Pleased with the work of the Memorial Wharf Committee that oversaw the restoration of Edgartown’s Memorial Wharf this past year, the Edgartown select board has voted to extend the committee’s reach and focus on the eventual restoration of North Wharf.

The decision to approve came after committee chairman Steve Ewing presented a recap of the Memorial Wharf restoration, which finished up this past 4th of July weekend. Even after unexpected delays and additional work, the project still came in on par with the second-lowest bid, Mr. Ewing said.

Now the Edgartown Wharf Restoration Committee - Mr. Ewing and members Scott Ellis, Chris Scott, and Charlie Blair - will begin the research phase of the North Wharf project set to take place in spring 2023.

North Wharf off of Morse Street needs repair to the bulkhead and one of its stone walls, and some rehabilitation of neighboring docks. Repair efforts will be made slightly more complicated by the marina’s underground fuel tanks that have been empty since the Department of Environmental Protection prohibited them from being used due to safety issues in 2019. The wharf fuel vendor, R.M. Packer Co., installed two aboveground tanks in use since 2020. The lease between the town and Packer expires in October.

The town had set aside $900,000 for North Wharf repairs in 2018, but the larger Memorial Wharf project, which also carried $1 million in state funding, took precedence.

The North Wharf Committee will be overseeing permitting, negotiating with contractors and managing the bidding process as well as representing the wharf throughout the approval process.

“This group has the regulatory and nautical knowledge necessary to look at North Wharf,” town administrator James Hagerty said. “We need to start looking sooner rather than later, and I think they’re the group to do it.”

In their approval, select board members echoed Mr. Ewing’s assertion that the committee had succeeded in its work with Memorial Wharf.

“Edgartown is very lucky to have guys like you,” select board member Arthur Smadbeck said.

The town will seek funding for the North Wharf project at the annual meeting in April 2023.