Select Board approves group to implement harbor plan

Feb 23, 2021

Dartmouth’s harbor management plan may soon start seeing results, after the Select Board approved a committee to enact the plan at a Feb. 22 meeting.

The plan was created over the course of two years and details hundreds of goals on more than a dozen different topics including water quality, land use, fishing, and public access.

Roger Race and Patricia Sweriduk from the Waterways Management Commission and Steve Bliven from UMass Boston’s Urban Harbors Institute will form the committee, which was tasked with reviewing the harbor plan and keeping it moving forward.

Race noted that the small group has already scheduled a meeting with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which will be providing a free economic analysis of Padanaram harbor and the surrounding area.

The committee will work with other entities in town and report back to the Select Board every three months.

“It’s an honor to work with the three of you,” noted Select Board member David Tatelbaum. “It’s a great group. Some of the stuff may perk up some interest and maybe even a little bit of controversy.”

Bliven has previously worked to implement 325 recommendations for a similar plan on Nantucket.

The Select Board voted unanimously to approve the committee.

At the same meeting, the Select Board also appointed David Rucker to the Veterans Advisory Board and reappointed Stacy Rebelo as assistant animal control officer.