Maine city confronts access issues
CAMDEN, Maine – Maine refit, repair and storage facility Wayfarer Marine recently laid out a 50-year plan that the company said would position it as the boatyard of choice on the East Coast, according to a story on villagesoup.com today.
On April 26, at the sixth Camden Area Futures Group Working Waterfront Forum, officials not only shared renderings of what that plan might look like, but also offered to “codify” a portion of Camden’s working waterfront via easement.
Wayfarer co-owner Shane Flynn announced that the company was in the process of placing its lower boatyard property into a permanent working waterfront easement, according to the story.
“I would call it a restriction on residential uses in this area in perpetuity,” said Flynn. “It brings down the property value for us, but that’s okay.”
With recent state talk of preserving Maine’s working waterfronts, Wayfarer Marine has taken center stage locally. That’s because Wayfarer is poised to make major changes, which company officials have said are necessary to survive and thrive.
News that Wayfarer wants to convert some of its commercial waterfront holdings to homes is, for some, contrary to the idea of preserving working waterfronts. Wayfarer, on the other hand, anticipates adding capacity, and ultimately more jobs, and sees the conversion as a trade that will gain much-needed capital to fix what’s broken and build what’s lacking.
“We don’t restrict access at Wayfarer now and don’t intend to restrict access in the future as long as it’s safe to traverse the docks,” said Flynn.
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