Post by ferryfast admin on Feb 21, 2012 12:36:27 GMT -5
NYC-Passenger Ferry Proposal Revived
Posted on 16 February 2012
Sag Harbor Express
sagharboronline.com/sagharborexpress/page-1/passenger-ferry-proposal-revived-16268
Sag Harbor business owner and Harbor Committee chairman Bruce Tait understands first hand that the village could benefit from having a passenger ferry service operate between Sag Harbor and Greenport. The service would allow not just visitors, but employees to commute between the North and South Forks without ever getting behind the wheel of their cars.
This week, however, as the debate over whether to allow a pilot passenger ferry service to set sail this summer, Tait said he did not have enough information from project sponsors to alleviate his concerns. Those include traffic, safety and quality of life issues that could arise if the village allows the plan to move forward.
“A two page paper is not enough of a plan for us to make a ruling on,” said Tait during a Sag Harbor Village Harbor Committee meeting on Monday night. “There is too much that has been left unsaid.”
On Tuesday night, the Sag Harbor Village Board of Trustees said they, too, had a number of questions and wanted to ensure the discussion was one the public was able to engage in as well.
Hampton Jitney President Geoffrey Lynch and Response Marine’s Jim Ryan have proposed a pilot passenger ferry service — the Peconic Bay Passenger Water Shuttle Service — this summer connecting Sag Harbor and Greenport.
The program would use one low wake catamaran leased from the New York Water Taxi company, which would travel back and forth between the villages starting at 7 a.m. in Greenport and ending at 8:45 p.m. in Sag Harbor, according to their proposal. On weekends, the service could extend to 11:45 p.m., and one day a week service would be reduced for maintenance and repairs.
The seating capacity of the vessel is 53, according to the proposal and is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible. Proposed fares are $11 one-way and $20 round trip.
Last year, Ryan, on his own, proposed a similar service, although that passenger ferry was conceived to travel between Riverhead, Sag Harbor and Greenport with possible extensions to Montauk. Traffic was immediately cited as one of the major concerns of the Village of Sag Harbor.
On Tuesday night, Ryan said that in order to alleviate that concern he reached out to Lynch and the Hampton Jitney. Ryan and Lynch have proposed a Hampton Jitney shuttle, which would travel in a triangular pattern between Sag Harbor, East Hampton and Bridgehampton to pick people up interested in using the ferry service, allowing them to leave their cars at home. A similar shuttle service is also conceived for the North Fork.
On Tuesday night, Ryan said that with the support of Greenport Village Mayor David Nyce he and Lynch hoped to obtain a special permit from the Village of Sag Harbor to allow them to operate the service for just this year between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Under the village code, all ferry service, including passenger ferries, are against the law.
“We are just looking for a seasonal temporary permit where this board could evaluate the program based on one summer season at Long Wharf or somewhere else in the village,” said Ryan. He notes this kind of transportation initiative would be supported by the research of the Five Towns Rural Transit, Inc. in the Sustainable East End Development Strategies (SEEDS) process.
“I met with Jim about a year ago when he first made this presentation to the village board and was intrigued, quite frankly,” said Lynch. “Jim came to us and we decided we wanted to get involved with this project.”
Lynch said the Hampton Jitney company planned on offering the ferry shuttle service its full operational support in addition to funding, including its reservation systems, staff and fare collection system.
“We plan on using our marketing budget to promote this thing and get it off the ground because if it is viable this is something we want to be involved with,” said Lynch.
While the men were seeking a temporary permit, the village trustees questioned if their board could do that or if they would have to enact a zoning change. They also said they would like Lynch and Ryan to return for the March 13 trustees meeting with a detailed presentation so that the public can also participate in the debate.
On Wednesday morning, Sag Harbor Village Attorney Fred W. Thiele, Jr. said that if the village board wanted to allow the service to move forward, whether in a temporary or permanent capacity, it would have to pass a local law to permit passenger ferries in Sag Harbor.
“They could do this on a temporary basis,” he said. “The other legal part of this is they would also have to demonstrate it is consistent with the LWRP (Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan) and the Harbor Management Plan.”
As the village could not legally offer an exclusive franchise to Lynch and Ryan, said Thiele, they could limit the local law to one location in order to prevent opening the floodgates to more than one business starting a passenger ferry service in Sag Harbor.
Where the service will dock is one of Tait’s main concerns as a member of the Harbor Committee, the body that oversees the LWRP and the Harbor Management Plan.
“The LWRP specifically mentions it is a suitable use in the village and we should think about ferries to help transportation and revitalize the maritime heritage of Sag Harbor,” said Tait during Monday night’s Harbor Committee meeting. “The issue was always upland support and the quality of life for people that live here.”
He did acknowledge that partnering with the Hampton Jitney alleviated some of the parking concerns, but was still skeptical.
“I think when we knock this down we are going contrary to every thought about transportation in every part of the country,” argued Dr. Tom Halton, a Harbor Committee member. “It takes cars off the road and gets you places quickly.”
He implored the board to give the concept a year to see if it would work or if truly did become burdensome on the village.
On the other side of the water, the service is proposed to dock at Mitchell Park in Greenport, and while Tait said he believed Sag Harbor’s transient docks were not safe enough for a passenger ferry service, he questioned what would happen to Long Wharf in terms of traffic and accessibility if the passenger ferry docked at its north end. Because Long Wharf is not pedestrian friendly (it has no guardrails), Tait added people walking to the ferry would either be walking in traffic or unprotected from falling into the harbor.
“It’s a close call,” said Tait. “I am inclined to want to see it go forward. I go to Greenport all the time. One of my own employees comes to Sag Harbor from Greenport, so there are a lot of reasons to give this a favorable review, but we need more information.”
