by Becca Shaw Glaser November 16, 2021, The Free Press
It’s strange having a mayor for a dad. Many times we disagree about Rockland policies and politics, and other times we’re in total alignment. Sometimes, for months, I deliberately avoid discussing any Rockland politics with him. This was mostly the case with Safe Harbor Marinas’ Rockland marina expansion proposal, until I heard that a private, closed-door meeting had recently been held between SHM representatives and Rockland officials to negotiate public access to the harbor boardwalk and waterways. No media were invited, and officials’ accounts and media reports differed about what happened and who was in the room. So I harnessed my daughter-of-the-mayor privileges and asked my dad, Rockland Mayor Ed Glaser, what was going on behind the scenes.
First of all, who was actually there? He told me that representing SHM, the $2.2 billion marina consolidation company based in Texas that now owns part of the harbor boardwalk, was SHM’s architect, attorney (via phone), consultant Bill Morong and engineer Mike Sabatini. Representing Rockland: the city manager,
harbormaster, and City Councilors Louise MacLellan-Ruf and Ed Glaser. Who was missing? The public, the press, an attorney for Rockland, and a representative from Rockland Harbor Park LLC, the owners of the other section of the harbor
boardwalk — to which the entirety Rockland desperately wants to secure permanent public access.
SHM Wants to Put a Parking Lot Over the Harbor Boardwalk and Clog the City Channel
SHM could have come to the meeting ready to sign a permanent easement or right-of-way for the public to use the harbor boardwalk regardless of whichever bgillion-dollar companies own it in the coming decades. But that’s not what happened. Instead, SHM came armed with a not-quite-done-yet proposal for their land plans. These plans were not for public scrutiny though; they were just a fun sneak peek for a select few city officials. And because only one copy of the plan was passed around, then taken back by SHM representatives, no paper
trail! SHM claimed they couldn’t agree to an easement because they have big plans to put a parking lot on top of where a large portion of the boardwalk is now, and build a new section of boardwalk closer to the water — if they can get city approval. The parking lot would go around the bottom of the gazebo, close to shore. They would then put a section of boardwalk in the small grassy shoreland area close to Archer’s, which has been visibly eroding for years.
While SHM used the excuse of their in-flux on l and plans as a reason that an easement couldn’t be signed, there was talk of some sort of license or lease instead. As for on-water plans, it sounded as if SHM, once again, wouldn’t commit to keeping the boats on their marina from clogging up the city channel. SHM’s marina expansion plan (which is currently going through the state and federal permitting process) calls for a mere 20-foot buffer, but the 200- to 240-plus-foot boats they could dock on their longest pier are commonly 40-plus feet wide. SHM knows this will result in their marina interfering with the city channel, but look at it from their perspective: why not gobble up as much public waterway as we can get away with for our own profit? The meeting also included seemingly promising discussions about opening up some of the gated wharf to the local community and compensating mooring holders affected by the expansion plan, but, since
nothing was signed, nothing is yet real.
They left the meeting with no timeline. They don’t have another meeting scheduled, they didn’t commit to a timeframe, they don’t know if they can get RHP on board, and absolutely nothing was signed. There may be movement in the works, there may be willingness and good-faith efforts on all sides, but I am not holding my breath.
Two Waterfront Land Owners and the City of Rockland Killed Hundreds of Harborside Trees
It seemed like it happened overnight. One day there was a gorgeous hedge of tall, green, spired arborvitae overlooking the harbor boardwalk, enjoyed by birds, giving shade to many. And then suddenly this January, every single one of them had been mauled to the ground by Rockland’s Public Services Department. An
operation conducted behind closed doors, with no public process, this swift massacre of hundreds of mature trees would have had to involve the city and the landowners, SHM and RHP; and the use of Public Services suggests the city’s taxpayers were footing the bill. While some celebrated their removal, many of us were heartbroken. The trees were so close to the shore, I wondered at the time whether the clearcutting was illegal.
Working together, behind the scenes, Rockland officials, SHM and RHP did this. What makes us think that this time around their behind-the-scenes negotiations will uncompromisingly serve the community’s needs? Private meetings may seem like a good way to get things done, but a more open, transparent process is almost always the way to go. With behind-the-scenes activity, government officials risk losing public trust, they miss out on the wisdom and attention to detail of the many community members locked out of the process, and they
are likely to develop-you-scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours-relationships.
It’s particularly insidious and even dangerous when corporate interests and small town governments get together.
At the recent meeting between SHM and city officials, SHM offered up its architect to design a public bathroom for the city’s Sandy Beach, “free of charge.” Looks nice on the surface, but arrangements like these are often power moves. It could very well be a means to keep city officials subordinate, deeply invested in remaining nicey-nice with SHM, with the potential of making the city that much more amenable to whatever SHM wants.
Why Isn’t SHM Paying Property Taxes On Par with Its Sale Price?
SHM bought the oceanfront land from RHP for $5 million in January 2021, but the city assessment, done after the sale, valued the property at only $1.66 million. While most homeowners in Rockland have been struggling with escalating property tax costs over the last few years, this multibillion-dollar corporation doesn’t have to contribute its share. In the sale, RHP’s land was split in two. This year, even though the properties’ street values are clearly worth much more, the city is collecting only $8,287 more in taxes than last year when it was a single piece. My editor, Ethan Andrews, talked to the city assessor’s office and was told that the valuation of a property is based on land and building values in the vicinity, not the most recent sale price.
