Rock Harbor parking will remain free. Here's why Orleans officials changed their minds
ORLEANS — Rock Harbor will remain free for sunset watching, checking out the fishing fleet and beach and jetty strolling now the select board has dropped plans to implement a $15 nonresident parking fee.
The board voted unanimously Wednesday to withdraw the plan from the Oct. 17 special town meeting warrant after a wave of criticism from residents and businesspeople during a public hearing. The actual withdrawal will have to be on the floor at town meeting since it is too late to do it beforehand.
The proposal, Article 14, on the warrant, was part of a larger reorganization for parking in town. It was linked to a $32,500 request to change vendors so the town can use high-tech parking software involving phone apps, kiosks and license plate scanners – rather than a parking attendant. The cash allocation will remain in the article as the technology will be used at Skaket and Nauset beaches and at some town landings.
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Residents object to placing fee on nonresidents
An Orleans beach sticker would allow residents to park at no cost.
Despite the fact that nonresidents were the subject of the measure, Orleans residents were not happy.
“This is a change. We’re not a city. Let the last thing that this area has that is like the old Cape be undisturbed,” Charter boat captain Hap Farrell said. “I’m totally opposed to this. You’re going to destroy what is left of Orleans if you shut it down. Period. End of sentence.”
That sentiment was largely echoed by the audience.
Why impose a fee?
The fees would have helped offset the operating cost for Rock Harbor which houses the charter and commercial fishing fleets. Finance Director Cathy Doane pointed out the revenue from the Harbor for fiscal 2023 is $124,000 (that’s from slip holders, user fees and fuel) while direct expenses, excluding capital projects is more than $200,000. So the fiscal 2023 subsidy is about $79,000.
Those numbers don’t include large capital projects like the $2 million for replacing the charter bulkhead, dredging the harbor periodically, the $800,000 fuel pump replacement that is on Monday’s warrant and the planned renovation of the commercial fleet wharf and bulkhead that board member Mark Mathison said would cost $6 million. The Harbor is funded through an enterprise fund and the idea would be for it to be self sufficient.
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“‘This is a fee program that would be three months a year from the middle of June to middle of September, from 8 or 9 in the morning to 4 on the afternoon, so the sunset is not subject to this. From the residents' point of view it should be fairly innocuous,” Board member Meff Runyon said.
There is no parking fee at Rock Harbor now and there are 125 spaces, Town Administrator John Kelly said. more than 60 spaces potentially could be taken up by the slip holders who would have paid a $30 seasonal fee for the entire summer. Kelly said the town had no idea how much revenue the plan would bring in. It would have depended on the mix of residents and nonresidents coming in and out during the day.
“This is an unattended parking lot. There will not be an attendant. There will not be a gate. We will have a parking enforcement officer driving a circuit and they’ll be stopping at Rock Harbor periodically,” Kelly said.
Harbormaster Nate Sears said there were issues to fine-tune regarding customers at Young’s Fish Market, charter boat drop-offs, people watching fish landings or visiting the historic Coast Guard boat.
“We can carve out parking spaces dedicated just for those uses,” Sears said.
Free parking for Harbor a long tradition
The public wondered how that would work and why it was needed.
“I’ve been associated with Rock Harbor for almost 50 years,” Buddy Wilson said. “I’m opposed to any parking fees. We have people in and out during the day.”
Emily Viprino’s husband Chris is a clammer who fishes out of Rock Harbor.
“Orleans isn’t just the people who live in Orleans. We’re a part of a bigger picture,” she said “There’s not a lot of us young moms left. You can park close and my sons can watch their dad come in. I want to be able to invite my other mom friends and $15 each day is very financially challenging. It is such an amazing special place. I spend most days there and I am speaking from the heart when I say it’s a beautiful culture. I would hate for that culture to shift and become paid parking.”
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Farrell, captain of the Stunami and a former Cape Codder columnist, raised another issue.
“Back in 1959 Stu Finlay, his brother Art and Ben Hopkins sold or deeded for little money that whole area that is now the parking lot,” he recalled. “One of the stipulations in the deed was that you could not charge for parking there and it was deeded for the betterment of the commercial fleet and the charter industry that was just getting going.”
Business owners warn of fee's impact
He also worried about the impact on charter boats if customers had to pay a parking fee or face fines.
“it may not look like it’s going to do much to it but the intimidation alone will have people back off,” Farrell said. “We’re already fighting the small boats. When I first entered, there were 22 boats in the fleet now there’s 10. Hopefully we’ll all stay alive.”
At Rock Harbor the Centers for Culture and History in Orleans has berthed the CG36500 Coast Guard Rescue boat that rescued 32 crewmen from the sinking Pendleton in 1952.
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“I can’t tell you how huge a draw it is. We had a family two weeks ago from Switzerland who came to Rock Harbor specifically because of the boat," said Jay Strada, chair of the centers. "If it doesn’t discourage people from coming to town it is inhospitable. A lot of them do make a small donation and that’s our only way of maintaining the boat."
Many of his volunteers would have to pay to park.
Sheila Bonnell grew up on the Harbor and has watched it for 75 years
“Rock Harbor beach is the only free salt water beach in Orleans,” she said. “The only free access to the flats, and only public landing with free access to Cape Cod Bay. I want to live in a town sensitive to issues of affordability, perceived and actual.”
Bob Rich also was not a fan of the idea.
Harbor brings visitors to Orleans
“It seems like a silly idea if one considers all the issues and the relatively modest amount of revenue if you net out operating and start up expenses — to restrict so many people to earn a few tens of thousands of dollars a year,” he said.
Nick Muto, an Orleans resident and commercial fisherman out of Chatham, also did not like the idea of a nonresident parking fee.
He said the fish pier in Chatham sees 90,000 to 100,000 visitors a month in summer.
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“It’s a draw to that town. It’s free and people really really enjoy it. It’s a destination point among a bunch of other ones in Chatham,” Muto said. “Rock Harbor has the same kind of draw. Just because we can tax out-of-town people doesn’t mean we have to.”
Another skeptic was Jeff Smith.
“My question is what problem are we trying to solve here?” asked Smith. “Based on what I’ve heard tonight I haven’t heard one things it’s going to help.”
Will Pettengill talked about Rock Harbor's significance to the town.
“It’s part of the Orleans brand. If you look at the Orleans website it’s a picture of Rock Harbor,” Pettengill said. “Do we have to do it now and why? What’s the urgency?”
Other residents asked how much the fee would bring in and what would the parking program cost. The program would cost $30,000 a year for software townwide.
Runyon noted there is another article on Monday's town meeting warrant for $15,000 for an economic study of Rock Harbor. That article was defeated in the past but the study would aid in obtaining grants to help with things like the $6 million bulkhead. He said he would like to see an hourly parking fee.
Contact Rich Eldred at reldred@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reldredCodder.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Rock Harbor parking fee plan: What you need to know to visit Orleans
