So we'll give folks a few more minutes and then get stopped.

Okay, from here it looks like it's gone sick.

So I'm Mark Barzitz.

I'm the chair of the Waterfront Commission.

We're very pleased to co-host this information session with the chair of the tree and open space commission, Maureen Cronen.

I'm very pleased to see everybody here tonight.

I think this turnout really signifies just how important the waterfront is to everyone in this community.

And I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank the um almost every member of the waterfront commission that I see here tonight for their attendance and to listen firsthand to what's taking place.

This is a great opportunity to really explore this investment.

Investment that's been planned for quite some time and to do it through a very straightforward agenda.

There'll be a few comments from each commission, as each commission has a different stake and interest in this project, and then we will proceed with a very significant presentation from the design team, the hard manager, the architect, the engineer, on what's been accomplished to date.

It's a very complicated project.

So I think this team has done their best they can to simplify it.

So please listen carefully.

It takes a little while to listen and see the scope and magnitude of what they're working with.

So I hope to pay attention to that, and then we will have time for public comment at the end, as we do at City Council meetings and commission meetings.

We ask each speaker to limit your comments to three minutes.

And we also ask that during the presentation you hold your questions so that we can get through all the material in a thoughtful way and in a way that connects the dots.

Many of the things we'll see here are connected.

So we've got plenty of time to be here for all of you and want to hear from all of you.

So a few comments from the Waterfront Commission.

Um we have been had this project in various forms on our agenda since uh 2024.

So we've heard aspects of the project, but more with regard to the public investment piece and when that was taken.

Well, I'm here to have the speed building.

All right.

Thank you.

From the how's that?

There we go.

All right.

Yay, fantastic.

So from the perspective of the waterfront commission, um, we've been aware of this project for for some time.

There have been a number of presentations to the commission in the early days with regard to the the funding and the bond issue and so forth, but this is the first time we are seeing at the same time what you were seeing at the same time, the details on the project, and we're going to be seeing it in a stepwise manner.

There is no gigantic project that needs to be presented in bits and pieces.

We are seeing the pieces as they are moved along by the design team, literally at the same pace that you are.

From the perspective of our commission, as you would understand, this is a vital and critical project.

The fact that what can what's encompassed by Parati Park, our dockage, which is a center for our first responders, which is a center for intermodal transportation, which is a center for recreational voters, the adjacent park, which serves many of our residents as well as many of our visitors, the facility, which also serves visitors, it serves residents, it serves harbor operations.

When it comes to that, from the waterfront commission perspective, as many of you know, in fact, I see five or six people that contribute to authoring the harbor management plan on this go-round.

These attributes of our waterfront, a place for public enjoyment, more and more public access, a place to operate a harbor, not just for today, but a harbor for the future.

Those of you know that building's been there for almost 30 years.

The harbor of today is not the harbor of 30 years ago in terms of how the harbor operates.

So there are a lot of components of what we've used the shorthand of Parati Park Project for that directly tie to making sure that we fulfill for the residents of Newport a waterfront resource that addresses many, many needs and interests and balances those many interests.

So while the commission has not voted to offer an opinion on any one direction, we haven't seen enough of that.

The commission does celebrate and recognize the vital importance of doing this project right.

It's a once in a generation opportunity.

It's rare that we get a chance to look at a project in terms of not just the needs of today but the needs of the future and make sure that it adapts to that.

So we'll be listening along with you.

We appreciate seeing all of you here tonight, and I would now like to uh introduce Maureen Crone and Chair of the Treaty Open Space Commission.

Thank you, Mark.

Hi everybody, it's nice to see you see a lot of your faces that have come before the trade open space commission over the years.

Um I'd like to reiterate what Mark said because it's really important, and um, it helps uh get rid of some of the confusion.

But the larger property has got the word park in the back of it.

Um, when we the treaty and open space commission talk about the work that we're going to do, we are 100% talking about the green infrastructure, the land, the actual park that has grass, trees, how it's going to look, what plantings will be there, what areas, what activation will happen.

So we're gonna follow throughout this process.

The same process that we have followed for every park we've ever done.

And I know that we've seen a lot of you, and you know we've had a lot of workshops and task forces and things like that to get your input.

We will continue to do that absolutely with this.

Um, one of the best things we have going for us is I want to stress this and let everyone know we are not losing any space whatsoever.

There's not an inch that we're going to be losing.

As a matter of fact, if all goes according to plan, engineering-wise and construction-wise, we might actually gain some green infrastructure.

And one of the important things about this project right now is it's where the green infrastructure meets the blue infrastructure.

So we have an opportunity to show how we can do that living on an island.

I know it sounds like we've done it a million times, but sometimes we've only done it from one perspective.

This is being done from both.

So it's really important.

The process that the uh tree and open space commission always follows is at the beginning of any redo of a park, renovation, redesign, or anything.

We initially have an input session.

I want to stress there has been nothing that we have done so far.

There are no pictures, there are no plans.

Anything you might be seeing illustrated doesn't come from us.

Our first meeting where we're going to have a discussion about what this green infrastructure for the city, the residents of Newport, and our guests looks like is happening next week at a commission meeting on the 29th held in the city council chambers.

That is it.

We have nothing on paper.

The landscape team will be there.

We will be talking as a commission.

We will be taking input from the community.

Um, we will be doing going through the planning process.

So there's zero right now that's been done.

There's zero that's been planned.

So next week will be the first open session, and we will continue to have those open sessions throughout until we reach a design that we want to recommend to the city administration and the city council.

Um we're excited about it.

We think that this redesign is going to be something that's going to be great, and um, we're looking for input, and we're looking to make it a really, really great opportunity for the city for the people that live here.

And thank you for coming tonight.

Um, at this point, we're gonna introduce the harbormaster, Steve Land.

Good evening.

Uh, my name is Steve Land, the Harbor Master.

Um, I will start off kind of this presentation, and I'm gonna start from the beginning again, what we talked about a little bit last time, make sure that everyone understands what this project entails.

Um, I started five years ago, my sixth summer now, and one of the first things that I was shown was this bulkhead by many different builders and engineers.

Steve, you really need to take a look at this bulkhead.

All of the structural integrity is gone.

And I said, okay.

I started looking at it and really studying it.

I talked to some of the staff, um, and they did start this about 15 years ago, replaced the bulkhead, but didn't get any teeth.

So I kind of said, all right, understand.

Um, I was working with the city manager Joe Nicholson at the time.

He left, and Laura uh Sittern took took over, and she really started working on how to do funding for a bunch of infrastructure projects in the city, and one of them was this bulkhead.

Along with the bulkhead, the three original concrete docks are way past their usable life.

Uh, one of them actually started the list a little bit.

They're 20, 25 years docks that are at 29 years and have been really, really well used.

So we're not shocked that the docks need to be replaced.

So the project kind of started with the docks.

We started looking into it and said, well, if we're going to do the docks, we might as well start really tacking this bulkhead and let's figure out how much this is going to do and what we need to do.

So we started really getting into it.

We started getting engineers involved.

And that is when we really started to understand the structure of Parate Park and how it is built, how it's constructed, and what we're going to need to do to fix it.

And I agree with everything both Maureen and Mark said.

This park has a lot of uses for a lot of different people.

It is a the word park is in there, so it's definitely a park.

It's also the water transportation hub of one of the greatest harbors in New England.

And we really need to keep that.

It's getting bigger too.

The harbor is not getting smaller, it's getting more active.

We're having more intermural transportation.

People are figuring out that's the way to come to Newport.

It's the park is used by residents.

I see them every day walk through, come into the building, use the bathrooms.

They sit on the benches, they get on the boats, they use the transient dock.

It's used by visitors.

It is used by all.

It is a really important part of the harbor.

It is also public safety.

It's used by public safety, both police and fire and rescue.

It is a real central cornerpiece of downtown Newport.

Alright, the overhead right here we've got is basically what we're dealing with.

This is Friday Park.

You can see the three southern docks or with a ferry, there's an empty one, and you can see the fire going.

Those are the three docks that we're going to be replacing.

With the docks, we also have to replace the pilings because to install new bulkhead, we have to go out about 18 to 20 inches.

So the whole the whole marina is going to shift out about 18 to 20 inches.

The wooden structures that transit from the earth of the park on to the gangway ramps.

And just for from here on in, we call them gazebos.

That was the name I was told.

So we'll call them.

Those are being replaced.

And then there's the park itself.

You can see the hardscape, which is the brick and concrete going through.

You can see the existing building on the left-hand side that goes right up against the water.

You can see the bus turn out.

You can see the you know the pathway going across Long Wharf isn't quite lined up with the park.

There's some things that come up immediately.

You can see lots of trees.

What you don't see here is some of the physical shapes.

We've got some mounds in the park that people can, you know, kind of like take transit.

It's not a heavily used green space park.

I call it kind of a transient park.

People walk through this park and enjoy the scenery or they're going somewhere.

Next slide.

Alright, we're gonna revisit the bulkhead for some of some of us who weren't here the first the first time.

This is really the reason we are doing this project is the bulkhead.

