By Zack Anchors

Staff Writer

    After months of hold-ups and intense opposition from
Knightville neighbors, Southport Marina has received the city of South
Portland’s go-ahead to expand their docks.  While residents of the
cove beside the marina believe the expansion will exacerbate problems
with parking, garbage collection and noise that they say are caused by
the marina, the marina owners say the expansion will serve the public
good by providing a place for transient boaters to dock while they
patronize local businesses.  The expansion will provide 400-feet
of new floating dockage at the end of B Street that will be designated
for smaller motorized boats as well as crafts like kayaks or rowboats.

    Several of the condominium associations scattered
throughout the cove have voiced concern about the plans or come out
against it and around five dozen neighbors have signed a petition in
opposition to the plan, several of whom addressed the South Portland
Planning Board on the matter at recent meetings.

    Although many residents acknowledged that the marina
was overall a good neighbor, they also spoke of being kept awake late
at night by noisy marina guests, complained of garbage piling up in
nearby garbage receptacles, described problems with dogs defecating on
their lawns and blamed poor parking conditions on B Street on guests of
the marina seeking convenient access to the docks. Members of the
Reynolds family, who own the marina, disputed many of the claims and
said they worked hard to run their business in the most orderly way
possible.

    Central to the controversy over the dock expansion
is a gate on B Street that Southport Marina has been using as access to
their facility for nearly thirty years. During the process of applying
for an amended site plan from South Portland, it was discovered that
the easement for the access was misplaced and that the current use of
the gate may not have legal grounding. When the Planning Board
unanimously approved the expansion at their Jan. 9 meeting the board
imposed as a condition of approval that the gate access would not be
provided for marina guests using the new docks.

    Another condition of approval required that the
marina empty the trash receptacles near the gate twice a week and cover
them with a mesh screen.

    According to Marina co-owner Kip Reynolds, the
marina would likely place the new docks in the water next April or May.
He said the marina is seeking legal counsel regarding what to do about
the gate access on B Street.