Rockmore Restaurant Floats to be Hauled In, Repaired
Peter Noyes has been ordered by the Marblehead Harbormaster to remove and repair three floats associated with the former Rockmore Floating Restaurant.
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Local restauranteur Peter Noyes' goal of reopening the Rockmore Floating Restaurant hit a speed bump Tuesday night when Recreation and Parks Commission members agreed to assist the local Harbormaster with ensuring that the restaurant's kitchen, bar and restroom floats be hauled out of the water and repaired before the end of the year.
Harbormaster Webb Russell reportedly told commission members that the three floats "are in serious need of repair" and noted the he expects they "will continue to deteriorate and become a public nuisance if not hauled out and maintained."
Commission members unanimously approved a motion Tuesday to have Town Counsel Lisa Mead draw up a contract between West Shore Marine Inc. and Parks Superintendent Brendan Egan permitting Noyes to haul in, store and repair all three floats at Riverhead Beach in the coming months.
Before the contract can being drawn up, however, commission members will have to determine whether or not there's adequate space at the beach for all three floats.
Prior to the vote, Noyes said he'd be willing to pay the full cost of hauling and storing the three floats for the winter regardless of whether or not they would end up being beached all at once or rotated onto land one at a time for repairs.
Earlier this summer, Noyes announced that he was moving forward with plans to reopen the state's only floating restaurant.
At Tuesday night's commission meeting at the Marblehead Community Center, Noyes said each float would take approximately two weeks to repair.
"Nobody wants you not to be able to have your business, I think what you had out there was a pretty good thing," commission member Bob Jackson said before the vote. "I think what you need to do is make sure that as you go forward that your conversations with (Brendan Egan) are one of your top priorities."
Commission members said they hope to have a better idea about whether or not the floats will fit on Riverhead Beach by their next meeting.
In This article
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Town of Marblehead - Harbor Master
Cliff St, Marblehead, MA -
Devereux Beach
115 Ocean Ave, Marblehead, MA -
Marblehead Community Center
10 Humphrey St, Marblehead, MA
SJBarnard
8:21 am on Thursday, September 20, 2012
If Bob Jackson won't say it I'm happy to. No one should ever allow Noyes to open the Rockmore again. It's not about the restaurant, it's about the person behind it. There were reasons why his permits were pulled years ago. This town has a lot of experience with Noyes and perhaps they have failed to learn from that. This is the same guy who insisted on playing games with Gerry Island in defiance of lawful orders from the state and the town (wonder if he ever paid those fines?). This is the same guy whose small business was fined for dumping raw sewage on numerous occasions (he has repeatedly said that was his business, not him - that failure to take responsibility for the actions of his SMALL business should be a big red flag). This is the same guy who let those same floats fall into significant disrepair when his permit was pulled several years ago and whose failure to maintain those floats has created a major hazard to navigation in Salem Harbor (you might not remember his floats dragging all the way down to the Salem waterfront - good thing it was off-season or it would have dragged right through the mooring field and wiped out dozens of boats). The concept of the floating restaurant is great. This is NOT the guy to do it and the town should block him wherever possible.
F.B. King
8:51 am on Thursday, September 20, 2012
What is the situation with the waste holding tanks on this contraption?
CMConnor
9:12 am on Thursday, September 20, 2012
SJ Barnard, you got it spot on. I do not want to see those monstrosities on Riverside Beach. (free of rent?) It all smells fishy to me. Mr. Noyes may leave them on the beach rotting until the goats come home.
kathleen
7:15 pm on Thursday, September 20, 2012
love the idea of a floating restaurant, but agree with the previous contributions...
previous violations regarding raw sewage...that's a big deal...breaker!
Scott moore
5:10 pm on Saturday, September 22, 2012
You all miss the point, not only did he snub his nose at the pollution, consider the free parking his customers engross over the tax payers tring to use the public facilities and the fact this guy use to tie up both fresh water hoses for hours to supply his establishment for free. No meter no sewage to the tone of thousands of gallons of tax payers dollars. Now I would question if hes paid mooring fees etc on all the space his crap has taken up in the harbor for the past years. Need I go on..