If we do not replace the bulkhead, it is failed presently and will continue to fail, and we're actually gonna lose the park.

We do want to save the park.

I'm totally with everyone here.

That's what our whole goal for doing this presentation.

Um the sheet pile, I'm gonna use terms, and you guys can ask me at the end if you don't understand them.

Sheet pile is the wavy metal sheets that we use to hold the bulkhead.

Uh you can see the rusted sheets with holes in it.

Um, that is the sheet pile.

On the bottom corner here, the way we do this kind of bulkhead, um, it's got tie backs.

And what that is is the sheet pile gets put down until it hits bedrock, which is about seven feet in the mud.

That's not enough to actually hold up the piece of metal, it'll fall over.

So, what they do is they put another piece of metal about 40, 42 feet into the park.

They call that a dead man, and they use giant rods called tie rods to connect it, and they're about every 10 feet.

Those tie rods are gone.

So, right now you've got just the metal being held up by the seven feet of mud.

So, this is not how we protect public spaces.

We actually fix them before they fail.

Um, so you can see the failed tie rods there.

Um, this is the corner of that's really an interesting one.

We've got a 72-inch storm drain pipe uh coming through, so there's a lot of uh a lot of action in engineering that's going to be involved in that corner, especially.

Um we have another drain pipe, which we talked about earlier.

So, the on the top page, you can see this is the existing.

The green is the sheep pile, the red line is the tie rod, and it goes into a concrete block right now that we're using as a dead man.

And we are actually gonna have to do an excavation of that to actually get the actual dimensions of where it is and how big it is because none of the plans when it was installed are that good.

So we're actually doing test fit on it.

We are not we cannot reuse that concrete block.

The code to rebuild this is we have to have it so we can add three feet to it at some future time and add three feet to the park.

We're not going to add three feet, but that's how you have to build it to code.

And we're gonna look at that another slide while we have to actually use a different deadman.

Alright, so this the total length is about uh 480 feet of sheet pile, and um it goes in the front there.

Here's a schematic of the new plan that we're going to do.

So you've got the sheet pile on the left hand side, the tie rods, skimming the top of the old dead man, going into it, the new dead man, which is another about eight feet past, and that new dead man is a lot more surface, so you can add area to the front of it if we ever do go up three feet.

And that is the FEMA regulations of CRMC's pull forward.

We are not going up three feet now.

We're gonna raise it about nine inches, and that's what we're going through right now.

Um you can see that's hopefully what the sheet pile will look like.

We use a concrete cap rail.

Why we do that is people do like to sit on the gap rail using a metal cap rail would not be as nice and it start rusting, and uh concrete is what we're gonna go with.

The bottom the bottom um picture here, and it's faint, but you can see all the tie rods.

Um the dead man's up here, that excuse me, the bulkhead is up here, the dead man is here.

Can you go back to the other one?

I think it's a little better pictured.

All these gray rods are the tie rods that actually hold the metal up, and that is the structure that will hold karate park together.

That's how it was built 29 years ago.

That's how we're gonna build it uh this time.

It works.

It is a very common way to do it in Newport because there's bedrock all on the eastern side here.

Um it's some of our challenges, which we're gonna talk to, is you can see where the dead man goes underneath right now, and we're gonna we're gonna get that to another slide.

Try to make this one.

Alright, well, we can this is the slide right here.

We'll start getting into it.

So, this is the area that is gonna be completely emptied with with uh soil.

The dead man goes underneath the building right now.

So when they built the building originally, they knew at some point they were gonna have to repair this.

At some point, these only last 25 to 30 years.

There was not a great plan on how to actually go about this.

Um, unfortunately, there's a lot of buildings they do that.

They build the dead man, they put a building on it, and they say, I'll let the next person deal with it.

Well, I'm the next person.

Um, so we're dealing with it right now.

So the deadman goes underneath the building, so to actually get to it, the building has to come down.

That is the first gist of where we were at with this.

Um when we started this project, I did not imagine it going this far.

You know, we the city manager said, Steve, you know, fix this, and that's all the thought and direction I was given.

Fix this.

There's a lot to fix this, and it and it's evolving constantly.

Um, so it's not just a one and done fix.

Every time we turn around, there's a new restraint that we have to work with.

So we're just gonna continue the restraining.

So right now, the to get to the dead man, we have to go underneath the building to actually excavate.

We have to go under 15 feet back, which is around around this area here.

That is why the whole park is going to be raised.

At that point, we can't have machines uh driving around trees, they won't live.

Um, so the way you're actually repair a bulkhead of this size is you raise the entire park and rebuild it.

That gives us an opportunity to do a lot of improvements that everyone talks about.

You know, just even the break and concrete trip hazards that are constant, people trip over.

Simple stuff like that.

The redesign of actual movement of people, you know, this is kind of an interesting shape.

Are we gonna rebuild that shape again?

Yes or no.

Um, are we we're gonna look at everything holistically on how people move through the park, on what we're looking for for shade for seating.

Everyone would like more seating in the park.

I hear that every single day.

We have an opportunity to actually put seating in the park that makes sense, and then I they don't want to look at the road.

Guess where they want to look into the into the harbor.

So we're gonna put more seating into the harbor.

Right next.

This is gonna be a long project.

One of our constraints is that we can't miss a single day at work.

Um we have everything booked for next summer already.

We've got ferries and shuttles and cruise ships and tour boats, and life is coming next summer.

It doesn't stop just because I want to rebuild the park.

So we're doing this in two phases.

Phase one is happening this winter.

We're actually going to do the bulkhead before it falls down.

We're going to get done.

Bulkhead, docks.

We're going to have an intermediate park design.

So everyone will be able to use the park just like they use it now.

We're going to have asphalt, purple is going to be asphalt.

We went back and forth with crushed stone, and everyone agreed that asphalt is the way to go.

We're going to loam and see the green parts of the park.

We're going to have lighting, we're going to have benches.

It's going to be the park like it is, just not the bricks in all the trees.

One of the things that's going to be missing are the bathrooms.

And I've had numerous people.

At first I was like, we don't need bathrooms.

I've had so many people tell me we absolutely need bathrooms in these park.

Okay.

So we're going to put a bathroom area in the north north part of the park right now.

Planning to be working on the southern side of the park with the building reconstruction.

So we're definitely putting bathrooms into the park.

We'll probably use those trailers.

I haven't gotten that far down the line yet.

Alright.

You want to I'm going to pass the mic over to Leon, and he's going to talk about some of the concepts and what we're going for in the future.

Thanks, Steve.

Since Steve said my name is Lee Davison, architect at BAA Studio.

We're the project lead on the design team for this project.

And I just want to reiterate something that's been said already.

We're at a very preliminary phase of the project right now in terms of the design.

So what we're here to discuss tonight is the approach.

We've begun that stable engagement process, and what these next few slides are going to speak to is what we've heard so far.

One of the loud and clear things we've been hearing is that public realm is a real critical driver to this project.

Both the park design itself and the harbor master facility.

So the harbor walk is going to be a real opportunity here.

This relocating of the building, reimagining the park is giving us an opportunity to coordinate with the abutting property to make a continuous connected harbor walk.

And that is going to enhance access to the water, it's going to enhance access to the park and really connect the blue and the green infrastructure.

This park is a really valuable community amenity, but also the facility itself is a valuable public service.

The public bathrooms, the harbor master, and Tristan will speak later a little bit about some of the things that go on in this facility that are really critical services to the Newport community.

There's also discussion about opening up.

There's currently a meeting space that the Harbor Master staff use.

They've offered to open that up to the public to allow public meeting in that space.

That's a critical functionality to have that is an additional benefit.

And then there's this harbor connection that I think we'll get into more in the later slides.

But I'm going to let Tristan speak to that.

There's just a plethora of things that happen on this site.

It is the connection to the harbor for the downtown city areas, I think everyone here is aware of.

So we're not in a stage where we have a design yet, but we do want to speak to some of the things that we're hearing that we intend to generate as we move through this process.

So I think everyone recognizes that Newport has a really significant architectural heritage, and that's something that we're very critically aware of as we're moving in the design process.

So this new facility needs to be welcoming, it needs to be maritime, it needs to be enduring.

It has to express the significance of Newport and of Karate Park itself.

It needs to respect the scale and character of the city of Newport.

Those are really important drivers to how we'll integrate into the architectural heritage that's so valued and loved here in the city.

And we're going to draw that inspiration.

The other thing is this is a Harbor Master and Harbor Welcome facility, right?

So it needs to announce the arrival to Newport, both from land and from the water.

There's a lot of people arriving to Newport by water.

There's a lot of people who live in the city who are rivaling to the harbor through this site as well.

So it's sort of a two-way door, so to speak.

We're going to use architectural elements in the process that help reinforce that identity and make this field uniquely Newport, uniquely maritime.

And a big big critical piece of that is using materials and detailing that are very thoughtful, that are unique to New England, that weather well, that age well, and that remain beautiful for the life of the project.

The challenge that we face is that we have to take those ideas, those criteria, and then we have to marry them to the functional needs of the facility.

So the existing park and building need to be universally accessible.

That's something that doesn't fully exist today.

