighborhood.
Closer to downtown, Intershell Seafood recently purchased 52 Commercial St. and converted the building there into a new distribution center to accommodate future expansion.
Monte Rome, Intershell's owner, who said his Commercial Street investment ran into the millions, said he was not as concerned about the effects of noise and smell complaints as he was about the inequity of cutting so many precise zoning areas out of a small space.
"My thoughts are simple: make the whole area the same color and everyone will do great," Rome said. "To make one half of the street more valuable than the other half is not right. They are seemingly spot zoning this."
Sarah Buck, the city's community development director, yesterday acknowledged the challenge of trying to balance business, resident and economic development goals in a dense area with a long history.
"There is a concern that (the zoning) will give residents more rights than industrial, but we don't intend to leave those industrial," Buck said. "It is a balancing act. The proposed rezoning in no way wants to limit industrial use in the harbor. It is a test case for how mixed-use can work while protecting everyone's rights."
Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
