Boatyard expansion 8-year odyssey

HOLD WATER: Andy Tyska, owner of Bristol Marine, has faced regulatory and infrastructure troubles in expanding his business. “We are the gateway to the marine trades in Bristol,” he said. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS
HOLD WATER: Andy Tyska, owner of Bristol Marine, has faced regulatory and infrastructure troubles in expanding his business. “We are the gateway to the marine trades in Bristol,” he said. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Boating long has been an integral part of the Ocean State’s economy, as are the boatyards needed to help service the recreational segment of the marine-trades industry.
But a lack of available coastal land and often restrictive environmental regulations can make operating and expanding those facilities a challenge, as Bristol Marine owner Andy Tyska has found during an eight-year odyssey trying to improve the property he bought in 1998.
“Boatyards are often passed down from generation to generation, and they are very costly to upgrade,” said Tyska. “The boatyard here is part of the fabric of Bristol’s waterfront heritage. It’s a valuable part of the community, and it’s worth investing in the infrastructure.”
Tyska, who is past president of the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association, which has offices at Bristol Marine, has invested thousands of dollars in plans for his expansion. The property’s septic system has failed, and he’s willing to pay the expenses to connect to the sewer line, but needs local and state approvals to make that happen.
“Our facility … is the only commercial waterfront access for our industry in Bristol,” said Tyska. “We are the gateway to the marine trades in Bristol. There are more than 30 marine-related businesses in town that have utilized our facility.”
But getting sewer service to his property is difficult due to its waterfront location.
“Bristol is almost entirely sewered, except for the area we’re in, on the west side of the harbor,” said Tyska.
“There’s no easy way to get sewer to his property,” concurred Bristol Community Development Director Diane Williamson. “It’s in a residential zone and his use requires a special-use permit. We’ve been talking with him in fits and starts for several years.”
Bristol Marine’s master plan for expansion proposes connecting to town sewer along a route through Colt State Park. The plan includes increasing docking facilities from the current 21 slips by expanding, not on waterfront land, but out into the harbor, with 18 additional slips. The master plan also includes improvements to a shed used for workshop space.
Challenging environmental regulations have made it difficult for other boatyard owners to survive, says Don Vivenzio, manager of Point Judith Marina and Belle Vue Yachting Center in South Kingstown. Vivenzio owned Point Judith Marina until he sold it in 1993. “During 1989 and 1990 about 10 percent of my customers went bankrupt and another 10 percent were so poor they couldn’t afford to operate their boats,” said Vivenzio. “I couldn’t afford to operate through the recession, so I put the place up for sale, a new owner came in and I stayed on as manager.”
The threat of fines for air- or water-quality violations has forced some marine businesses to cut back on services, such as selling fuel or painting, he says.
“We occasionally had a contractor come in to do some painting, but we stopped four years ago. We just do mechanics here now,” said Vivenzio.
Marina owners can be fined for anything a visiting worker or visiting boater throws into a trash can that is supposed have controlled disposal, such as aerosol cans, said Vivenzio.
Every quarter, Vivenzio has to take water samples 30 minutes after it rains at three locations on the property.
“We have to pay $250 per bottle to the company that analyzes the samples,” said Vivenzio. “That’s $750 a quarter just for water quality samples, and that’s the easy part.
“The regulations are there for a reason and once you understand them and get control of them, it’s do-able,” acknowledged Vivenzio. But “there are some people who don’t want to take the risk any more of fines … and I think we’re maxed out on waterfront property, so you won’t see many more new slips.”
Rhode Island Marine Trades Association CEO Wendy Mackie says the overall recreational boating industry continues to grow in the state, though not as much as it could.
“We have so much more potential, especially if we attract more international events,” said Mackie. “Those events are not just good for tourism – they bring more attention to our marine industry and its capabilities. Rhode Island has the entire spectrum of the marine industry.”
That spectrum includes design, boatbuilding, manufacturing of component parts, sales, refit work on interiors, brokerage services, storage, ferry service, boat charters, magazines and even world-class sailing photography, said Mackie.
In the core marine trades industry, Rhode Island has 636 businesses that employ 6,700 people and generate $312 million in payroll, according to 2012 data, said Charles Lawton, chief economist for Portland, Maine-based Planning Decisions, a consulting company that specializes in economic development that did a study on the marine-trades industry in the Ocean State, which has been presented in draft form to the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association. In 2006, Rhode Island had 648 core marine businesses that employed 6,100 people and generated a payroll of $240 million, according to the consultant.
So, while the overall number of businesses has shrunk slightly, growth can be seen in the number of jobs created by the industry, said Mackie.
Another element of growth is the increase of the average wage of employees in the industry from $39,400 in 2008 to $46,700 in 2012.
Rhode Island currently has about 100 marinas and boatyards, covering a variety of services from boatbuilding to docking to mechanical repairs, she said. The number of boatyards in the state has remained consistent since 2007, although ownership may have changed, said Mackie.
Acquiring waterfront land for additional boatyards or expansion of current boatyards is an obvious challenge going forward, she says.
“There’s only so much coastal land available, and once it’s residential, it’s difficult to change it,” said Mackie. “But there are many places to store and service boats on land. There are ways to grow in all directions.”
Tyska’s Bristol expansion plan was recommended for approval by the town’s planning board in February. A planned March 10 review by the town’s zoning board was postponed to April 7 at Tyska’s request, so he could gather additional information.
In addition to the town boards, the plan would still need approval from the Bristol Harbor Commission and then the state Coastal Resources Management Council, said Williamson.
And while Tyska has been struggling to find a way to expand in Bristol, he’s already done so in Somerset, where he bought a marina two years ago.
“I spent nearly $1 million on the Somerset facility last year after investing $4 million in real estate there,” said Tyska, who has about 30 inland and waterfront employees at both facilities.
“We’ve been attracting boaters in Somerset from all over New England,” he said. “They could be coming to have their boats serviced here in Rhode Island and eating breakfast and dinner in the restaurants in Bristol.” •

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