So the building and the park have quite a few accessibility deficiencies that we would be addressing through this process.

Sustainability and resiliency are also really critical drivers to the design.

They're not things that you see necessarily when you look at a building or at the park, but they're going to be baked into that cake.

They're really important, both from a project perspective, but also reinforcing City of Newport goals and objectives.

And then functionality, this facility has to work both day to day, but also it has to be operable, it has to be maintainable, has to be cost effective to build and to run.

So those are just the layer on top of the other complexities that we're going to get into that we really need to be cognizant of.

So to kind of put all that in a nutshell, these goals are really how we're going to measure success on this project at the end of the day when we're using this facility and the park is constructed.

How will we know if this project was a success?

These are the goals that we've heard so far, and I'll just kind of run through them.

The public access to the harbor is, I think, far and away the number one thing that we've heard.

In addition, you know, in support of that, this connected harbor walk is a really critical opportunity for the city that we want to make sure we don't lose sight of.

Additionally, we're going to be implementing that long-term strategies for both sustainability and resiliency.

These are things that are decisions we're going to make now that will continue to pay dividends for a long, long time to come.

The harbor services that this facility provides are really mission critical to the city.

There's a huge economy, and there's a lot of users that depend on these, so those have to be maintained and preserved.

And to that end, the Harbor Master needs to be able to offer their highest standards of service, and they've got some really critical functions that they provide that have to work.

And then last but not least, at the end of the day, this is going to be a landmark for the city of Newport that connects you to the water.

And so it has to be a project and a facility that's really worthy of that.

And that's what we're going to be striving to achieve.

So with that said, we want to talk about how we're going to be approaching the project, and a little later, Jonas will dig into a little bit more what this means in terms of some design approaches, but before we get there, we really need to talk about the site and how we can even think about constructing a facility here.

So you can see on the left is a blue outline.

That's the existing building footprint.

And then if you go to the next slide, Jonas.

So superimposing the setback line, you can see that that existing building does not conform to your property line setbacks.

I think the survey showed it actually even crosses the property bounds slightly.

So when we started, the first thing we were asked to do was look at putting the new facility back in the exact same footprint that the existing building is in now.

And for this and other reasons we'll get into in a moment, that's just not feasible as much as we may want to.

So the property line setback is our first constraint that we really need to adhere to.

Next is there is a stormwater easement.

So there's a 42-inch diameter pipe that runs under the existing building.

And there's a 20-foot wide easement that exists over that.

So easements are something that provide access for maintenance and repair to that pipe long term.

It's one of two stormwater outfalls that run through the park.

Those two outfalls collectively handle a majority of the stormwater for most of downtown.

So these are really really critical pieces of infrastructure.

And relocating them is a project in and of itself as complicated and challenging as the bulkhead and some of these other issues.

It would involve closures of America's Cup.

Reworking many other utilities that conflict.

So it's really a big deal to be constructing over that pipe.

Additionally, there's the dead man that Steve was speaking about.

So building over the dead man in Tyrods is just putting a timeline on the service life of any new facility.

It's really just not good engineering practice, and it's not a direction that we would recommend.

And then lastly, there's the FEMA ADVE flood line.

So FEMA essentially designates flood zones all along the coast all throughout the country.

And there's a kind of magic line that they designate that happens to just bisect through our site, running north-south, kind of splitting it into two long pencils.

VE means it's a velocity flood zone, so any structure located in a velocity zone needs to be designed for wave impact forces, and there's a much higher design criteria for any facility that you want to build there.

There's constraints on the structural design, but there's also constraints on even what you're allowed to put within the floodplain.

On the landward side of that line is the AE zone.

So an AE zone is still a floodplain zone, but it's slightly less restricted.

A critical number to note in connection with that is that the existing site is roughly around, we'll call it elevation eight.

So if you're walking along America's Cup to the south, in front of the existing building, you're roughly around elevation eight.

That tapers down to about four and a half, five at the northern end at Long Wharf.

So the flood line in the VE zone is elevation 13.

We would need to put our lowest horizontal structure above that.

If we're going to build a building in the VE line, and we have a diagram to show that in a minute.

So that kind of gives us a resultant buildable area.

This is the portion of the site that we couldn't even think about really putting a building on.

Going to the next slide.

So with that, the approach that we're recommending is to essentially cite the new footprint as close as we can get it to the existing building.

And by maintaining an equivalent building footprint to what's there today, holding it in the AE line, it means that we can stay at grade with this facility and not elevate it up to say above the BE floodplain.

In order to put this new facility there, we're also proposing a second floor that has a slight overhang.

We'll get into that in a moment.

But essentially, this sighting addresses all of those site constraints that I was just explaining, and it does so by minimizing the impact of the facility on the park, which is really a major driver that we're trying to achieve.

The other thing that is really critical is by maintaining the building at grade, we're prioritizing accessibility and universal access.

So entering that building at grade to get into those bathrooms is a really big deal.

So you can see here in sections, so just to orient you, you can see a cut through the site.

So this is the bulkhead, this is the harbor at that thick line, and this would be America's Cup here to the right.

So if we were to build not adhering to that VE designation, we'd have to elevate the first floor about seven feet above grid.

That correlates to about 110 feet of ramp to get up to that elevation.

That's 110 feet of ramp, stairs, potentially covering at the entry to the building.

It's a major impact both in plan and visually on the site.

So alternatively, what we're proposing is by siting the building within the AE floodline, we're allowed to put the public restrooms at grade within the floodplain and use a dry floodproofing strategy.

So that's where the ground floor of the building will have panels that can make it quote-unquote floodproof and a storm surge event.

And then everything else critical gets elevated up above that wet zone.

So in doing that, it's really a much lower impact, both vertically as well as in plan, because it's eliminating the need for stairs, ramps, all that vertical circulation, which by the way we need two E to B grass, so it's really two sets of stairs.

And then it also gives us an opportunity to design a building that's much more in scale with the context and with the architectural character that we were speaking about a moment ago.

On the next slide, so the next couple slides, we wanted to help communicate what this really means and looks like on the site.

As I said, we don't have a building design yet, but we do have a rough scale and size that this facility would be.

So we're talking of very equivalent ground floor footprint, essentially.

So if you're approaching the harbor and the park from the south, coming from that crosswalk that comes across America's Cup, essentially the existing building obstructs your access to the park in the water.

But I think what this image shows is that the desired view out west to the harbor is really framed by the existing building and the pool house for the abundant hotel.

So the existing building and the proposed building actually are very much sited within the tree zone of the site where your views are more or less obstructed anyway, but ultimately it's not the desire line in terms of your water view.

Additionally, as you move that vantage point, so you can just imagine walking along the sidewalk.

Obviously, up until you get to the moment where you walk in front of the new building, your views are unencumbered from this approach.

And then looking at from the other direction, coming from Longworth from the north.

That's the viewshed that's been set up by the existing tree plantings and by that existing park layout.

And in effect, the again, the new building location essentially blocks the same portion of your view as the existing building.

Because of the orientation being rotated, that that profile is not really substantively different.

Obviously, as you walk around, that is a moving line, right?

But if you imagine again taking that viewpoint and moving it towards Long Wharf, the profile of the two buildings is essentially not changing.

It's not until you get directly in front of the building again.

And so there is a difference in frontage on America's Cup, but from those critical water access views, our objective, our goal here is to make this facility as low impact as possible.

Next slide.

Every time we've visited the site, which has been quite a few times at this point, someone is standing on the bulkhead looking down at a jellyfish or something, right in that one piece of water sheet where there's no docks.

So this proposed sighting is opening up that section of water sheet.

And it's a real opportunity, I think, to help connect you to the harbor from the park.

By removing the existing building, which sits directly in front of that portion of the site, we are able to give that piece of the park back and develop that into something new.

And this yellow line illustrates, I think that this is also a really strong connection now, whereas the existing building very much interrupts that harbor walk.

There's an opportunity to connect all the way through this new hotel property and to the rest of downtown Beport's waterfront.

There's also the two yellow squares, those are the gazebos, as Steve's calling them.

So just want to stress that when those are reconstructed, they're also getting fully accessible gangways to get you down to the docks.

So essentially at all levels, we are trying to apply these criteria of improving access, improving services to the water and to the park.

So then the question becomes how big should this building be, what needs to go in it.

Tristan in a moment can speak to the harbormaster functions themselves.

But I'll just introduce there's a couple really crucial things that we want to touch on.

The existing building has essentially the only public restrooms serving this portion of the city, and there is only one toilet in the men's room.

There's only four toilets in the women's room.

We hear constant stories of those just being overwhelmed.

So the footprint being constrained by all those other criteria, what we're proposing is essentially dedicating that ground floor to public restrooms.

The existing ticket office is a little underutilized from over here.

We don't need it to be quite that big to serve that same function.

So we can essentially give that back, so to speak, and pick up additional restroom fixtures, make this a much more serviceable facility.

Even with that, it still will not be sized for your maximum peak demand.

This is going to be a major upgrade, but it is not designing to July 4th weekend, large cruise ships, things like that.

It's not that level of service.

In addition to those, we're also going to have to meet code criteria that did not exist when this facility was built.

So we're required to provide a family restroom.

That doesn't exist today.

And there's also additional size limitations like that that grow out of the facility downtown in Newport is vital, and I cannot stress that enough.

That being said, it does not serve us currently in the current footprint.

As you guys know, when you walk down there, there's decks, two floors of decks that get little to no use, surprisingly.

And additionally, one of those needs is a meeting room.

This week alone, Steve had a meeting with Coast Guard, DEM, you know, other security presences there, and you know, half the people are sitting on each other's laps.

We need you know a larger meeting area, but it again is open to the city as a whole and to the public for use.

But um, you know, it is again crucial to uh the safety and overall function of the harbor on that robot.

Thanks, Christine.

With that, I'm gonna hand it over to Jonas who's just gonna speak through some of the initial design approaches that were presenting.

Hi everyone, I'm Jonas Gaspin with VIA Studio.

Um, as Leon mentioned previously, um, we don't have designs yet, but we want to share some design approaches that attempt to take the project goals and the functional criteria that we've been hearing, and start to place the program requirements that we have on the portion of the site that we can.

Um thing to keep in mind is that these we're gonna share three design approaches.

They're gonna build on each other, so this first floor plan that we're gonna walk through stays functionally the same throughout.

Um, as you can see on the first floor, um we have the men's and women's restrooms and the family restroom in as compact of a plan as possible to meet that footprint requirement and a small ticket office at a ground floor level with direct accessible access in order to meet the functional requirements of the facility to allow the harbor master to perform their public service and safety requirements.

Um we have an extended second floor to fit their program area, which creates a shaded covered uh area on the water side of the project facing the harbor.

Um you can see uh at the bottom here you just have a site section placing this volume within the context of the park and surrounding buildings.

Um design approach two takes function in the same plan, but in order to try and create more public realm space for the park for the city.

Um it puts a roof deck on the third floor.

In order to get up to the roof deck, we need to create uh elevator and stair access, uh, which we're placing within a dorm road volume.

So as you can see in the site section of the volume, it's slightly taller.

Um but in order to make that space functional, we're uh putting concealed uh equipment rooms within that roof form.

Um as you can see that the added roof deck area creates more opportunities for educational environmental outreach, again, another benefit to the community in the park.

Design approach three.

Um by rotating the volume perpendicular to America's Cup Avenue.

We can create our larger public room space on the third floor as well as a public community meeting room facing the water, again, sort of building on those project goals and objectives throughout.

Again, sort of building on those project goals and objectives throughout.

And so just as a quick summary, these are these sort of three design approaches that will then we can then develop into architectural approaches based on the feedback we get on our project goals on some of the functional and architectural criteria that Ian mentioned earlier.

I'll let you lean end on the budget.

Thanks.

So just to reiterate which I was just touching on, each of those approaches that being outlined are just that their approaches, they might be realized in different ways architecturally.

And the the question that we're facing at the moment is how important is the public room space is that roof deck to the community.

The two-story option is just as viable as the roof deck option or the three-story option.

So those are still all on the table.

And whichever direction is chosen will then get studied in advance.

Again, the lens that we're going to be making these decisions through is the measuring stick that we started with.

So does a decision enhance public access to the harbor?

That's our guiding light here.

Are we providing that connected harbor walk that we heard is so important?

So such a special opportunity through this redevelopment project.

Are we making decisions that are implementing these long-term strategies for sustainability for resiliency?

Are we giving Newport a facility that's going to survive the next 50 to 100 years?

And all the while are we offering a functional facility that's that's maintaining its critical public services that's letting the harbor master do their job to the highest standard that I know of the city of Newport.

It's such a critical harbor on the eastern seaboard, not just New England.

So we need to be really cognizant that it's working for them.

And that it is a worthy landmark for the city.

This is a really important project to the city.

I think that's why we're all here.

That's why we're here to listen.

Again, I like to circle back.

Kind of a two-part project.

One is the bulkhead.

I've explained it.

I think it's going to get done, it's going to get done well, the docks are going to get done well.

There's not a lot of creativity when it comes to putting a 500-foot piece of metal into the ground.

It just needs to hold the earth back.

And that earth is not only Parate Park, but America's Cut.

So that we've we've got pretty you know dialed in, handled.

It's the docks are already being made.

We're we're very excited to get that done.

I've built a lot of docks.

I've actually done G-Pile bulkheads before in my career too.

Feel very confident in this.

What we have is a real opportunity to build a city facility that really brings us to the next level.

Um, and to update the park in aesthetics, in use, in functionality.

We move a lot of people through that park.

Um, you know, our estimates are roughly 500,000 people just through the ferries and cruise ships alone.

It is a really, really high transitive park.

People love it.

It's the first park people come to when they come when they come in.

That spot that uh lean was talking about, that the the unencumbered bulkhead area of water right there.

I think that's the highest Instagram photo spot in Newport.

There are so many people taking photos because you can see the water right there.

Sometimes Tristan I have a hard time getting into the building.

Um it is just that crowded.

Um we see it every day, the use of that park.

We see the citizens use it, we see the enjoyment of it, we see the memorial benches, we absolutely love those.

A lot of people come and sit on their bench every day.

Um so this is a real opportunity to work together to get this done.

Again, the bulkhead is starting uh in November, and we are moving forward that because if we lose the bulkhead, we are in a bad place.

So that is getting done.

The creativity part, the part we're figuring out right now, is the building and the facility that goes that goes into that.

And I hope tonight we we shed some light on the functionality of the building, what we do there, how it serves the public, um, the critical nature of the bathrooms.

Um it really is a highly used bathroom facility.

It's that's kind of where everyone says, oh, head to Paradise Park, there's bathrooms.

We staff them year-round.

They are the only uh public bathrooms that are open year-round.

The other ones get closed and they get winterized.

Um, so these are the only ones open year-round.

Um, and they are staffed.

We have to staff bathrooms when they're open year-round, just because um we have people coming and out of them.

Um, so this is a real hub.

Um, I use the term epicenter of nonsense a lot.

It is nonstop action going on at park.

Even in a night like tonight, I guarantee there's people walking through.

And then when the bars empty, a whole bunch of walk through tonight.

But it's it is really important to see what happens.

I invite all of you to come down and come on a busy Saturday, come at two o'clock.

You'll see a line out the building now of people using the bathroom.

There's no cruise ship, there's no event, just that everyday amazing amount of people that come to that park on Saturday and Sunday.

There's already a line.

So if anyone wants to come through the actual facility, what we have now and see what we're working with, I'm more than happy to walk you through, and so would Tristan.

It's an open, it's a public building.

One of the things that I do want to hint on again that there is a security aspect to that building because of our secure port that must be maintained.

For us to keep our secure international port, we have to have a secure facility down in that park.

I'm interested in hit on it.

So there is going to be a secure facility.

One of the new things that we're looking at that I'm very excited about is putting a Newport Community Policing Officer office in that building.

That is really ground zero for the amount of people going through.

It'd be a huge addition of public safety.

We work, I work with the police every day.

In our new facility, we're planning to put an office into that, which is going to be a real huge addition to public safety.

Tristan?

Mark?

Well, on behalf of the waterfront commission, we really appreciate that the time and detail.

Not only the detail that you provided, Leon and Team, but also to keep it at a level that it can be understood.

I think sometimes these things can be very complicated, and I think you've made some really good points.

We are, as a waterfront commission, we'll be talking about this project at our August meeting.

It will be posted as a as a public notice, and we'll be taking a look at some aspects of it.

And like Borne said, they will be having a meeting on 29th of July to look at the green infrastructure aspects of it.

To talk about the green infrastructure.

To talk about the green infrastructure aspects.

Excellent.

Thank you.

I think it's a very thoughtful project.

We don't know what it's going to look like, but it's an asset that I know many of you have had a long history with as well.

And so we appreciate everything everybody's done to make the waterfront the best place it can be.

Radio, any other comments or should we move to questions and comments?

Just reiterate the ground rules.

Three minutes per person.

We will try to recognize you as best as we can.

Make sure everybody has a chance to talk.

And I will also just say that there may not be answers to every question that you ask.

If we have to follow up, we'll gladly do that.

I think this gentleman is first, sir.

I'll walk around.

Good evening.

My name is Mark Anderson.

I live at 312 Swans Wharf.

I'm speaking on behalf of more than 200 members and supporters of Save Parate Park.

In 2024, Newport voters approved borrowing up to 20 million dollars for Parate Park, the seawall repair, and the Harbor Master Facility improvements.

Many of us supported that bond because we believed we were preserving an iconic public waterfront while repairing and aging infrastructure.

Today many residents believe the project being proposed is substantially different.

An $8 million multi-tenant cruise port.

Our concern is bait and switch.

Rather than debate this tonight, we respectfully request written answers to the following questions before this project is able to proceed.

We reserve all legal avenues afforded to us.

Exactly how much of the 20 million dollar authorization has actually been borrowed, and how much remains unissued.

How can the bulkhead project proceed independently if the building is redesigned or reduced?

Our request is not to stop necessary infrastructure improvements.

Can you speak to the current budget, please?

Sure.

The voters did vote for 20 million dollars for the pirate park build.

Right now we are under contract for the bulkhead and docks, plus the engine for architecture and engineering services.

That's the bulkhead and the docks and the pilings, plus the gazebo rebuilds.

And the mid or the temporary park construction for the summer of 27, the asphalt and uh and loan.

Um and that is what we we're at right now.

Um we have GZA is of the city's engineers that are overseeing the entire project.

Uh so they are also under contract.

So we are doing doing well with the the spending of the project, and it's looking to be on on target.

Hi, I'm Bart Dunbar, uh 25 Bridge Street, and I believe that I may be the only person here who was on the original committee, which was a state committee, and of course, um I don't know how many people remember, but the uh Senator Chaffee uh set it up that we got a chance to decide uh whether the uh there's gonna all the cruise ships were gonna go to the Navy base in Middletown, uh, or whether they was going to go to a big dock built out of the Fort out of Fort Adams, and or whether we could accommodate a cruise ships uh having them anchor out and service them from the city.

And uh I uh uh Saint Newport had started, and so we well at Stale Newport, we did the engineering to figure out what had to happen to add a facility at uh Fort Adams uh I misspoke, Goat Island was the peer was going to go out from Goat Island for the uh for if they were going to come and dock.

And by combining the facility at Sail Newport, and then we're doing a little bit of homework ahead of time and combining it with uh the parody park waterfront, we were able to get that from a federal level, see accepted as what we were going to do here, and the state put together a committee, which I was a member, which was up in state run, so I don't think there was any local committee originally when we figured out about the Harbor Masters facility at Parate Park, but it was the Harbor Masters facility there was part of the very beginning, so that was an error because that has been a consideration from the get-go.

Uh we even put in the the structure, which doesn't have any kind of electronics in it, just supports the sculpture.

That was going to be the where that you could go and get all your information about what was happening transportation-wise and what's never happened.

So I thought personally I want to say that I feel that the facilities that the city is providing to the harbormaster in the waterfront is as important as the green space and the park and whatever else, because uh the city has just default aside from Ann Street in our facility there for the for the voters that come in now, hopefully 25 years later after getting the permission to extend Ann Street to the facility, it's one of the things that only things left that the city has to provide services to voters.

So I think that the expansion of that building, although it does have impact on some views from the apartments inside, is an absolutely legitimate expansion of the services that we provide to visitors and the and the and the and the businesses that do it that require the use of that information and all the rest.

So thank you.

Okay, you're next, and I'll be right over here.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, everyone.

I'm the president of the Brick Marketplace Condo Association, representing approximately 80 convenient owners adjacent to Baron Park.

One of the previous speakers left off rather than debate the designs tonight, we respectfully request uh written answers to some of the following uh things before this project proceeded proceeds before your irreversible decisions are made.

We asked the city and its consultants to provide technical analysis analysis supporting this proposal, specifically uh the programming study that determined uh the required size of the proposed Harbor Master building, um, all design alternatives that were evaluated, if any, because it sounds like possibly not including the same site options, smaller building options, um, and why they were rejected if they were uh any view impact, open space or visual analysis that was prepared during the design process, um, an explanation of why a smaller building footprint that preserves more green space would not meet the city's operational needs.

And I think uh, sir, you said that it was not a good engineering practice to put the building back where it was.

Is it not allowed or just out of good practice?

If that's something you can answer.

And if these cities exist, uh the public should have the opportunity to review them.

If they don't exact exist, they should be complete before the design advances any further.

Uh residents really deserve transparency uh during the process of work by facts before permanent changes are maybe one of Newport's most iconic public spaces.

Thank you.

My name is Neil Gray, and I'm a uh native of Newport.

I've spent my whole life on the harbor.

Um did some work with power engineering on the dock facility at Karate Park.

Um I came here tonight with a lot of apprehension to this project.

I'm very impressed with the design team and the information you've given us to show us uh the view corridors of old and new.

Uh, but I do have two questions.

Um is if the building gets moved the way you stay uh due to those reasons, that leaves the footprint where the old building is unused.

One thing that I know a lot of newquarters concerns they have is when they go down to C Tristan.

It's hard to find a parking place.

It's hard to get somebody who can't walk, they they try to find a place on long walk and then go all the way over there.

Would you give some consideration to creating um the south side of the building uh a limited parking area for access to the Harbormasters uh facility?

The other thing for the design team, uh I'm I'm hoping that before the roof deck gets major uh concern that your concern is more to the overall design and look of this building, like you like you say here, a landlock worthy of Newport Harbor.

Um that's critical, I think, to many new quarters versus uh a flat roof deck with uh probably is it in that in actuality probably gonna have limited access people getting out here, but seeing that building can be a big uh goals goal star to the city if it if it's a good looking building.

Um last thing.

What's the name of your design thing?

Because I couldn't end it.

BIA studio.

D I A.

B as employed.

Okay.

Thank you.

So it was very interesting, and not having seen any of this before, but some comments, some statements that were made, made me say, wait a minute, people hopefully in thinking about the approach of what is needed here, we'd have a somewhat broader view of Newport.

For example, 500 feet away along America's Cup is the Donahue Visitor Center, which has public bathrooms open.

Now people aren't being directed there, it's a problem.

Maybe we have a signage problem.

But there are public bathrooms and there's a significant number of public bathrooms there.

Yet the comments seem to be, oh, well, we have to provide public bathrooms here.

Well, they're available.

Literally, I'm guessing it's about 500 feet.

It may not be that far at all.

So I think we have to keep in mind, you know, the facilities we are providing.

Another thought that as I was thinking about this and looking, I was saying, well, perhaps this is also a time again, think of how and why we're positioning designing this.

Right now, right there at the corner, there is a significant cut so that traffic can make a swing into America's Cup Avenue.

But why not make long wharf one way and make people then go around and come down Washington, come down uh America behind the scene, whatever it's called.

So that in fact you don't need that curve that swinging curb cut, and you can add probably 10 or 15 feet or more of public space.

They're right at the corner.

You don't need to provide two-way act, two-way traffic on Long Wharf there.

Traditionally we have trucks used to go down, but they can go the other way.

We didn't have the America's Cup Avenue when all that was initially laid out.

So we need to think about things like that.

Those are two areas that occurred to me, just as listening to this, that are things maybe have to be thought about as part of the overall design.

Uh roof deck is nice, but frankly, uh I don't know how many people will go ever get up there.

I would rather see uh a simpler uh design there personally and more conventional roofs on think about four things later.

Hi, my name is Henry Springle, long time resident of Newport.

I just uh we talked last meeting about you know why I had a big uh master presence at the uh Parati Park, and I I don't understand why the present site of most of the operations of the Hockermaster runs out of that shed, which has been there for years, and I asked the question why not put the building there, and you said it was for storage.

Okay, why not build a building up on pilings?

Now you have covered storage for your boats, for your workshop.

That's a pretty big area there.

Plus, it has a view from a second floor, second floor, or a third floor from long way right down the harbor.

So you can see everything up there, and it has parking.

It has design competition from a water treatment plant.

That's the only design you know, competition it has.

You can go two stories, three stories.

Look at the buildings around it.

You got the hotel, you've got the water treatment plant, you got Casey's, they're three stories.

Nobody's gonna complain how high you go.

So, I mean, this is an ideal spot.

I employ you all of you that are gonna take a look at it.

And the city owns the property, the city owns a parking lot right next door.

So city residents can come down, find the place to park, and go in and do their business.

I mean, it's perfect.

In my opinion, my name is David McCurdy, uh, 35 Palm Street.

My name is David McCurdy.

I live at 35 Palm Street.

I've been a captain for about 26 years in Newport, captaining almost every boat in the harbor.

I dock at Parate Park about 500 times a season.

Pick up and drop off there.

And I want to address two things.

Number one, security at the dock site.

I don't know how many people were here when the Black Island Ferry came in with the fireboard.

There were police cars lined up the street.

Harbormaster's boat on site.

And you know what?

It felt really good to know that the Harbor Master's office was right there controlling the situation.

If they'd been off site, I was pulling up into the middle of that.

They didn't feel great.

It was not a great situation, but they were there, they controlled it.

The police control that harbor master did.

Situation was resolved.

It was great.

As for bathrooms, if you how many people here have used the bathrooms downtown on the fourth job?

A lot of residents here live downtown, so they're walking to their houses.

You take out 20 bathrooms, 10 bathrooms, the other part, you need hundreds of bathrooms.

There are thousands of people.

So we just can't remove the bathrooms.

So you need the bathrooms.

So that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Yes, man, uh resident of Newport, Carroll Avenue.

I run a marine business.

I'm in the harbor all the time.

Um, I believe I understand this one way or the other.

So listen to all of these comments here.

Um we're not talking about rerouting streets.

Um if you want to have a conversation about emergency access and so on, then that does not belong into this meeting.

I'm listening to the president of the association, and I thought I have rarely ever seen a meeting that was so transparent on where we are in that planning process as a city.

Mr.

Anderson kicked this all off, and I'm not quite sure I saw you read a prepare uh statement.

Maybe I missed a big part of this presentation, but there is no choice here.

I think this was made very clear.

That ball cat needs to be replaced.

And I I learned tonight, I did not know that that where the current building is.

That's not an option.

We cannot build on that place again.

We have storm drain there, we are actually over the over the net bed.

That is not an option.

So let's move on.

We got a few more regulations.

Let's move on.

So let's focus on what is really the issue here.

I heard comments about why is the building so big.

I learned tonight that the square footage of this new building is exactly what we have right now.

So let's stay with the facts here and do the right thing.

Okay, I think you're all getting about a mirror's call.

What the hell it is to drive in the summer.

You can't go anywhere at all.

Everything is stopped.

And you're talking about inviting how many else who in meeting rooms, etc.

How are you going to handle the exiting?

How are you going to handle it entering?

And how are you going to handle the parking?

At least the very least you have a building a block and a half away, which has a lot of parking.

But I don't know about anybody else, but I've been stuck on America's cop, and it's not fun.

Hello.

I'm the captain for Save the Bay, but you may not also know.

I'm a 40-year resident in Newport.

I've worked on the harbor the entire time I've lived here.

Having a harbormaster's office in Parate Park is vital to the management of the harbor.

Really can't be done anywhere else.

There is a constant stream of people coming in from the harbor using the uh transient dock or the dinghy facilities there that come up to Tristan's office.

The office needs to be in Parate Park if we are to maintain a secure port facility there.

So there's really no other option than to have a building there for the harbor master.

Now we can debate exactly what the size of the building needs to be, whether it needs a rooftop or anything like that.

But I think we need to realize tonight that the building needs to be there.

I also didn't realize what the uh constraints on uh not putting the building all the way against the uh property line there were uh with the culvert, but uh obviously we cannot build over that.

That would be silly.

So it needs to move, but it needs to still be there.

Uh in terms of public restrooms, thousands upon thousands of people use those restaurants.

They are the only public restrooms in Newport, unless you include the decrepit facilities over at Mary Street.

They're the only ones.

So we need them, they need to be better.

There are no public bathrooms at the gateway except for uh limited number at the rental facility.

Hi, I'm I'm Joy Lamora.

Um I'm at the 316 Swans Mark.

Uh, thanks for the two talk here uh respectfully.

So um I I think uh I'm very concerned about the step, the status of the of the um, and one question I have is is it you know how safe it is to give us it before it gets repaired, and should should the park be close it until it gets repaired, so I understand the urgency.

And I just have one more comment regarding, I don't think anybody opposes the you know repairing the walkhead, I think is essential given given all the reports that we put.

But I'm I'm very concerned with the fact that this is one of the smallest uh power parks that we have anymore, and I I witnessed you know during the summer when one of cruisers come in.

Um it it's almost becoming unmanageable, like the the number of people, the number of buses that storm in there.

Like I see sometimes five buses, they stay there for at least an hour with ancients on, and I really like the this gentleman here that maybe we should consider relocating to another public space, but seeing the harbor, but outside of the park, you know, so that so that we can at least redirect the traffic because as I see more and more people coming in, it might become a matter of public safety, right?

This is too many people gathering around, too much traffic, and too much disruption.

Like the half of the American Scarf gets taken over, one of the lanes gets taken over by those buses.

So the traffic is is it's a total mass during this time.

So I'm just seeing it's getting worse and worse over the years, and I don't think respects really, I don't think the solution is a scalable.

Okay, it's not it's not allowing us to think about you know, 10, 15, 20 years from now, it's only gonna get worse in terms of get everybody likes it.

I love that the local business, the support and transmit all the neighborhood in there.

We want them to be successful, we need the tourism, but it has to be a line that needs to draw somewhere.

How do you control this?

Right.

Thanks.

Thanks, Tim Ferry, 306 lines Worth Road.

Uh the gateway center has five ladies' rooms and another eight behind the fence.

So there's 13 women's rooms.

There's three men's stalls and three urinals, as somebody else mentioned.

There's a lot of bathrooms downtown.

It's a block and a half away.

It is true that six buses line up and they're on the sidewalk, and I'm looking at the positioning there.

There you're gonna squish people.

I don't know how far out the building's gonna go to the sidewalk, but when you have five or six buses on the sidewalk right there, it's just gonna be dangerous.

Uh and there is there's already a police uh substation over in uh across the street at the uh pre-market place.

Thanks.

Hi, good evening.

Uh Dave Johnson.

I'm uh been a local for 37 years.

I've been using the harbor as a sailor and boater for that time.

Uh, I want to thank everybody tonight for an excellent presentation.

It's very transparent, as I think a lot of the comments have uh have uh pointed out.

Uh and I think what you're come up with is quite quite reasonable.

I also support all the comments around the Harbor Master having a great facility downtown, something that we can uh I'll be proud of.

Um I'd like to one question maybe that might help people leave people's concerns is what you've proposed seems quite responsible and and not outlandish.

Any comments on what what facilities are uh are out there for other harbors?

What sort of best practice in other harbors in New England?

Um that's a great question.

Um every harbor is is unique.

Um the one of the ones that we compare ourselves to as another destination harbor is Block Island, and there is this constant complaints that there's not facilities there in Block Island.

Um we are very different harbor with amount of transient voters that come in, the type of activities we do huge amounts of races, and that's it's a huge infrastructure to do that.

Um but most harbors that have a really large you know identity in the city as a harbor have a large facility uh with bathrooms, showers, laundry, all that that stuff.

Um it what's what makes coming to Newport really special.

Uh we have the Maritime Center, which is absolutely beautiful, uh, and that's for visiting voters.

The Harbor Master Office is for residents.

This is where residents come to get answer questions and talk to people and figure out how they get on the water as quickly as possible.

Um we have up to I think it's about 19 businesses that run off the city docks right now.

So it is a hub for transportation and economy, and these businesses are flourishing.

I got a another inquiry today about I'd like to run off your docks, and I said to come in, we'll meet about it.

Um so it's an absolute unique facility.

Um every harbor is different.

Um, if you go to some of the big transient harbors, they've got much bigger facilities than ours.

Um, it's just what what do we value as a community?

I believe, you know, I'm a little biased because I'm a harbor master, but I believe that the harbor is one of the key parts of Newport.

When people think of Newport, they think of the sailing history, uh sailing capital of the world.

Um that is what I think of when I think of Newport.

Um I hope everyone in this room thinks the same thing.

Uh we need a facility that actually supports that.

Um, it is crucial for that.

Um but the the range of facilities, you know, it's all the same thing.

It's bathrooms, showers, trash.

Um, you know, if you get laundry in there, it's great, and we have that.

Um, the you know the slight constraint with parking.

I I hear you, I agree.

We also, you know, someone said, you know, do you have meetings?

I had a meeting last week uh with the Coast Guard DEM state police, and uh three out of them did not get a ticket.

The Coast Guard got tickets of all people.

Um and I kind of laughed at them.

Um, but so it parking, yeah, absolutely.

Um, there is parking in our facility on Long Wharf, which is great.

People do use that.

And uh, but we have lots of meetings with different state and federal agencies at the building.

And um every day we have walk-ins.

Uh, Tristan fields most of them.

And uh sometimes they come and ask a 30-minute or 30-second question.

Sometimes they're there for 30 minutes, and it just turns into a conversation about how we can get them on the water and enjoying the harbor.

Um, so it does range.

I hope I answered your question, but um it does range.

Newport being what it is, it just really should be the premier facility in the midland.

Okay, we have we have time for about two more questions, so if you haven't asked a question, hello uh, my name's Hank Nisker, and I'm a relative newcomer.

I did have the pleasure of working once I when I moved here in 2000 to be on the waterfront commission and got heavily involved in the planning.

And uh as a as a kind of a newcomer, I'd like to just give you as respect as I had my whole life has been in strategies and planning and decision making.

Um in terms of planning, uh, one document that hasn't been brought up is the harbor management plan.

And that started way back when Bart and folks, and it really laid out a strategy and a plan to go ahead and take care of the harbor.

And it involved all kinds of things safety, use how do we go about managing and operating this uh harbor?

How do we go about managing and operating this harbor?

But one of the things that it really emphasizes is the harbor is public trust waters.

It belongs to everybody.

And that went goes all the way back to the beginning of the country.

The second thing it talked about was the common good.

What kind of decisions do you make that are for the common good, not the individual goods or special interests?

But what best benefits the common good.

At one point, um the fire department wanted a fire boat.

I think the citizens said it's way too expensive.

It's kind of a boondoggle, and what do you do?

So they got a group together like this and planned and talked, which brings me to the point is we've never had a situation where we've had decisions like this where we had open, you know, uh workshops where we haven't come up with a better idea as a result of it.

And I it's happening now, I think too.

But oftentimes, if you do the plans, you have to have there's a lot of flexibility and not flexibility.

What do you think is a plan turns out to be better than you thought because the fire boat one?

I just want to go back for a second.

Uh what was this fireboat going to be?

We had many fires in the harbor at that point.

The answer was no, not really.

