NORTH EAST — Borough Council will seat five people to serve on the newly formed Community Marina Authority when it meets in regular session Monday evening.
The next day, it will file articles of incorporation with the Pennsylvania Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
And then the work begins.
What community members have been requesting for more than six months — the formation of an authority — will allow the new entity to begin negotiating with the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission for the transfer of ownership of the North East Marina, 11950 East Lake Road.
On April 1, Borough Council passed a resolution to form the authority and seek applicants to serve on the inaugural board. The deadline for applications was April 30. At its April 15 meeting, Borough Council approved the articles of incorporation for the North East Community Marina Authority.
Nine people applied to serve on the authority, according to Borough Council member Heather Jones.
Initially, the authority was supposed to be a joint venture between the borough and township, but North East Township Supervisors in February announced that they would proceed with an economic impact study to learn more about the potential costs of operating the marina and how to generate adequate revenue from the regional asset. Borough Council, however, opted to proceed in hopes of retaining as many boaters as possible.
Last week, a Facebook page for the North East Community Marina notified boaters in a post that they are not under any obligation to remove their boats from marina property, but it is unclear if the new authority will be able to keep open more than 200 private boat slips that the Fish & Boat Commission closed for the current boating season.
Jones said that even though the township will form the authority, township supervisors are still being encouraged to play a role in it when and if they determine they’re ready.
“Ultimately, we know we’re better together,” Jones said about the borough and township having a joint role in forming the authority.
Start of efforts to save marina
State Rep. Jake Banta, R-4th Dist., and resident Dan Adamus, a trustee for the North East Community Foundation and a member of the Fuller Hose Co., began their efforts to save the marina in 2023 after the Fish & Boat Commission announced that it would close the private boats slips for the 2024 boat season.
The Fish & Boat Commission opted to close the private slips due to new dredging requirements that drove up the cost of the annual maintenance as well as the cost to move sand from the west side of the marina basin to the east side to prevent erosion down shore. Those costs have made operating the marina — the only one under Fish & Boat Commission’s authority in the entire state — financially constraining for the state agency. Another issue was the discovery of unsafe electrical lines on the docks and the potential cost associated with an overhaul of the utility.
Banta and Adamus pitched the idea of having Borough Council and the North East Township Board of Supervisors form an authority to own and operate the marina, in order to remove any financial liability that borough and township taxpayers might face if the borough or township took over the marina themselves.
The Fish & Boat Commission has been willing to work with the community to transfer the property and potentially provide start-up funds for the authority.
North East Borough Council will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at Borough Hall, 31 West Main St.
Matthew Rink can be reached at mrink@timesnews.com or on X at @ETNRink.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: North East marina oversight board members to be named next week