NORWALK, Conn. – A rumor that the Island Belle may be coming back to Norwalk is totally false, Recreation and Parks Department Director Mike Mocciae said.
“There’s no truth to that,” Mocciae said. “It would be nice to get that type of business back but really, we can’t do anything (until the docks are replaced).”
Members of the marine community informed NancyOnNorwalk that Mocciae has been working to bring the Mississippi River sternwheeler-style boat back to Veterans Park. While Mayor Harry Rilling said that eventually the boat could use the park’s visitor’s dock if it meets the criteria specified, Mocciae said he hasn’t spoken to Island Belle owner Ken Hart in more than a year.
“We have a moratorium on any large vessels until we can come up with a process that would be acceptable to everybody,” Rilling said. “At some point I believe that the Island Belle would be able to participate in what they would call the touch and go… but they wouldn’t be able to dock there permanently.”
The Island Belle was docked at the O&G Industries dock two winters ago, and the following summer made a series of trips out of the Veterans Park visitor’s dock, picking up passengers and then coming back several hours later to let them off, the “touch and go” Rilling mentioned. Norwalk Police were frequently there when passengers let out and described two off-loadings as “large fights.”
Rilling suspended the boat’s permit to use the dock after the last incident.
Once the process for large vessels is established there would be no way to prevent the Island Belle from coming back, Rilling said. But the boat would not be allowed to come back late, at 2 or 3 a.m., he said.
“I believe there would be built into the process a way that we could prevent them from coming back if they were violating any of the regulations and if there was a problem where we felt they were not conducting a proper business,” Rilling.
The city and the Island Belle’s owner have been involved in litigation over damage to the dock as Superstorm Sandy arrived in October 2012. Corporation Counsel Mario Coppola said Tuesday that he has no update on the matter.
Believers of the rumor that is going around say that Mocciae has redesigned the visitor’s dock to accommodate the Island Belle, meaning it will be longer. Mocciae said that when the dock is finally replaced – not this year – it will be 10 feet shorter than the current dock.
The focus right now is on replacing the launch ramp, he said. That project is out for design, with $1 million authorized by the Common Council. Basically, the ramp will be replaced but the dock will stay the same.
The Skyline Princess just came up from New York and used the dock, but the issue has been that only a limited number of people can use the dock at any one time because it’s old and the floats are suspect, he said. A new dock would meet with current code, just as a matter of course, so that wouldn’t be an issue but that wouldn’t have anything to do with the Island Belle, he said.
“Really, our focus is on the launch ramps because they are in such bad shape for the common boaters,” Mocciae said. “Ken Hart has been long gone. I see his boat in Bridgeport when I drive by it on I-95, at the Santa Fuel docks but he hasn’t called me since he cancelled those dates last year.”
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