But then it was it was cheaper to buy a really top-notch fireboat, have it managed by top-notch of skilled crafts people on the who knew their way around water and knew the way around boaters.

And so having the fireboat right there at Roddy Park has been wonderful.

And it wasn't so much a fire boat, it was a it ended up to be a seagoing ambulance, is my opinion.

And the second one was that is that we ended up with fires from lithium batteries that nobody else could put out.

And so that wasn't part of any planning, but if you create the kind of the right kind of facilities and the right kind of competent management of interesting things happen, I'll make a quick uh Ryan Miller, Newport Maritime Alliance.

Uh, just a few things to think about.

One to kind of answer the the bathroom question, it absolutely is needed because people are coming a long boat ride to get to the harbor, so they can't walk another 500 feet.

Um another is I love those trees.

Um, Maureen, this is more for you because I can't get to your meeting, but I would hate to see those trees get cut down.

They have those big augers that can pick them up, maybe we can transport them somewhere else, put them in another city park and then bring them back.

Um another thought is you know, with the with the gateway really not in existence anymore, it'd be great to have uh forward-facing tourism aspect to the building, uh, you know, not just reading people coming off the water, but greeting people walking from the bus station, walking from the city park lot.

And then my last thought is the old government landing building as an architecturally beautiful building.

It had long sweeping roof line with a lot of uh wraparound porch and covered spots.

So I think if we look back at that, I think the architectural heritage would of the community would appreciate that design.

So thank you.

Thank you.

But this is where if we uh if we feel that there's anything that's been said that we want to clarify or anything, and the group can do it, or we can go to questions.

Anything we've got to do.

We'll just continue off the questions then.

Okay.

All right, here we go.

Oh fine.

Just a couple comments.

I've been on the water, my family's been on the water and all different capacities in the last 40 years.

But you know, I'm in real estate, and one of the big struggles now is everything costs so much for over budget and all these things.

The police are important, the fire department is important, the teachers.

The maritime actually produces money for the city.

So I don't know what the budget is on people coming and going in the ferries, but I think it's a positive plus that generates something, and you know, you know, uh, you could probably answer that more, but uh the welcoming when the ferries come in and the facility is is obviously very important, and I I think that gets lost on the last few years.

I've seen so many more options for the public to use the water than before.

So I like to just make a point about that, that a lot of things were studied for a very long time in the past and just kind of died, but I've seen more public access around the water in numerous ways.

Now, sometimes he puts the boats a little too close in the mooring field, but other than that, he says, I'll move you next year.

So my name's Ryan Duffy on uh the chief of police and the director of public safety, and I just wanted to make a comment on on one particular aspect from the perspective of public safety.

Uh Steve uh or Messeland and the deputy made a uh good points in terms of port security, Newport uh down at Broadport is the gateway, uh one of the gateways to to Newport and having a good port security plan.

Uh they've already kind of mentioned that, and that's that's critical.

It's critical to have the facilities uh present uh for a good port's port security plan.

One thing that wasn't mentioned that I want to mention is that while the harbor master and deputies um are administrators, they do a lot of administering of the of the harbor, right?

They're also first responders, and it's important that our first responders have access, uh immediate access to their to their assets in order to um affect that pop that portion of their job.

And we're talking about water emergencies, we're talking about uh time as your enemy, right?

And so having access to the to their assets immediately during a during a water emergency is very important.

I just wanted to throw that out there for consideration as we're moving forward, we're talking about facilities in different places and things of that nature.

So that I just want to bring that up.

Hi everybody, Mark Fontaine.

I'm uh fourth generation newporter, and uh I'm a local home designer, and it's not really my purview commercial buildings like this, but I've designed many homes on the water, and I have been involved in uh public access projects, the original design on Stone Pier to get that project launched, and we designed a bridge for uh Rough Point Chasm after Hurricane Bob that was lowered in with a sky current helicopter.

I did the original plans for 40 steps, and I collaborated with Bill Bergen on First Beach Project, did like the first 3D models of that project where we elevated the bathhouses was one of the first elevated bathhouse kind of structures on the beach.

I don't know if they're gonna make it through the redesign, but I just wanted to say that the what they've done, what it was presented here was thorough, well thought out, moving the building out of the flood, the visa to keep things at grade level, and the just every point that was made about the necessity of the Harbor Master Building being located where it is, and just as a point, like there to I think it should be maybe a little bigger.

I probably nobody agrees with that on that part, and but not in a way that's obstructing.

Maybe the first floor being parallel with America's Cup and the second floor actually going out on piers over the V zone, so it complies with the FEMA regulation, and you have a bigger meeting room, and that's maybe being able to avoid the third floor, which would block views from other structures that are up on the hills from residences and stuff, and still gain more square footage on the second floor, and you can still do the rooftop deck, mostly for tourists and stuff, because people never use their rooftop decks.

Everybody with residences wants a rooftop deck, they look if they show it to their guests and then they never use them.

It's kind of a thing, but I think uh it would work there, but that's my opinion.

Thank you very much.

Hi, B.

Grimmett, um, New Porter.

I just I don't know if this is uh putting the cart before the horse, but on one of your designs that showed the waterfront walkway in yellow, like going in front of the treadway and stuff.

Um would that need like water?

How is that going to be approved if you're is is Treadway in on that or whatever they call it now.

Um I'll talk about that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So one of the kind of serendipitous uh happenings that came out of this.

We first started working on the bulkhead and started kind of looking at the building and some of our constraints.

Uh and Jim Prakashanti actually called me out of the blue and said, I'd like to meet with you.

I said, okay.

Come on over.

We'll have a meeting in my tiny office.

So he came on over and he said, I would like to have a walkway in front of the treadway.

And I said, Excuse me?

He goes, I would like to have a harbor walk that goes in front of the treadway.

It used to be open 30 years ago to the public.

It's been kind of gator off ever since.

I would like to knock down your building.

And I said, okay, I'm not public with this, but the building has to get knocked down anyway.

And he just about fell out of his chair when I told him that.

So we've been working together and working with their engineers and architects on how to actually connect Parate Park all the way to Boens.

And it's their part of it's already pretty much done.

It's gone through a zoning and planning, I believe, and gotten approval from everything.

They're working on CMC permits and redesigning the marina.

But uh it is definitely happening.

Uh, one of our parts that I said I do is move this building so there's actually a walkway going through.

So that is going to be a humongous improvement.

That's just size, you know, it happens to be working the same time that we're doing this bulkhead.

And it's going to change all of downtown and the movement of people.

We have a harbor walk that goes about 450 yards off the harbor right now.

Um goes on America's Cup and it's packed full of people.

Those people are going to stay on the harbor walk and go right down to Bowens and Bannisters.

Um it's going to really improve the flow of human traffic.

I'm very excited about this.

Um, one of the reasons why putting the building up on the sidewalk like that, it opens up all of the space next to the hardwalk that we can really enjoy, and the building won't be there.

So this is a real win for Newport.

It's going to really change the downtime dynamic.

I believe we're going to get this all done by the summer of 28.

That's kind of our goal for both of us to open up.

Some of us uh went to one of the public meetings that they had, and they actually had a video of the harbor walk and people walking through it, and it was it was quite impressive.

Um, this is one of these really really unbelievable things that's happening out of this building.

So it is it is approved, and we're moving forward with it.

Hi, good evening, thank you.

Uh, I'm Chris Myers, and I'm not a resident of Newport, a resident of Portsmouth.

Nonetheless, uh worked on Newport Harbor for almost all of my life.

Uh currently, I work for Interstate Navigation Company, I'm the operations manager for the Block Island Ferry.

And we've been uh we're very grateful to have been operating our ferry from Paride Park since 2013.

Um we were invited by former Harbor Master Tim Mills to come in and we negotiated an arrangement with the city, and I think it's been great.

We've been operating since 2013 quite successfully.

We're uh we're great supporters of the fact that the city is replacing the the bulkhead, uh the seawall that's containing Parade Park.

That's a must do, and we're very happy that the city's doing it.

Happy that the city's replacing the docks that we secure our vessel to.

Um they're definitely needed replacement, so thank you for that.

And whatever form, oh, I should also say before we go any further.

Um I personally have a huge supporter of the harbor walk connecting the waterfront from Parade Park all the way past the old treadway hotel.

I think that's gonna be a great, great thing for residents and visitors alike to continue that harbor walk.

Um, whatever shape the proposed building takes, well, we are currently a uh part of our arrangement as we're a tenants.

We have a ticket selling operation from the ground level of the current building, and uh we greatly hope to have a presence in Paride Park where we can continue to do so.

So we don't even need as much space as we currently have.

Um, and whatever form or fashion that takes in the design, uh we're grateful for it.

And thanks for your time.

Hi, Linda Stevenson, I'm president of Friends of the Waterfront.

Um, I did hear um prior to the meeting that some people were concerned that there was going to be less public access, so I do want to reiterate that.

In fact, that is not the case.

There is gonna be more.

Um, Friends of the Waterfront has been very involved with the Procushante people.

Um as a matter of fact, we just drafted the easement in conjunction with the city for the new harbor walk.

