BRUNSWICK

New revisions to the town ordinance means boaters will now have to register their moorings. Under the ordinance amendments approved Monday night by the town council, all moorings must be registered with the town by June 1 each year, beginning with this year.

Coastal landowners with 100 feet or more of shorefront property can have one mooring, although there are Brunswick residents who may be violating that regulation by having more than one. However, town officials have not indicated they will be cracking down on multiple mooring holders.

Moorings must also be inspected every two years.

The amendment also further defines the role and requirements of the town’s harbormaster.

“It’s right, it fits the unique issues in Brunswick,” said Mark Worthing, who chaired the commission that drafted the ordinance amendment. “This is a framework. It’s the beginning of a process.”

The amendments do not allow those who own less than 100 feet of shorefront property to own a mooring in town. That didn’t sit well with Joe Caruso, who has not been able to obtain a permit to moor because he doesn’t own shorefront property.

“What makes anybody better than I am, other than that they have waterfront property?” said Caruso, addressing the council.

The commission would have to identify the size of a mooring field, where to put it, and most importantly, how it would be accessed from the shore. That process could take months or years, according to Worthing.

“It’s really complicated,” Worthing said, “and we can’t just do it in a couple of meetings.”

Unlike communities such as Freeport, Yarmouth and South Portland, Brunswick is limited in where it can place a mooring field, according to Worthing.

The town operates a boat launch out of Mere Point, but cannot operate a mooring field there, said Worthing.

Worthing said he is unsure whether the town can use waters off Sawyer Park as a mooring field.

The council approved an amendment that will have the commission report back to the council in June 2016 as to the options available for those who do not have waterfront property but wish to have a mooring.

Also on Monday, the council adopted new rules requiring that town employees get written permission before exceeding the maximum allowable limit of accrued unused vacation time.

Councilor Suzan Wilson had said that there were times when some town employees’ vacation hours carried over to “astronomical levels.”

She warned against employees stocking up unused vacation time to be used as a “retirement nest egg” to be bought out when an employee ends his or her tenure. That practice is detrimental, she said, both to the health and wellness of the employee and to the town’s budget.

The new policy, she said, creates a paper trail to protect both employees and management.

The council also decided it will inform the Maine Department of Environmental Protection of its interest in funding a watershed plan for Mare Brook. Also known as Mere Brook, the waterway was recently classified as an “impaired waterbody” due to pollution from storm water runoff, and may come under scrutiny by the federal government as a result.

The watershed plan will give the town some added flexibility in dealing with the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Other action

— THE COUNCIL adopted new rules requiring that town employees get written permission before exceeding the maximum allowable limit of accrued unused vacation time.

— THE COUNCIL also decided it will inform the Maine Department of Environmental Protection of its interest in funding a watershed plan for Mare Brook.

The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu