Harris Appeals Ruling To Force His Docks Out Of Water

The on-again, off-again drama over whether or not can continue to operate has opened a new chapter with Ken Harris’s filing of an appeal in state Supreme Court of a ruling that sided with the Coastal Resources Management Council’s call for removal of his docks.

Casby Harrison, lawyer for Ken Harris, filed the appeal.

The CRMC had issued a “cease-and-desist” order against Harris in May 2010, calling for the removal of his docks. The agency had argued that Harris’s floating docks required a permit, even though the marina predates the establishment of the CRMC. The agency said there were two ways Harris have gotten a permit: to have applied for one between 1994 and 1999, a grace period set by the General Assembly, or to gain “grandfather” status from the Army Corps of Engineering (ACOE).

Harris had done neither of these things. He has said previously that he was unaware of the 1990s grace period. After receiving permission to operate unpermitted for the 2010 season, Harris tried to seek grandfather status from the ACOE but was unsuccessful.

Because Harris is still without a permit to operate, Superior Court Judge Alan Rubine ruled July 8 that he had to comply with the CRMC’s cease-and-desist order.

Harris had 20 business days to appeal the decision, which he did on Friday, July 29. While the appeal is pending, Judge Rubine can stay the motion (halt the cease and desist) at a session Aug. 11 if he feels that Harris could be successful in his appeal.

EG Finance Director Kathleen Raposa was also named in the suit. Town Solicitor Peter Clarkin said that the town would wait to see what happened with the appeal.

“We could be responsible if in the end he’s ordered to remove the docks and he doesn’t do it,” Clarkin said. He said he didn’t think that Harris would go quietly “given his age and his overall demeanor through this whole thing.”

Ken Harris is in his 70s. He grew up in a house on Rocky Hollow that was removed when the bridge over the train tracks was built. Interviewed earlier this week, Harris was subdued but determined.

“The ruling was kind of was one way,” he said. “The judge didn’t want to know about your problems.”

One of those “problems” was a reference to his neighbor to the south, Anderson’s Marina, which has been granted grandfather status by the ACOE. According to Harris, and several of those who rent slips at his marina, Anderson’s has grown substantially in recent years.

“This is nothing more than political,” said Mike Walsh, who keeps a boat at Harris Marina. He and other supporters have argued that Harris should be able to keep operating a marina both because the marina has been in operation for several decades and because other marinas nearby with less longeviety have been given permission to operate.