A chunk of unzoned borough-owned tidelands in Petersburg, where a cruise line wants to build a dock, is getting zoned.
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved the zoning with a 7–0 vote on Monday. Assembly Member Scott Newman made the motion, seconded by Assembly Member Rob Schwartz, and the ordinance passed in its third and final reading on March 2.
The tidelands parcel is located off Dock Street, near the U.S. Coast Guard float. It’ll be zoned Industrial, within the Marine Industrial Overlay zone.
Property zoning laws regulate how an area is used. The Assembly adopted the Marine Industrial Overlay zoning law last year as a way to make sure Petersburg’s industrial waterfront property is used for marine purposes.
“This [zoning] would specifically require that this piece [of tidelands] always be used for a marine industrial reason. And I don’t know what else you would put in there, but you couldn’t fill it and, you know, put in a condo,” Petersburg Harbormaster Glorianne Wollen explained during a Feb. 17 assembly meeting. “So it’s a handy piece to make sure that it remains at water access.”
While zoning this portion of tidelands helps the Borough control its use, the move comes amid a proposal for building a new dock there.
American Cruise Lines has applied to lease the parcel from the Borough to build a mooring float and gangway there for its small cruise ships to tie up to during the summer cruise season in Petersburg. The Borough is currently negotiating the lease contract terms with the company for the parcel, which will also go before the Assembly for final approval.
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said last month that they’re aiming to finish working out the contract terms “sometime very soon.”
