home

N

o roof at all. That is Chris Fulcher’s latest plan for a trawler sandblasting and painting facility on his peninsula at the entrance Oriental’s harbor.

In a letter dated July 21 to the Division of Coastal Management regarding his application for a CAMA permit, Fulcher’s agent, Dennis Fornes wrote that, “There will be no improvements/modifications of any kind to the existing building as a part of this application/project.”

Rooflessness. Chris Fulcher’s building without a roof may continue to loom that way according to his latest change in his request for a CAMA permit. (Posted to the tree is a notice of the public comment period ending August 14. To read it first required navigating creosoted dock pilings.)

The building in question is the grey block construction that has been without a roof since it was built more than 15 years ago.

A roof over that building – and a ventilation system – were conditions the Town Board set last October when Fulcher sought a Special Use Permit for an outside water wash down pad. The roofing requirement wasn’t entirely about aesthetics: town officials also said a roof would contain the sandblast dust, paint, and solvent fumes that have polluted the harbor and air in town when that work was done at Fulcher’s docks in the past.

For over half a year that was the understanding. Then in June, Fulcher submitted different plans to the Division of Coastal Management in his application for a CAMA permit. The roof, as depicted in those plans would not be fixed, but retractable.

The retractable roof that was part of Chris Fulcher’s CAMA permit application in June; plans have changed yet again, with a late July letter stating no roof would be puyt on the building.

Oriental’s Planning Board asked the Town Manager to get clarification. At the mid July Planning Board meeting, several residents raised concerns about the switch to a roof from which pollutants could escape. A petition to that effect has been circulating. Some residents say they have written to CAMA about it.

Drawings from Chris Fulcher’s CAMA permit application in June. Those plans have changed yet again, with a late July letter stating no roof would be put on the building where sandblasting and painting were to take place.

Now, with last Friday’s letter, Fulcher proposes no roof at all. The letter also says the boat wash for which he needed the Town’s SUP was being “withdrawn from the application.”

No SUP > No conditions. No conditions> no roof.

A Coastal Managenent spokeswoman Monday morning said it appeared that CAMA officials had not received the Fulcher/Fornes letter dated Friday. It had been provided to the Town of Oriental Friday. It can be read here.

What this amended application practically means was being evaluated by the Town and CAMA, as well as members of the public who are sharing their views during the public comment period.

While a roof is not being raised, questions are:

• Could sandblasting and painting take place without any roof?
• If there is no washdown pad nor a retention system for the used water, could trawler hulls above and below the waterlines be washed down on land? Over the water?

There is also a question of whether this change to the application should extend both the public comment period and the state’s self-imposed August 27 target date for ruling on whether to grant Fulcher a CAMA permit.

Posted Monday July 24, 2017 by Melinda Penkava