By Carol Britton Meyer, March 4th, 2019
Hingham Maritime Center is gearing up for a busy spring and summer.
HMC, formerly named the Lincoln Sailing Club, has been based in Hingham for four decades, offering reasonably-priced sailing and rowing programs for all ages.
HMC board members and new Executive Director, Logan Greenlee, presented a revised conceptual design to the Selectmen last night (April 2) for the planned new boathouse on Barnes Wharf, which HMC leases from the town to operate its boating and rowing programs.
Based on feedback from the Selectmen and other town officials last December, it was back to the drawingboard to redesign the project — including reducing its size — in an effort to more closely meet some of the town zoning requirements with which the earlier design did not comply.
The new conceptual plans have not been submitted to or reviewed by town officials yet.
“We’ll be working with the Planning Board on a parking plan,” said board member Nancy Kerber. There will be restrooms on the ground level, a team area, offices, and storage space on the second floor.
The Selectmen gave their approval of the conceptual plan to move on to the review stage.
“We asked you [last December] to come back to us in three months with a revised plan,” Selectman Mary Power said. “You’ve put a lot of time into this and made some hard choices, such as making the structure smaller. Does your board feel comfortable with these changes?”
Kerber answered yes even though some boat storage space will be lost. “The space will accommodate what we have now for HMC and the high school [rowing program], but there’s no room for expansion of that space [to include new boats],” she said.
That said, Power suggested that HMC find another space in town to store the boats off-season and said the board could help with such an effort. “Using waterfront space for boat storage is to me a missed opportunity,” she said. “I think accommodating people in this space rather than boats is more important.”
Power asked if the board is “excited” about the revised plan. Kerber again responded in the affirmative.
Looking back
December 2018 marked the end of the second year of Hingham Maritime Center’s 30-year lease with the town for the use of Barnes Wharf.
A requirement of this agreement was that a review of the first two-year phase, including specific benchmarks, take place before the end of 2018.
Key to the plan is the construction by HMC of a boathouse that would be used by members, the Hingham High rowing and sailing teams, and others and supported by the selectmen.
There are three benchmarks for this project. Two benchmarks, which the town is charged with completing — involve potentially connecting to the MWRA sewer system — which is still pending — and completing improvements to four harborfront wharves, including Barnes Wharf — which is in the works.
The third requirement under phase one was for HMC to present a revised conceptual plan that addresses issues brought up during the May 2018 look-back of the lease arrangement and consideration of the plan up to that point. This happened later than initially planned so the Selectmen granted an extension.
HMC is required to raise 50 percent of the funding needed to complete the proposed new boathouse, an effort that has already begun.
Now it’s on to the review process by various town boards.