While I understand that state laws govern how assessments are done, the city has been in-between assessors, and I wonder if this major sale slipped through the cracks. The truth is, from my cursory understanding, if sales of property deviate too much from assessed values (beyond the 70-110% ratio) in the overall municipal assessment, the state requires the assessors to adjust it. Clearly, Rockland needs to revisit its valuation immediately because SHM is getting away with a property discount of $3.3 million, thereby denying the community roughly $75,000 in property taxes, about half of which would be supporting the local schools and the kids inside them.
Rockland Must Consider Eminent Domain for the Harbor Boardwalk
Rockland may have an excellent case for undertaking a process of eminent domain to ensure perpetual community access to the boardwalk. From the beginning, way, way back in 2000, the original Brace bridge Corporation/MBNA application to the Maine DEP stated that the boardwalk was to be publicly accessible. The approved application reads, “An approximately 1,350 foot boardwalk will provide public access during daylight hours along the applicant’s waterfront between two municipal parks (Harbor Park and Sandy Beach Park)
bordering the site on the north and east boundaries.”
We the people have now enjoyed the boardwalk for over 20 years. But the boardwalk, under corporate ownership, has been neglected and in disrepair for much of that time. While eminent domain would involve purchasing the boardwalk at a “fair” price, which some may cringe at, we are now dealing with its having been split in two, with one side owned by the world’s largest marina consolidation company. The public’s guaranteed continued access to the boardwalk has never been so tenuous. Does Baxter R. Underwood, the CEO of SHM, who made over $9.6 million in total compensation for FY 2020, most of it in company stock — give a rat’s bucket about Rocklanders except to ensure that the parent company’s stock price stays high? Perhaps, as long as SHM wants something from the city, such as approval of their parking lot-by-the-shore plans, it’s in their best interest to maintain a position of power by withholding permanent public access to the boardwalk. On the other hand, they may be motivated to finalize permanent public access soon, attempting to be in the city’s
good graces before going before the Planning Board with their land plans. Either way, the city cannot afford to wait around. Until permanent public access of the boardwalk is set in stone, all options should be at the ready.
The Site Visit
It was a shimmering day, clouds tethered to the blue sky, when SHM unlocked the gate that for years has kept the wharf private. If the community were to win public access, it would be a truly fantastic extension of the harbor boardwalk, an asset for all of us. Then again, the views would be interrupted by billionaires sunning themselves on their climate-destroying megayacht-toys. Even so, wouldn’t it be nice to finally not be treated like we locals are dirty nogoodniks who can’t be trusted?
The occasion was a November 5 site visit for state and federal regulators to look at the extension plan in person. Early on in the site visit, a man said, “But some of what the Safe Harbor Marinas’ rep just said was wrong.” He was brusquely interrupted by a state official (or maybe someone with the Army Corps of Engineers, I wasn’t sure): “We’ve already collected public comment over the last several weeks.”
It comes as no surprise that archaic policies that appear to favor for-profit corporations and governmental entities govern how the permitting process works; while these officials are not supposed to engage with the community at the site visit, they spent a lot of time hearing from SHM representatives, and they seemed to want to speak with city officials. That would have been the time for city councilors or staff to articulate the many concerns that have been expressed by the community, but I didn’t happen to overhear anything like that. Regulators may have left Rockland thinking that the city completely approves of a good chunk of its inner harbor being handed over to a multibillion-dollar corporation to build megayacht infrastructure, and that only the lowly peons, the “whiners,” the “haters” and the rabble-rousers (i.e., many members of the community)
oppose it.
At the November 1 Rockland City Council meeting, in light of glowing accounts of the meeting by some of the attendees, Councilor Nate Davis indefinitely postponed his proposed order to notify the various state and federal permitting agencies that not all Rocklanders were thrilled about the marina expansion; plus, it would have created a more formalized means of negotiating for the public benefit.
When I was a kid growing up here in the ’80s and ’90s, racking up countless hours at North End Shipyard, my dad the captain of the schooner Isaac H. Evans, I saw raw sewage in the harbor, and the constant oil slicks made the idea of swimming rather unpleasant. Only recently have we the public had clean-enough water to
swim in in Rockland Harbor. Sandy Beach is the place to go for swimming, relaxing, playing, visiting, walking your dog, grieving, eating, unwinding, and gazing out over the ocean.
After the site visit, I walked to Sandy Beach to tend the gardens I care for there. SHM had placed red marking buoys in the water to indicate the general footprint of their planned expansion. I pictured what it would look like from Sandy Beach with several megayachts on 150′ docks jutting out not only to the red buoys, but a full 50′ farther out. The change would have a significant negative effect on the open feeling we all love at Sandy Beach. Most of the regulators didn’t even walk over to Sandy Beach to assess how the plan could affect one of our most treasured gems. They probably don’t care to fully comprehend how significant little Sandy Beach is to us, the lowly peons, the public, the beloved community.