Boat Line Terminal Plans in New Delay; Questions Include Scope,
Funding

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The Steamship Authority Oak Bluffs terminal reconstruction project
is now in a state of growing disarray, as town leaders struggle to
understand the status of the project and boat line managers continue to
draw lines in the sand - and withdraw their environmental
applications.

The SSA yesterday pulled back its application from the Oak Bluffs
conservation commission for the reconstruction project.

"It has been withdrawn," declared Harold Morsilli, a
vice president for the Maguire Group Inc. and project manager for the
ferry terminal project.

The terminal project must clear environmental hurdles at both the
state and local level in order to move forward. An application with the
Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) was also withdrawn last
week.

Mr. Morsilli said both applications will be resubmitted, once they
are reshaped to address questions that were raised about the
environmental impacts from the project.

A plan to meet with the Oak Bluffs selectmen tonight was also
delayed by two weeks, while boat line managers step back to put their
ducks in a row.

The $10 million project has been in the planning stage for the last
four years.

Construction is now not due to start until the fall of 2005 at the
earliest.

Meanwhile, questions continued to surface about the status of a
federal grant that the SSA plans to use to help rebuild the terminal.

In a testy letter to the chairman of the Oak Bluffs selectmen last
week, the director of maintenance and engineering for the boat line said
some $750,000 in federal grant money may be at risk if there are any
more delays in the project.

"Considerable delay can jeopardize the costs and the
grant," wrote Carl Walker in the letter.

Yesterday Mr. Walker took steps to tone down his remarks, also
admitting that he was wrong when he said in the letter that the SSA had
held a number of meetings, both formal and informal, with the
conservation commission about the terminal project.

"Looking back over our records, I was mistaken. There was one
informal meeting but there were no formal meetings," Mr. Walker
said.

The federal grant has a long history and in fact dates back to 2000
when it was originally given to the city of New Bedford through the U.S.
Department of Transportation ferry boat discretionary program. Records
in Cong. Bill Delahunt's office in Washington show that the grant
money was earmarked in two pieces for New Bedford ferry terminal work
- in 2000, $500,000 was earmarked, and in 2002 another $1.45
million was earmarked.

The language in the earmark shows that the money was designated only
for the city of New Bedford. Originally the grant money was intended to
go toward the construction of a high-speed passenger ferry.

But the high-speed ferry project bogged down and eventually changed
colors altogether when the boat line decided to convert the entire New
Bedford route to a private operation. Later, after a brief spat over who
owned the grant money, New Bedford city officials and boat line
governors agreed to split it. In October of 2002, SSA governors voted to
let New Bedford use half the money for work on the State Pier, and the
other half would go toward the Oak Bluffs terminal reconstruction
project.

The grant money continues to age, as delays continue to plague the
terminal project.

Also the project continues to stray farther away from the core
criteria for the grant money.

Ferry boat discretionary funds are intended for public projects at
public terminals with access to public transportation.

In an updated grant application two years ago, the boat line
outlined its own plan for service; the application predated the plan to
contract with a private carrier to operate the service. The application
also said construction would begin in the fall of 2003.

Mr. Walker said he has been in regular contact with the state
official at the Massachusetts Highway Department who administers the
federal grant.

"I've had ongoing discussions with people at
discretionary funding - they understand there have been delays and
they are working with us to extend the timeline on the grant," Mr.
Walker said.

He said state and federal officials do not know about the latest
delays in the construction start date.

"I am trying to talk to these people and keep the grants
going, but I have not informed them that due to the latest permitting
issues we will have another delay," Mr. Walker said.

He said if the SSA loses the grant money it will not kill the
project, but then more capital funding will be required from the public
boat line.

"Should we lose the grant the board will have to approve an
additional $750,000 in funding and the rate payers of the Vineyard will
have to pay that cost," Mr. Walker said.

SSA chief executive officer Fred C. Raskin said yesterday that he
hopes to keep the grant money intact, but he admitted that it has had a
long and circuitous route.

"This thing has morphed more than once and I know there is a
wave in Washington that says use it or lose it. But we've talked
them off the ledge once already and we hope to keep it," Mr.
Raskin said. "I'm not saying we've lost it yet, and
I'm not saying we haven't. We just know they have been very
anxious," he added.

The Oak Bluffs terminal reconstruction project has also seen a
number of changes in the last four years.

At the outset it was pegged as an ambitious $15 million project, but
it has since been scaled back. In the latest permutation, the SSA has
proposed leasing the old town hall building to use as a passenger
terminal and public restroom instead of building a new structure.
Located on the landside of Oak Bluffs avenue from the SSA pier, the
former town hall has sat largely empty since it was vacated by town
employees about two years ago. The town police station is housed in the
rear of the building.

Mr. Walker said yesterday that he hopes to get the reconstruction
project back on a clear track after the environmental applications are
reworked and resubmitted. Mr. Raskin agreed.

"From our point of view the applications aren't
important - what we want to do is sit down and see what the
problems are," he said.

In a letter sent to Mr. Walker late last week, the Oak Bluffs town
administrator made it clear that both the town and the boat line would
be well served by better communication .

"Selectman Richard Combra shared with the other selectmen the
letter he received from you on June 1 . . . . the majority reacted with
dismay and disagreement at your characterizations of the course of
events over the last four years," wrote Casey Sharpe. The town
administrator also said that the selectmen will request all copies of
grant documents from the SSA.

"We will get our information together," Mr. Walker said.