At their Oct. 15 meeting the Rockport Select Board unanimously approved an updated list of fees which pertain to boat tie-offs in Rockport Harbor as well a hike in cost to reserve event space at Marine Park and the Rockport Opera House. The board also agreed to implement a cancellation fee for boats of 50’ or larger when owners fail to notifiy the harbor of a cancellation within 72 hours.

Rockport Harbor and Marine Park

Two substantive changes to the Rockport Harbor fee schedule include an increase in river dinghy tie-offs for non-residents from $125 to $200; Rockport resident dinghy fees will remain at $125. At the Tuesday night meeting, Harbormaster Abbie Leonard also recommended that a cancellation fee be implemented with regard to individuals who reserve overnight mooring space for boats 50’ or larger, but fail to notify the harbormaster of cancellation without at least three days notice.

“We had several last-minute cancellations this season that we were unable to re-book and represented a considerable loss in revenue. I propose we take a one- night deposit upon reservation and if the vessel does not cancel their reservation with in 72 hours of arrival then they forfeit the one-night fee,” said Leonard in a memo to the board, adding that the harbormaster office did not require a form of payment (e.g. credit card) from previously when taking reservations.

The board also approved an overnight fee increase for vessels in the harbor, from $35 to $40; Leonard said the slight increase reflected a rate typical of other marinas. She said that in reviewing venues similar to Marine Park – where weddings, concerts and other events are frequently held – the existing rates to rent the property were low in comparison to similar, waterfront locations. Furthermore, the one-time fee for an event did not take into account the days prior to or after an event which were often impacted with clean up by the renters without incurring any additional fee.

“It was the [Harbor] Committee’s feeling that if the park were to be taken up by a private event and taking away from the public use of the space, the fee should be more reflective of that impact and help off-set the cost of the park,” said Leonard. She proposed implementing half-day rentals so that event planners could book the park for half a day before or after an event without renting the park for an entire extra day. The rental fee for a full day at Marine Park is $600. 

Leonard said the previous damage deposit was $100, and suggested raising the deposit to $500 to encourage renters to leave the park as they found it. All changes to the fee schedule were approved unanimously by the Harbor Committee and the Select Board.

Rockport Opera House

A fee schedule for rental of the opera house, custodial time and other payroll costs was initially approved by the Select Board in July, but wasn’t signed or implemented because a contract form needed to be updated, according to Post. Since then the fees for the Geoffrey Parker Meeting Room were increased to reflect higher estimations of cleaning costs and other factors. Select Board Vice-chair and liason to the Opera House Committee Denise Kennedy-Munger and Opera House manager Drew Weber described the proposed changes at the Oct. 15 meeting.

Rental rates for the Geoffrey Parker Meeting Room increased as follows:

Rockport non proft: from $150 to $200

Other non-profit: from $200 to $250

Rockport private/commercial: from $250 to $275

Kennedy-Munger said the increased rates reflected a more inclusive estimate of cleaning costs associated with renting the space, rather than breaking the rental fee into multiple parts (base rate, cleaning fee, etc.) 

“[Rockport] was paying custodial costs and not having that paid for, and what happened last year was that we ran out of money for the custodian and everyone was running around trying to get the place clean to rent it out. [Weber’s] idea was to build the custodial costs into the fees.”

Kennedy-Munger said that Weber’s hourly pay rate for services associated with opera house events was $38, not $27 as reflected in the July fee schedule. Auditorium rental rates, including weddings, funerals and memorials, remain the same. The board also discussed making further changes to the meeting rooms fees to reflect a difference in cost between a Rockport resident or a commercial entity renting it (in the current scheme the prices are the same) but did not take any action. The board unanimously approved the fee schedule.

The next meeting of the Rockport Select Board will be held Monday, Oct. 28 at 6:30 at the Rockport Opera House