Posted on 16 February 2012
Sag Harbor Express
sagharboronline.com/sagharborexpress/page-1/passenger-ferry-proposal-revived-16268
Sag Harbor business owner and Harbor Committee chairman Bruce Tait understands first hand that the village could benefit from having a passenger ferry service operate between Sag Harbor and Greenport. The service would allow not just visitors, but employees to commute between the North and South Forks without ever getting behind the wheel of their cars.
This week, however, as the debate over whether to allow a pilot passenger ferry service to set sail this summer, Tait said he did not have enough information from project sponsors to alleviate his concerns. Those include traffic, safety and quality of life issues that could arise if the village allows the plan to move forward.
“A two page paper is not enough of a plan for us to make a ruling on,” said Tait during a Sag Harbor Village Harbor Committee meeting on Monday night. “There is too much that has been left unsaid.”
On Tuesday night, the Sag Harbor Village Board of Trustees said they, too, had a number of questions and wanted to ensure the discussion was one the public was able to engage in as well.
Hampton Jitney President Geoffrey Lynch and Response Marine’s Jim Ryan have proposed a pilot passenger ferry service — the Peconic Bay Passenger Water Shuttle Service — this summer connecting Sag Harbor and Greenport.
The program would use one low wake catamaran leased from the New York Water Taxi company, which would travel back and forth between the villages starting at 7 a.m. in Greenport and ending at 8:45 p.m. in Sag Harbor, according to their proposal. On weekends, the service could extend to 11:45 p.m., and one day a week service would be reduced for maintenance and repairs.
The seating capacity of the vessel is 53, according to the proposal and is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible. Proposed fares are $11 one-way and $20 round trip.
Last year, Ryan, on his own, proposed a similar service, although that passenger ferry was conceived to travel between Riverhead, Sag Harbor and Greenport with possible extensions to Montauk. Traffic was immediately cited as one of the major concerns of the Village of Sag Harbor.
On Tuesday night, Ryan said that in order to alleviate that concern he reached out to Lynch and the Hampton Jitney. Ryan and Lynch have proposed a Hampton Jitney shuttle, which would travel in a triangular pattern between Sag Harbor, East Hampton and Bridgehampton to pick people up interested in using the ferry service, allowing them to leave their cars at home. A similar shuttle service is also conceived for the North Fork.
On Tuesday night, Ryan said that with the support of Greenport Village Mayor David Nyce he and Lynch hoped to obtain a special permit from the Village of Sag Harbor to allow them to operate the service for just this year between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Under the village code, all ferry service, including passenger ferries, are against the law.
“We are just looking for a seasonal temporary permit where this board could evaluate the program based on one summer season at Long Wharf or somewhere else in the village,” said Ryan. He notes this kind of transportation initiative would be supported by the research of the Five Towns Rural Transit, Inc. in the Sustainable East End Development Strategies (SEEDS) process.
“I met with Jim about a year ago when he first made this presentation to the village board and was intrigued, quite frankly,” said Lynch. “Jim came to us and we decided we wanted to get involved with this project.”
Lynch said the Hampton Jitney company planned on offering the ferry shuttle service its full operational support in addition to funding, including its reservation systems, staff and fare collection system.
“We plan on using our marketing budget to promote this thing and get it off the ground because if it is viable this is something we want to be involved with,” said Lynch.
While the men were seeking a temporary permit, the village trustees questioned if their board could do that or if they would have to enact a zoning change. They also said they would like Lynch and Ryan to return for the March 13 trustees meeting with a detailed presentation so that the public can also participate in the debate.
On Wednesday morning, Sag Harbor Village Attorney Fred W. Thiele, Jr. said that if the village board wanted to allow the service to move forward, whether in a temporary or permanent capacity, it would have to pass a local law to permit passenger ferries in Sag Harbor.
“They could do this on a temporary basis,” he said. “The other legal part of this is they would also have to demonstrate it is consistent with the LWRP (Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan) and the Harbor Management Plan.”
As the village could not legally offer an exclusive franchise to Lynch and Ryan, said Thiele, they could limit the local law to one location in order to prevent opening the floodgates to more than one business starting a passenger ferry service in Sag Harbor.
Where the service will dock is one of Tait’s main concerns as a member of the Harbor Committee, the body that oversees the LWRP and the Harbor Management Plan.
“The LWRP specifically mentions it is a suitable use in the village and we should think about ferries to help transportation and revitalize the maritime heritage of Sag Harbor,” said Tait during Monday night’s Harbor Committee meeting. “The issue was always upland support and the quality of life for people that live here.”
He did acknowledge that partnering with the Hampton Jitney alleviated some of the parking concerns, but was still skeptical.
“I think when we knock this down we are going contrary to every thought about transportation in every part of the country,” argued Dr. Tom Halton, a Harbor Committee member. “It takes cars off the road and gets you places quickly.”
He implored the board to give the concept a year to see if it would work or if truly did become burdensome on the village.
On the other side of the water, the service is proposed to dock at Mitchell Park in Greenport, and while Tait said he believed Sag Harbor’s transient docks were not safe enough for a passenger ferry service, he questioned what would happen to Long Wharf in terms of traffic and accessibility if the passenger ferry docked at its north end. Because Long Wharf is not pedestrian friendly (it has no guardrails), Tait added people walking to the ferry would either be walking in traffic or unprotected from falling into the harbor.
“It’s a close call,” said Tait. “I am inclined to want to see it go forward. I go to Greenport all the time. One of my own employees comes to Sag Harbor from Greenport, so there are a lot of reasons to give this a favorable review, but we need more information.”