ITEM FILE PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
George Gallup on his 52-foot boat called the Resolute, at the Lynn Yacht Club.
Much like the boats docked in them, marinas and harbors are expensive places to maintain and modernize.
Lynn and its coastal neighbors have plenty of coastal priorities with big price tags.
Local money is rarely a source of funding for waterfront improvement projects. The state has paid to resand and make other improvements to Revere Beach. But local boaters look after their own interests when it comes to marina upgrades.
In Saugus, the town has concentrated in making the Saugus River’s commercial dock a modernized and functional facility serving town lobstermen. Nahant is also spending money on its boat landing while expenses associated with Marblehead Harbor improvements eclipse money spent on harbor improvements in other towns.
Leaving Lynn out of the picture for a minute, it makes sense at summer’s start to find a way to bring marina and boat owners, board members, harbormasters and town officials together to discuss regional approaches to improve coastal facilities.
Regionalization is one of those flashpoint words in municipal government circles that make officials hold onto their annual budgets a little tighter. It’s a word that conjures up visions of one community disproportionately sacrificing for the betterment of the other. Some officials regard regionalization as just another way to create bureaucracy.
But when it comes to expensive harbor and marina improvements, regionalization may be a strength-in-numbers approach for relatively small communities to secure state and federal tax dollars.
Common ground already shared by communities points to potential regionalization benefits: Saugus and Nahant have small docks and landings shared by boaters. Lynn and Swampscott are examining the need for coastal protection efforts intended to reduce flooding.
It has benefited from improvements, but Lynn’s Seaport Marina underwent a decline several years ago that angered long-time boaters. It also highlighted the need for the city to protect the marina from major storms.
Making a case for a shared solution to paying for waterfront facility upgrades, translates into safety improvement and boater satisfaction. It ultimately provides a sound plan for spending money to avoid catastrophically expensive emergency expenses.
Regionalization gets a bad name. But banding together may be the solution for coastal communities to catch the attention of state and federal officials who have a firm grasp on the purse strings.
