Working Waterfronts and Waterways

Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin
Volume 43, Number 1, Winter 2011
By Janet Krenn

The recent recession may have caused a dip in coastal economies and temporarily slowed demand for coastal access, says Charlie Colgan, but he predicts that in the long-run, “New demands on the waterfront are emerging. The coast will be more crowded than ever.”

This wasn’t good news to the audience of the Working Waterways and Waterfronts (WWWWF) Symposium held in Portland, ME, in September. The Portland Symposium was the second installment of the 2007 WWWWF Symposium held in Norfolk, VA, which kicked off a national discussion between commercial, recreational, and government groups interested in preserving coastal access and working heritage against a trend of coastal access loss.

“The 2007 Symposium tried to identify and describe the problems and to find common ground between diverse water-dependent industries,” says Natalie Springuel, Maine Sea Grant Extension Agent and Maine’s WWWWF Symposium organizer. “The 2010 conference focused on how we address the challenges that working waterfronts are facing. What solutions are working?”

In addition to sharing information, the Symposia have provided those with a stake in coastal access an opportunity to discuss local solutions to water access loss and possibilities for working together nationally or regionally. These discussions come at a time of steep decline in public access to the coasts.

The concern for Symposium attendees was clear: How could they provide opportunities for multiple-use waterfronts today and into the future?

Determined to end on a positive note and inject an air of possibility into the room, Colgan, who is Chair of Community Planning and Development at the University of Southern Maine, showed a picture of a sign that read “Fish’n Optician Lobsters & Eyeglasses.”

“We should never underestimate the depth of creativity,” Colgan says. “We need to find and recognize what those creative uses are to make the best use of the limited space we’re dealing with.”

Coastal Crowding
One reason coastal access is becoming scarce is coastal crowding caused by a combination of population growth, property value increases, and sea level rise.

Coastal populations are booming nationwide, according to the most recent U.S. census data. Population in coastal counties increased an average of 48% from 1999 to 2003, and before the economic downturn, the trend showed no sign of slowing. More than 2.8 million new housing permits were issued in coastal counties throughout the nation over the same five-year period.

Currently, Virginia ranks in the top five states for population increase. The population of coastal counties increased by nearly 50% from 1980 to 2003, and more than 180,000 building permits were issued for single-family and multifamily residences in Virginia’s coastal counties from 1999 to 2003.

While populations increase, Virginians also continue to lose access to the coast due to sea level rise. By 2050, VIMS researchers estimate that sea level will be nearly one foot higher than today’s levels. This could result in the loss of some access points and the increased pressure of more traffic at others.

“These are not isolated issues,” says Springuel, who coordinated surveys of water access issues in 2007 and 2010. “Loss of access is happening in different ways in different parts of the country.” With population increase comes higher prices for property, and when this happens, some locals get priced out of their communities.

Economic Monotony
Springuel notes that as citizens lose access, economic diversity is lost. A common theme that ran through the 2007 survey was the conversion of traditional working waterfronts to other uses.

“The concerns folks are having are related to year-round economic vibrancy of the community,” says Springuel. As communities lose economic diversity and become seasonal attractions, residents may need to leave the community for part of the year to find work.

Yet diversity itself also spurs complications on the waterfront. Before the 2007 Symposium, commercial and recreational groups saw each other as competitors for limited access points. Bringing these groups together in the same room with a willingness to work together was a first step to bringing the working waterfronts dialogue to the national level.

“I can’t overstate the importance and strategic significance of partnerships between commercial and recreational fisheries groups,” says Tom Murray, organizer of the 2007 Symposium and Marine Extension Leader for Virginia Sea Grant. Because of its standing in the community, notes Murray, Sea Grant has the ability to bring people together without an agenda and to see all sides of the situation, a position that has empowered stakeholders to work together at the local and national levels.

“Virtually every water-dependent interest was present at the Norfolk meeting,” says Murray. “What came out of that meeting was a consensus definition that was general enough to include all of the players and could be applied across the country, but it was specific enough to really address the common problems all groups are facing.”

