Boatyard Proposed For Former COA Site

CHATHAM – A boat storage facility is being proposed for the 1610 Main St. property previously rejected by voters as the site of a new senior center.

 Oyster River Boatyard has applied to the zoning board of appeals for a special permit to locate a boatyard on the vacant parcel. 

 Eastward Homes owner William Marsh offered to donate the approximately 1.3-acre parcel to the town for a senior center, but voters rejected funds to build the facility on three separate occasions.

 The property contains a total of 58,390 square feet in two separate lots, with 31,750 square feet identified as buildable upland on plans filed with the zoning board. The land is located in the small business zoning district, where a boatyard or marina use requires a special permit. Eastward Homes Business Trust is listed as the owner; BK Enterprises, Inc., which operates the Oyster River Boatyard, is leasing the land.

 Attorney William Riley said the boatyard was running out of space to store boats and was searching for a long-term storage solution. Service manager Cliff Berner was talking with Marsh’s son John when the 1610 Main St. property came up, Riley said.

 “It’s basically going to be winter storage of boats there,” he said. There will be no structures built on the land and only limited work will be done on the boats being stored. 

“It’s a temporary solution for both of them,” Riley said. Marsh doesn’t want to sell the property and is undecided about an ultimate use, focusing on other Eastward Company projects, Riley said. Berner is also continuing to search for a more permanent boat storage site. Riley said he expected the boat storage use to continue for two to three years.

 Voters narrowly rejected building a senior center at 1610 Main St. three times: first in 2021 and twice in 2022. In each instance the project received support by the majority of town meeting voters but failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed to borrow the construction cost — twice by a single vote.

 Some opponents cited the property’s topography — which drops off steeply to a pond on the north side — as problematic, making the project more expensive. Others felt the location wasn’t right because of traffic or that the building designed for the site was too large and costly.

 After the last failed vote at the September 2023 special town meeting, the select board gave up on the site. Officials are now looking at the viability of renovating and expanding the existing senior center — now called the center for active living — on Stony Hill Road.

 Oyster River Boatyard is located along the Oyster River off Barn Hill Lane, just down Barn Hill Road from the 1610 Main St. site. Richard Berner has owned the Oyster River Boatyard since 1983. It’s operated by his sons Cliff and Kegan, according to its website. Messages left for Cliff Berner were not returned.

 The Oct. 24 zoning board hearing takes place at the annex at 3 p.m.