Efforts are being made to preserve another working waterfront in Gloucester County. Like Perrin Wharf, a study is currently underway on Aberdeen Creek and how it will be maintained for commercial use for years down the road.
The study of Aberdeen Creek is being funded by a grant from Virginia’s Coastal Zone Program.
MPPDC regional planner Harrison Bresee told the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors during a presentation he gave at the governing body’s Aug. 5 meeting that Aberdeen Creek provides “seasonally critical commercial water access for landing, docking and mooring in close proximity to the public and private oyster grounds and public crabbing grounds in the upper York River.”
Bresee said he and other MPPDC staff members interviewed a number of local watermen as a part of the study. “We found that water access sites on the upper York River are vital to their businesses and that Aberdeen Creek is one of the few locations they use; have traditionally used and want to continue to use,” he said. “The problem is there are just few of these sites around that provide working waterfront access for watermen.”
Bresee identified two properties that are generally used by working watermen on Aberdeen Creek: A public landing and the former Gloucester Seafood, Inc. property.
The public landing, Bresee said, has experienced significant usage over the years and is deteriorating due to a lack of regular maintenance. It is also in need of redesign to maximize its safety and use. The watermen use this site, he said, for parking, boat docking, unloading their daily catches and other activities critical to their business. “It is the only public property on Aberdeen Creek that has infrastructure for watermen, and it’s free,” Bresee said.
The site of Gloucester Seafood, a former seafood processing facility, is presently leased by several local watermen, valuable specifically for its close access to the York River.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but the oyster industry is doing really well,” Bresee said. “These watermen are really using the York River a lot now. They’re doing fairly well finally.”
Bresee identified three issues of the Aberdeen Creek area serving as a working waterfront: Shoaling, zoning of private property, and ownership/maintenance of the public property.
Currently, he said boats larger than 40 feet have trouble accessing the creek, so smaller boats are being used in the area now. Also, the old Gloucester Seafood building is not in compliance with current zoning ordinance, and any improvements made on the site would have to comply with updated ordinances and standards.
Bresee said the study concluded that to address the issue of shoaling in Aberdeen Creek, Gloucester County and the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority should collaborate and coordinate with other stakeholders to develop and implement a plan to maintain the channel. He estimated the annual cost to be around $93,000 per year to keep the channel open to working watermen.
As far as zoning is concerned, Bresee said the study recommended the county first amend its zoning ordinance to create a commercial waterfront district and, second, to sponsor a county rezoning of existing working waterfront properties to the commercial districts. This would include issuing zoning permits that document the established by-right use of each site so that they are clearly acknowledged in the county’s records. “The basic goal here is to preserve the working waterfronts in the future,” he said.
Finally, to address the maintenance and ownership of the public landing, Bresee said the study recommended negotiating single ownership status and de-couple the joint ownership of Virginia Department of Transportation and the county. This way, the county could more easily identify the viable uses of the landing so people who go there can know exactly what they can do.
At-large supervisor John Meyer Jr. asked how much commercial revenue is currently generated by that landing. Bresee said a study was not done on the actual revenue, even though he thought it would be a good study to do. “We went there several times and there were 10 or so boats using the facility and a few trucks coming in completely loaded up with oysters,” Bresee said. “So, there’s a lot of business going on there, but we didn’t look at actual numbers for this study.”
Meyer also said it would be helpful to understand how much additional revenue might be generated if the dredging of Aberdeen Creek were to be done.
Bresee encouraged the board to make a more in-depth review of the study before it decides whether to adopt a plan.