Local Efforts
This year’s Portland Symposium revealed a silver lining behind looming cloud that is coastal access loss. Because the challenges are similar nationwide, solutions to local problems can be transferred to other areas facing similar challenges. This means that one successful effort could form a model for others throughout the country.

Sea Grant programs nationwide have been successful at providing science-backed information to develop new tools, provide information, and facilitate local and state efforts that have the potential to be translated again and again among states.

For example, Florida Sea Grant has contributed to developing science-based methods, spatial data, and model policies to support waterway access planning. One such tool, the Regional Waterway Management System, analyzes navigation patterns of commercial and recreational boats and can help decision makers prioritize waterway dredging and maintenance based on use (see Florida Sea Grant’s webpage).

In other cases, one Sea Grant program becomes a model for others. Maine Sea Grant developed an online clearinghouse of information on legal and policy tools for property owners, public interest entities, and recreational users to address local coastal access issues. The website, Accessing the Maine Coast (www.accessingthemainecoast.com), was so successful that it’s being used as a model by five other Sea Grant Programs, including Virginia’s (see BOX).

Without anticipating it, North Carolina Sea Grant created a model for implementing statewide change. As the leader of North Carolina’s Waterfront Access Study Committee, Sea Grant organized a study of working waterfronts. The results of the study prompted the state to authorize $20M to protect waterfront diversity. This effort has helped guide other programs, such as Washington Sea Grant, as they lead the West Coast Governor’s Agreement on Ocean Health.

National Attention
“Although coastal access is a local issue, the coast is the gateway to federal resources,” says Murray, pointing out that the federal government has jurisdiction of the oceans from the edge of state waters to 200 miles out. “Without access, we’re not deriving the value of these federal natural resources. From an individual perspective, without access to the water, we can’t enjoy it.”

For these reasons, many supporters of WWWWF and attendees of the Symposium would like to see more national support backed by federal dollars.
Since the 2007 conference, working waterfronts have gained some traction on the national level. Representative Chellie Pingree (ME) is credited with getting the definition of working waterfronts, generated during the Norfolk Symposium, recognized on the federal level. The definition passed the House as an amendment to the National Flood Insurance Reauthorization last summer, with support from all Virginia districts except the 6th and 7th. (The bill is still awaiting action in the Senate.) More detailed legislation has been slow moving.

Current issues involving coastal access aren’t addressed in federal legislation. The nearly 40-year-old Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) of 1972 loosely refers to a federal commitment to “preserve, protect, develop, … and restore” the nation’s coasts, but it doesn’t cover access, coastal use planning, working waterfronts, or other modern issues facing the nation’s coast, making CZMA in its current form weak at best in the eyes of many.

“As important as working waterfronts are,” Pingree said at the Symposium, “they don’t receive the same support as land conservation or historic preservation.”

Yet that hasn’t stopped Pingree from proposing the “Keep America’s Waterfronts Working Act,” cosponsored by Virginia’s Congressmen Gerald Connolly (11th District) and Rob Wittman (1st District). The Act, currently in the committee stage, would amend CZMA to include the working waterways and waterfronts issue and create a funding pool to support coastal states to preserve or expand access. In the meantime, Representative Frank Pallone (NJ) proposed the “Coastal Jobs Creation Act of 2010,” cosponsored by Virginia’s Congressmen James Moran (8th District), Robert Scott (3rd District), and out-going Congressman Glenn Nye (2nd District). Also in the committee stage, this Act would provide funding for coastal jobs that promote economic and environmental sustainability.

Despite the local successes and the ongoing work on the national level, the 2010 Symposium ended less with closure than with a call to arms. By the last day, attendees were teeming with ideas for next steps. Suggestions spanned everything from an online database of proven methods and tools for dealing with access loss on the local level to organizing a lobbying effort to reach the Federal government.

For Sea Grant programs across the country, this means continuing to provide information to their local constituents and potentially helping develop an online database of best practices. Other groups, such as Maine’s Island Institute, may consider helping to organize a coalition.

It is clear that attendees of this second WWWWF Symposium see a long road ahead. As Pingree says, “The momentum comes from this group working together. It’s certainly a necessary and good start, but we’re not done yet.”