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Fox Point Dock, boating rights on Town Meeting agenda

NEWINGTON — Exclusive Fox Point Dock privileges and local boaters’ rights are some of the issues for this year’s annual Town Meeting, as residents will entertain 17 different warrant articles at the Saturday, March 15, meeting.

Both selectmen and residents alike have made recommendations as to what the regulations should be and voters will decide which set of rules to implement.

“The reason that the rules were brought up this year is because of a few situations with overcrowdedness and boats being left unattended,” said Town Administrative Assistant Beatrice Marconi. “Because of the problems that we encountered, we’d have to set rules and that also involves enforcement,” she said.

Selectmen have introduced a set of rules that were temporarily adopted in August of 2007 and have since been amended to reflect double the amount of regulations suggested by more than 24 registered voters.

Selectmen suggested regulations include:

The dock is for Newington mooring owners to gain access to their moorings. Dock usage for other Newington residents may be granted by the Board of Selectmen on an individual basis if space allows.

Tenders must be registered annually by owner and size with the town and display a sticker.

Size limited to a 14-foot tiller controlled only by tenders.

The end of the dock is for loading and unloading only.

The dock is only for Newington residents.

dock master and selectmen can limit the number of tenders to avoid overcrowding and damage to the dock.

he town is not responsible for maintaining boats at the dock. Neither the town, selectmen nor dock master are responsible for any theft or damages of goods or property at Fox Point.

of these regulations shall result in the forfeiture of rights to the dock.

Old Post Road resident Gurubhai K. Khalsa, along with at least 24 other residents, brought forth a petition that would allow the town to vote to reinstate and adopt the following dockside rules at Fox Point:

No exclusive privileges will be granted to any boat owner in Newington.

Residents of the town may utilize the town dock at Fox Point, provided their dinghy is 14 feet in length or less. No special consideration will be given to whether or not they have secured a mooring through the Port Authority.

In the event a shortage of dock space occurs, every Newington boater will have equal and unrestricted access to the boat ramp, in order to launch their dinghy. This applies to those with moorings and those without.

A dock master will be elected by majority vote in the town elections.

Town Clerk Jane Mazeau said she expects a good amount of discussion surrounding the dock regulations.

Residents will also consider the appropriation of $65,000 to be placed in the existing capital reserve fund for the purpose of construction or improvements to the town garage.

Last year the town appropriated $50,000 to be placed in the fund and Selectman Jack O’Reilly said the total cost of the project is between $700,000 and $800,000.

O’Reilly said that the creation of a town garage is long overdue and the town will most likely bond the rest of the money in the next couple of years.

The moderator for this year’s meeting is Ruth K. Fletcher. Town officials expect it will begin at 1:30 p.m, directly following the annual school meeting.

Posted In: Legal on March 3, 2008 Comments (1,556)

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