So it looks like it's going to be very secure going forward.

Um we monitor these things constantly.

Um if you watch city council meeting tomorrow night, you'll see how Friends of the Waterfront will be speaking on a particular development that is not honoring their public access.

So please be assured this is a great thing for Newport when it comes to public access.

And uh we expect the long wharf public access to also be enhanced in the next couple of years.

So it's really beginning to take shape here, and I think it's a wonderful asset for the city that I'm so happy about, and I hope you can join me in that happiness.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm uh Ann Johnson.

I work at the Black Island Ferry as well, but I am doing the ticket in the building.

Uh I get there, I'm there almost every day.

Uh there are people waiting when I get there at 8 o'clock to use the bathroom facilities because they have walked their dog or gone for a run, or they have a young kid with them that needed to get out of the house early.

There are people that get off the province ferry.

The first thing they do is go into the restroom facilities.

They are inadequate and they are old and they need to be replaced.

But the other thing is I'm in the building, and all day long.

There are people coming through to talk to the harbor masters to get their dinghy uh passed, to get their kayak passed, to ask about uh their moorings, where they are on the mooring list, uh, and also um incident reports that they come in and go upstairs.

And lastly, all day long, people walk around the building at the harbor walk that they've seen signs for, and they come to a really nice black fence at the hotel, and they turn around, and I explain to them, oh, it just stop just up there, go up to the sidewalk, you know, you'll see signs somewhere else.

Um, so this is and I I was not aware of all of the restraints.

I I working there, I could tell that we were not right on the setback was that the setback was too close to the fence because it's about a flip away from the building.

But um, all of the other constraints with the floodplains and the FEMA requirements and the tie backs, I didn't really understand until tonight.

So that was really helpful.

Um but I guess I and I know a lot of people here are concerned about their uh view being taken away, and I guess looking at the photos with the trees, I was wondering what the different height differential is.

How tall are the trees versus how tall is the proposed building?

You know the trees 35 feet and the building 35 feet, the trees 45 feet and the building 35 feet.

I know you have a height restriction for the building, must be 35 feet, but um so the view is already blocked by the trees, or the trees are taller than what the building would be.

That's what I I guess I my question would be for the people who are worried about their view, not for me.

I'm not worried, you know.

That's that's speak to the like to talk about the height of trees versus building.

So I don't have a measurement for the existing tree height.

I'm sure it's something we can get readily and share, but um the proposed building, obviously we don't have a design.

We're largely driven by some basic constraints related to flooding and things like that.

Um we're anticipating roughly an 11-foot floor to floor.

That's kind of what those diagrams were showing.

So that is roughly a 20, 24 foot building, depending on how we put a roof on it and how that architecture develops.

So it's very much a kind of standard two-story building.

The you know gable slop roof is a very different overall building height from a flat roof.

By zoning, we can't go above 45 feet in that area.

That doesn't mean we're gonna go to 45 feet holistically.

You know, maybe there's going to be a element that gets higher than the rest.

That's that's all remains to be seen.

But by and large, we're very much in scale with the existing trees that will be put back in kind to some extent to be determined department meetings.

I don't understand the need for a third floor.

Um is it gonna be like a party room?

Are we inviting trouble by having a third floor?

I assume it's gonna be an opening room.

I can I can talk about the idea.

Why?

So when we started kind of kicking around the ideas of what uh we like to do and what happens in Body Park, um, one of the ideas was putting up more public access in the building itself.

And especially if we have a raised area that people can look at on the harbor, I think it'd be used by everyone.

If we had information on that raised area, uh, I think it would absolutely be used by visitors and residents.

Um, the idea of making more public access is what are we driving?

Um so this is a city building.

Um, it's not a party room, it's a city building that work goes on.

It's it's kind of like city hall.

Um it's you know, that is how we operate now.

We don't have parties in the Harbor Master Building currently, uh, but it's it's where work goes on.

Where we're thinking about adding public access, it was just ideas that people kind of gave to me when they saw, hey, what if we tried this?

There's um there's decks all around in different hotels.

What if there's one that's open to the public that you can go for free?

And we said, you know, that's a great idea.

Uh I know I would use it, and then people talk to me and say, Oh, I'd love to bring my kids and my grandkids there, and we can you know do all sorts of things.

What's the sunset there?

Um it's as it's just a public access idea to improve public access.

It's not um anything than that.

Can we will the function of the harbormaster change if there's a deck?

No, we still do our operations just like we do.

So I'll just work.

Okay.

Last question and then we'll have to so we learned a lot about bathrooms tonight.

Didn't come for that.

Um we learned where the demand is for bathrooms, so it doesn't really matter if there are more bathrooms 500 feet down the road.

So that's where the bathroom is.

I hope we're all take this away.

I want to close this by I think the hob of the Hopifrunk Commission started this meeting.

There's a great opportunity that came out of this meeting and various comments.

As this project is going forward, my request would be to the Happerfront Commission to reach out to whoever is responsible at the city to look in.

Can we relocate the busing of people coming in mostly from the from the cruise ships?

Because apparently this is a concern for a lot of residents, America's cop record.

37 times a year is blocked up because buses.

There was there were comments about coming out of wrong wall, that's not done right.

There was concerns about parking.

None of that has anything to do with the waterfront commission.

So what a great opportunity to take this now, take it to the city and say, how about we redesign how the cruise ship visitors come to the beautiful city of Newport.

Thank you so much for that.

I was just gonna suggest that perhaps the uh because we the interaction of our really architectural kids at Bulls Wharf and elsewhere around the harbor, that maybe that's something that could be left over the third floor.

It can even be removed in the winter time, but it it's something that doesn't it's solid as a really big structure with a roof roof.

Last question is good evening, Henry DePedro, and Pelstrom.

I'm also a member of the Waterfall Commission.

Um we've heard a lot tonight from a lot of different people about what this park is, what it means to people, and the uses that it has.

Um it is vital that the Arbor Master's office anywhere because again, it's the gateway to our city.

There has to be a security office there in order to make sure that public safety is number one.

Um we've also heard a lot about traffic, rerouted traffic and buses.

Um there is probably a long-term solution to the busing problem.

Um cruise ships come here and they disgorge a lot of people into town and they like to take tours.

Uh if the city council and city management takes a look at the Navy base, we can model all of those buses to the Navy base instead of bringing them into Broad Park.

It's a viable option, and it's a good one.

And it allows for more cruise ships on a year-round basis.

That's a long-term solution that is viable if the city has the will to do it.

Final comment from the uh waterfront commission, and that's first of all, thank you for all of your voices.

I think we all want the same thing.

We want to have a fantastic waterfront that endures for generations.

We now agree on how it gets there.

But that's the goal.

We'll work together to get there to talk a little bit about what Yen said.

Our commissions, free and open space commission, waterfront, planning and zoning.

We're all volunteers.

We work really hard to listen, talked about the harbor management plan.

I can count at least 10 authors right here.

There's Neil, there's Bob Anton, there's other people, many people.

The idea that what we're doing has been informed by hundreds of Newport residents.

And Hank, I think what you said, common good.

This is the idea.

What is the benefit of all of us who live here?

What trade-offs do we have to make?

And a final word on process and some other acknowledgments.

There's a lot of city staff here tonight.

Um Chief, thank you very much for coming.

Steve, obviously, your project, but I don't know how much you interested in putting into this.

Um I said the manager Kennedy, Deputy Manager Carulo was here.

Um, and we also have some city council representatives here.

It's great that they hear it firsthand.

Councilor Smythe, Councillor Segley, Councilman Paul Tano, Miss Any other counselors.

The way this process works, as commissions, we are really only advisors to our city council.

Our city council ultimately makes the decisions.

But the information that we bring to them as commissions is vital.

And Jens, thank you, knowing what the topics are.

There are even other commissions and other city staff that have to do with roads and parking and and all of these things.

But we do talk to each other, and so I think it does take all of us to do it, and I know everybody's in for it, so on behalf of the commission, thank you.

Um, we'll be talking about this topic at our August meeting.

Maureen wrap up from you, and then we'll let's see if it goes up.

So I'd like to thank everyone for their interest and for coming.

Um, and uh it's it's pretty um it's pretty great to see everybody's opinion and everybody showing up.

That's really what matters.

Um I want to invite everybody if you're interested in talking about the concept of what the vegetation landscape and growth of the trees and the layout and everything and the use of the park.

Um, please come to uh it's a single topic tree and open space commission next week.

It is only this topic, and we're gonna delve very deeply in the hierarchy of the use of the park from residents to family members to uh guests in our city to anyone that comes in.

So if you want to start the conversation and be part of what that's going to look like, we invite you to come.

We'll have more meetings like that.

There will be another group we will meet as a group again and invite you all when we have more information that we can share, and we will continue doing that throughout the entire uh process because it is it is a process where we want people to understand what's happening as it's happening in real time, so that they can make the know the difference between what's really going on and what really is being worked on by administration and council and all the city staff and all the city departments, um, and they can uh find out what the commissions are doing to it involved.

It's the only way we're gonna be able to let you know through the next two years.

Thank you very much for coming.