State Selects Contractor to Begin Port Planning for Gloucester, Salem, and Fall River

October 24, 1996
Contact: Anne Donovan
(617) 727-9530 x411

Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management (MCZM) today announced the selection of ICON/Lane, Frenchman and Associates from Boston to work with Gloucester, Salem, and Fall River on the development of Scopes for their port plans. The contractor is being hired as part of the work being done by MCZM to implement Governor Weld's Seaport Action Plan, which is funded by the Seaport Bond.

"The overwhelming support for the passage of the Seaport Bond Bill underscores the importance of port development in the Commonwealth," emphasized Peg Brady, Director of MCZM. "I am very pleased that we could move so quickly to get a contractor on board for Gloucester, Salem, and Fall River. MCZM will continue to do everything in our power to expedite port planning to help our major port communities prepare for the 21st Century."

ICON/Lane, Frenchman and Associates in association with Peter Roth, FXM, and Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. will work with Gloucester, Salem, and Fall River in to develop scopes of work for their individual planning projects. These scopes will lay the groundwork for port development plans. A scope specifies the who, where, what, how, and when of a planning process: who will make the decisions; where the plan will focus (the geographic area of study); what issues will be addressed; how these issues will be addressed; and when key milestones of the process will occur. The scopes will be based on a model completed by a MIT/New Bedford/Fairhaven scoping project and approved by MCZM.

"Using one consultant to work with these three major ports to prepare scopes will facilitate port plan development and achieve economies of scale," explained Laurel Rafferty, MCZM's Harbor Planning Coordinator. "This approach will really help us to help these communities quickly and efficiently."

While MCZM has been focusing on hiring the consultant, the communities have been actively establishing port planning committees that represent key port interests and lining up local resources to keep the planning process on the fast track.

The consultant will begin work in November and Scopes should be completed by March. Once the scopes are completed, each community will hire its own consultant (with Seaport Bond funds) to develop a port plan based on their Scope. The work on the port plans should begin by May, 1997.