(Editor's note: Questions from residents about building numbers referred to at the Shipyard led City Councilor Mike Hurley and BEL-TV's Ned Lightner to film a short video tour of the property, embedded here with Hurley's permission.)

BELFAST - A major expansion proposed by Front Street Shipyard got a warm enough welcome when it was unveiled earlier this month that the city has set out an expedited timeline for approvals.

The plan, which would allow the Shipyard to finish the improvements by next summer, also carries a built-in gamble for the growing waterfront business, and potentially for Belfast residents, as well.

The expansion has two major aspects. On the waterfront, the Shipyard hopes to add a 300-metric-ton travel lift for bringing larger vessels ashore. The new lift would work side-by-side with the current 165-ton travel lift using an expanded pier and wash basin.

On land, a new building would be erected next to so-called Building 5 to service boats brought ashore by the new lift. The building would be roughly the same dimensions as Building 5 but would stand six-to-10 feet taller than its neighbor making it the largest building on the property. If the Shipyard gets its wish, it will be located atop what is currently the Front Street municipal parking lot.

On Dec. 18, the City Council granted the Shipyard agency status to file an application for the new building on the current parking lot location. City Planner Wayne Marshall likened this to an option to buy a residential property pending permission to build the house, and while the designation offers no guarantee that the city will approve the building or sell or lease the parking lot to the Shipyard, it sets the gears solidly in motion.

The approval process has already begun for the travel lift. According to Marshall, the process is moving quickly in order to give the Shipyard the best chance of completing the work before the Maine Department of Environmental Protection's April 9 cut-off for driving pilings in the harbor. 

The work would be started, if not finished, before the new building is approved, which is where the gamble comes in.

According to Shipyard President JB Turner, the travel lift alone would not be a money maker. The Shipyard, he said, really needs the building, too.

Turner acknowledged the risk involved in breaking ground without approval for the new building but said the decision was based in part on the reception from the Council and community members, who spoke on the night of his initial presentation. If the public or councilors had come out strongly opposed to it, he said, he might have felt differently.

When Turner made his presentation on Dec. 4, however, Marshall discouraged pubic comment, saying the presentation was strictly informational. To date there has been no public hearing on the proposed expansion and none would likely occur until the proverbial shovel is in the dirt.

But what would the objections be? And would they still carry any weight?

City Councilor Mike Hurley sounded an early alarm when the expansion was first announced decrying what he saw as a monopolization of the waterfront by a single business. He also noted the potential loss of parking on Front Street at a time when the Shipyard plans to add 40 new jobs and the city would be looking to attract visitors to the waterfront with a new Harbor Walk.

At the time, Hurley applauded the success of the Shipyard, but worried that its continued expansion would press into the already-narrow band of small waterfront businesses between Main Street and Marshall Wharf. Hurley later tempered his comments, but similar concerns were raised by some members of the public on Dec. 4.

Marshall said he didn't know whether people would bring objections forward at a later date or whether the four city committees reviewing the plans for the building would find issues, but he expressed confidence that the city would not be swayed to approve the building on the basis of a completed pier.

"My opinion is that people will still make the decisions they will make based on their standards," he said.

He also noted that this isn't the first time the Shipyard has made marine improvements in advance of approval for a related building.

"What we have today is almost a carbon copy of what happened the first time and it's largely reflective of what [Front Street Shipyard's] needs are," Marshall said, referring to the construction of the original travel lift pier and the later addition of Building 5, which was then the largest building on the property.

The difference now, Marshall said is that the Shipyard has a longer track record and there are existing references for the new proposal.

"It's hard sometimes to visualize a 55-foot building," referring to Building 5. "But now you know what a 55-foot building looks like because it's there."

To contact Ethan Andrews, e-mail to news@penbaypilot.com