OPINION: After a year, Seaport Marine fire still under investigation
Jan. 31—The fire which destroyed the Seaport Marine buildings in downtown Mystic in November 2022 stands out as one of the more spectacular in the region in recent memory.
The fire occurred a few years after an enormous public outcry over the owners' proposal to change the zoning of the property to allow an enormous development of apartments, townhouses, a hotel and new restaurant on the marina site.
That heated zoning fight, which ended with the withdrawal of the proposal after the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection issued a strong warning it would conflict with coastal resources laws and the town's own master plan, was also one of the more memorable development battles in the region in recent memory.
And so, with this month's flooding in Mystic, which left some of the Seaport Marine property ― now cleared of the demolished remains of buildings and storage sheds ― under water, I got curious about what's happened with the investigation into the cause of the fire.
Like everyone else in town, I suppose, I wonder what will happen next at the big, flood-prone downtown site.
I wouldn't expect the owners to share their thoughts or plans with me, since I was among the many opponents to the last development project.
They did say last year, before getting one-year permission for a temporary, no-plumbing, pre-fabricated dock office building on the site, that they were looking at putting new marine facilities there.
When I caught up recently with Christopher Clarkin, the Mystic Fire Department fire marshal and acting chief, he said the investigation, in which reports from Stonington Police and the Office of State Fire Marshal are still pending, remains open and active.
He said the investigation has taken a long time, in part, because multiple insurance companies, representing the owners of boats, vehicles and businesses at the site, are involved with their own investigators.
"There are many different entities, and each one has a stake in the investigation," Clarkin said.
The cause of the fire is believed to be electrical in nature, he said, adding "we don't want to rule on exactly what happened at this time. . . . The final report is forthcoming and we are still working to get to the bottom of what the cause was."
I would expect the owners will want to see that final report before deciding how to move on from the fire.
The DEEP opinion issued at the time of the zoning battle over the future of the property made it very clear the state regulators will insist that the property use remain marine oriented, as the town's zoning requires.
State water resources law would also prevent building any kind of sea wall along the river to protect any new non-water-dependent uses of the site or any residential buildings not already in use before 1995, the DEEP said in its five-page opinion issued in May 2019.
A sea wall and infrastructure along the river there ― which the owners had asked the state to fund, at a cost of about $10 million ― could also create a greater flood risk for the adjoining historic neighborhood, by diverting flood waters.
With or without a final report on the fire, the property owners face a deadline this spring, when the one-year permit on the temporary marina dock office building expires.
I hope they consider a permanent marina building to accommodate the many boats still docked there, one with proper marina rest rooms. Many states require marinas to have sanitary facilities.
In the meantime, we can all hope those using and staying on all those big boats moored in downtown Mystic are using their holding tanks.
This is the opinion of David Collins.
