RYE – Rye Harbor business owners have not received new right-of-way agreements from the Pease Development Authority to operate through the 2025 season, leaving the owners questioning their future on Ocean Boulevard.
For years, businesses in Rye Harbor have sold saltwater fishing gear, bait and tackle, taken guests on whale watches and deep-sea fishing excursions, sold lobster rolls, soup and coastal-themed clothing. . Summers in the harbor are packed with locals and seasonal visitors frequenting businesses and taking their boats out on the water.
But with the new year fast approaching, shack business owners say they have received no new deals to sign to continue at the port next year. The current three-year agreements between them and the Pease Development Authority expire at the end of April, according to multiple business owners at the port. The PDA has previously said the port is losing money and changes are needed.
“We’ve never had this process like this before,” said Pete Reynolds, who has co-owned Granite State Whale Watch with his wife since 2006. “I don’t know, and it’s not a great feeling. “
Previous story:The “charm” of Rye Harbor’s cottages is threatened by development. Owners say PDA ignores them.
The state property where the huts are located at 1870 Ocean Blvd. it’s also home to Petey’s Summertime Food Seafood and Black Dog Charters, among other marina businesses. Rye Harbor State Park is nearby.
Rye Harbor Future Study in the works
Meanwhile, the Pease Development Authority issued a request for qualifications and proposals for improvements to Rye Harbor. The state agency received two bidders by its Dec. 5 deadline and is scheduled to select a firm to evaluate the port in January, according to a project plan. The study will start in early February.
The Pease Development Authority has set four goals for achieving the assessment, including ensuring the port “is an open asset for use by all” and increasing “the revenue potential at the port,” the request states for qualifications and proposals. The study will also ensure that any future improvements to the port do not cause environmental damage, in addition to giving the public “clear, transparent and fair rules and procedures that provide equal opportunity to use any facility or claim the right to entrance/concession” in Rye Harbor.
The Port of Pease Development Authority Committee met on Monday, December 16. Neil Levesque, vice chairman of the agency’s board of directors, told meeting attendees that the Pease Development Authority wants to see business in Rye Harbor by 2025 and stated that it is “working” simultaneously. agreements on the right of entry and the selection of a tenderer for evaluation.
“We’re going at a good pace, keeping up with our schedule,” Levesque said of the evaluation process. “We understand that there are businesses that have the right of entry that have concerns about getting this right for next season. We want next season to continue as well.”
Levesque added business owners and members of the public will have several opportunities to weigh in on Rye Harbor’s future.
Rye Harbor shack owners worried
Harbor business owners have been on edge as the Pease Development Authority toyed with ideas on how to improve Rye Harbor. In the summer of 2024, the Pease Development Authority came under fire for a proposal to build a one-story, 12-unit commercial building elevated on the harbor, a $1 million federally funded design that was later shelved due to protests by community.
The study would have been carried out with funding from an American Rescue Plan Act grant.
In August, cabin owners spoke against the proposal at a Pease Development Authority board of directors meeting. The following month, the Pease Development Authority board of directors put the proposal on hold.
Suzy Anzalone, director of finance for the Pease Development Authority, reported in August that Rye Harbor lost $375,000 in cash last fiscal year due to coastal storm damage and flooding.
More:Rye Harbor shacks should be saved, owners say. PDA indicates large losses in money.
Adam Baker, owner of Vintage Fish Company in the harbor, said at the Dec. 16 Harbor Committee meeting that the Pease Development Authority should consider offering longer right-of-access agreements to Rye Harbor business owners.
“I renovated my building in Rye Harbor. I put a lot of money and time into it. Extending the terms beyond two years would be helpful and help encourage people to invest money in their buildings and make them more beautiful,” he said.
Baker objected to language in the Pease Development Authority’s request for qualifications and proposals that suggests the port is not open to the general public.
“It is not a beach. It is a port. It is a mixed-use, commercial and recreational port. Anyone who wants to use it can. The way is open,” Baker said at the meeting.
Mike Donahue, vice chairman of the state’s Harbor Advisory Council, told the Harbor Committee a petition has been filed asking the Pease Development Authority to adopt specific rules regarding right-of-access agreements in Rye Harbor.
Donahue stated at the December 16 Harbor Committee meeting that questions about Rye Harbor right-of-access agreements are not “going away.”
“We appreciate getting something from the Pease Development Authority that says you’re going to address this, whatever you do,” he said. “We are not here to defend any action. But as a public body, when we receive a petition, we cannot ignore it.”
Pease Development Authority asked to be transparent and open
Rep. State Rep. Peggy Balboni, D-Rye, called for clearer communication from members of the Pease Development Authority board of directors at the Dec. 16 Port Committee meeting.
“As a representative, I think it’s important that I and other representatives from Rye and the area are informed when the meetings are going to take place,” she said.
A sense of uncertainty emerges. Reynolds compared the current sentiment to the early reach of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Granite State Whale Watch operated at 40% capacity for an entire season and one of its boats was taken out of the water for the year with the closure of Star Island. in 2020.
Tickets for the next Whale Watch season go online Feb. 1, but Reynolds and his wife have yet to set prices for the trips.
“For a board and an outfit that keeps talking about transparency, openness, communication and everything, there is absolutely none,” Reynolds said of the Pease Development Authority board of directors.
