By Staff
Panel to suggest ways to implement management plans
By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
An advisory panel will make recommendations to the Washington City Council on how to best implement a harbor-management plan.
The plan was accepted by the council during its meeting Monday. The panel’s advisory role includes suggesting ways the city can implement the plan, at least parts of it, in a responsible and orderly way. The plan was developed by a group of approximately 50 people and organizations.
The plan “enjoys widespread public support,” Hamory said.
Several people who spoke in favor of the plan said they view the city’s harbor as an economic engine to help drive the city toward prosperity and the plan as a way for the city to reclaim its heritage as a maritime hub in the Inner Banks.
David Norwood, representing Carolina Wind Yachting Center, described the plan as “well-thought out that provides for a safe, clean harbor.
Bob Rees, representing the N.C. United States Coast Guard Licensed Captains Association, said the plan will help Washington once again become “a major maritime hub in North Carolina.”
David Emmerling, executive director of the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation, said the plan has an “environmental conscience,” referring to the plan’s strategies for protecting the harbor’s water quality.
Phil Mobley, the city’s parks and recreation director, said the plan also provides public-safety strategies for the harbor.
Councilman Archie Jennings said he likes the “tenor of the plan,” which he views as a series of recommendations for the city to consider.
Mayor Pro Tempore Doug Mercer said he considers some parts of the plan desirable, but other components of the plan need to be reviewed by the city before they are considered for implementation. It was Mercer who proffered the idea of creating the advisory panel to analyze the plan and advise the city on how to put it into action.
In endorsing the plan, Mayor Judy Meier Jennette and the council made it clear they will analyze it and determine which of its components the city may want to implement. They advisory panel, yet to be named, with help them with those tasks.
Washington’s latest land-use plan, required by the Coastal Area Management Act and implemented in 2007, calls for the city to develop a harbor-management plan and a water-use plan. The land-use plan also calls for the city to establish mooring fields in some of the city’s waterways.