Plans for the Kittery Point Yacht Club’s boat dock in New Castle have been put on hold: Here’s why
NEW CASTLE – The Kittery Point Yacht Club’s process for obtaining city approval for a new mooring in the Piscataqua River tributary has been put on hold by a New Castle board at the club’s request.
Club leaders plan to work with project opponents and residents to improve safety around the property along the Route 1B causeway and address criticisms that have been raised against the proposal since the winter. The proposal is currently under review and in the public hearing process of the New Castle Zoning Board of Adjustment.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment voted Wednesday night to move the proposal forward until its Sept. 17 meeting to work with the 68-year-old club on safety solutions.
The club released a statement Thursday through Dave Severance, club treasurer and board member, to move forward with the proposal.
“We believe there may be opportunities for the club to work with the community to improve safety along the Route 1B causeway,” the club stated. “We felt it would be better for all parties involved to take more time to explore these opportunities and provide a clear perspective to anyone who may not have a clear understanding of the scope of our proposed project.”
The Kittery Point Yacht Club had initially proposed a 150-foot mooring in the back channel of the river off Goat Island, a plan that has since been scaled back. The mooring would be built on property the club purchased from a local resident in 2022. It would jut out into the waterway and be used by the club’s student sailors and staff to avoid the potentially dangerous sailing conditions off the club’s current mooring on the river.
Club members and supporters of the proposal have explained in hearings that the new dock would not be an expansion of the club. Rather, the new dock would more evenly distribute students and staff, provide safer navigation on the side channel, and improve students’ sailing skills.
The club’s intention is to provide a second, safer access to the water, said Severance and Doug Pinciaro, the club’s harbormaster and board member.
Critics of the plan say the jetty would obstruct their view of the side channel and compromise safety along the causeway. They argue that pedestrian and car traffic would increase, which in turn would increase the risk of a car crash involving pedestrians. Some have claimed that a jetty off Goat Island would affect navigation in the side channel.
In January, the Zoning Board of Adjustment approved a request to grant the club the necessary waivers for the proposed dock. In February, however, the City Council intervened and requested a hearing to appeal the matter, arguing that the Zoning Board of Adjustment made an error in granting the waivers.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment granted the Select Board’s appeal, initiating a new hearing that has now spanned several months.
“We look forward to working with the community to find an amicable solution,” the Kittery Point Yacht Club said in a statement on Thursday.
According to the minutes of a May 21 Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing on the matter, the dock is scheduled to be installed between November 15 and March 15, 2025, to avoid disturbing the sturgeon population in the side channel.
In addition to the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s seal of approval, the proposal would also need to be signed off by the New Castle Planning Board and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
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